‘One of the best guides to unscrambling fact from fiction is Ben Pimlott’s biography The Queen (1996). Though published twenty years ago, this is still the defining historical account of Elizabeth II’s first seventy years.’ Jane Ridley on Ben Pimlott’s The Queen in Slightly Foxed Issue 57
The Queen is an updated edition of Ben Pimlott’s classic biography of the Queen with a foreword by Lord Hennessy.
The royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday and the Jubilee celebrations, there is renewed interest and appreciation of our monarchy. The Queen is an in-depth look at the woman at the centre of it all and is the only biography to take Elizabeth II seriously as the subject of historical biography, or to examine the influences that formed her and the ideas she represents. Ben Pimlott (described by Andrew Marr in the Independent as ‘the best writer of political biography now writing’) treats the Head of State to the rigorous and objective scrutiny he applied to major political personalities, using a wide range of sources, including interviews, diaries and letters, and papers in the Royal Archives.
In The Queen Ben Pimlott looks at the social, political and psychological aspects of his subject in detail, as well as at the changing role of Monarchy in the British Constitution. In the process, the book displays all the author’s formidable analytic and narrative skills, and provides a gripping yet sensitive account of one of the most publicised – yet least known – figures of our time. It is vital reading for all those who care about public life in Britain – past, present and to come.
‘There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.’ Independent
‘A magisterial biography and the only one that seriously deals with her constitutional and political role.’ The Sunday Times
A Crowning Achievement
Like so many Slightly Foxed readers, I was hooked by Netflix’s first series of The Crown. The lavish production, rumoured to have cost £100 million, the understated acting, the meticulous detail...
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