Queen Elizabeth II

 

Elizabeth: A Biography of Britain's Queen
by Sarah Bradford
Although it conscientiously chronicles the marital misadventures of the English queen's offspring, this solid, evenhanded book devotes more time to assessing Elizabeth's considerable skills as a constitutional monarch and the political crises confronted and (for the most part) resolved since her coronation in 1953. On the personal side, Sarah Bradford offers a three-dimensional rendering of a kind, rather unimaginative woman, a devoted wife but distant mother with a tendency to ignore family troubles in the shortsighted hope that they would simply go away. A nice example of the traditional British biography. - Amazon.com
Publisher: Riverhead Books; Reprint edition
 

	Queen and Country: The Fifty-Year Reign of Elizabeth II by William Shawcross (Hardcover -- May )

Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II
by Robert Lacey
Hardcover: 476 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.25 x 9.38 x 6.60
Free Press; ISBN: 0743235592;

The Monarchy: An Oral Biography of Elizabeth II
by Gerald Strober and Deborah H. Strober
Book Description: Her public and private worlds, the life and times of Elizabeth II and her family. 

Fifty years ago in February 1952, while in Kenya on the beginning of a world tour, Princess Elizabeth ascended to the British Throne on the death of her father, King George VI, who the day before had stood on the tarmac at London's Heathrow airport waving her farewell. She returned to London as Queen to be met at the foot of the aircraft steps by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Monarchy is the brilliantly constructed oral biography of the life of Elizabeth II and her fifty-year rule as the second-longest-reigning British sovereign in history. This candid look at the enduring monarch has been compiled from interviews that paint a rich picture of the private and the public life of the Queen. With access to over one hundred friends and associates of the Royal Family, the authors have woven their in-depth conversations into a fascinating, comprehensive personal profile that brings vividly to life the various strands of Queen Elizabeth's life. 

We follow the story from her birth in an elegant townhouse in London's Piccadilly, through the trauma of the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, and her realization that she was the heir to the Throne. During the London blitz the Royal Family stayed in London, an action that was loved by Britons, and after the war her almost fairytale marriage to Prince Philip followed by her Coronation in 1953 in Westminster Abbey. This early life is brought vividly to life by insiders like Lady Pamela Hicks, Lady Elizabeth Longford, Michael Parker, Earl of Harewood, Philip Ziegler, and others. The years of her reign, beset by political turmoil in her beloved Commonwealth of Nations and problems nearer to home in her family, are treated sensitively. A portrait emerges of a woman whose understanding of political reality and foreign and domestic policy is wide and deep. She has been served by nine Prime Ministers from Winston Churchill to Tony Blair (who, it is certain, has both given her advice and received it in return). The Monarchy also sheds light new light on Queen Elizabeth's often strained and fractious relationships with her children and their spouses, including, of course, the Prince CharlesPrincess DianaCamilla Parker Bowles drama that riveted the world. 

Drawing on the knowledge and observations of a wide range of people, courtiers, journalists, heads of state, politicians, and close friends, this book is an intimate and meaningful tour of a remarkable life. It is also a forthright portrait of an amazing woman: the Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth II, a figure who has captured the hearts and imagination of millions.
Hardcover: 592 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.83 x 9.58 x 6.55
Publisher: Broadway Books; (January 2, )
ISBN: 0767906381

The Queen : A Biography of Elizabeth II
by Ben Pimlott
Elizabeth II has quietly become one of the longest-reigning monarchs in English history. Future historians will sort out her impact on British life and politics, but until then Ben Pimlott offers a good summation of her first seven decades. He succeeds in making the monarch seem like a living, breathing person, as opposed to the emotionless figure that she is sometimes made out to be in the media. And her long-lasting public life is much more eventful and interesting than it might seem at first glance. Intrusions into royal privacy, for example, are hardly an invention of the paparazzi. In addition to an interesting biography, The Queen provides a useful introduction to British politics in the second half of the 20th century. - Amazon.com
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1 edition (September 4, )

Dolls for the Princesses: The Story of France and Marianne
by Faith Eaton
Book Description: It is well known that the Royal Collection contains an outstanding range of dolls and dolls' houses. The story told here concerns two very special dolls -France and Marianne -which were given to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in 1938, when they were, respectively, twelve and eight years old. Intended as a tangible expression of the Entente Cordiale between Great Britain and France on the eve of World War II, the dolls and their trousseaux also acted as a showcase for the French fashion industry and the elegant world of Parisian haute couture. 

Faith Eaton, the well-known writer and lecturer on the subject of dolls and doll collecting, here describes the historical events leading up to the presentation of the dolls, their creation in the world-famous Jumeau factory, and the preparation of their vast collection of designer dresses, fur coats, hats, shoes, and miniature accessories. Contributions came from the most prestigious fashion houses of the day, including Lanvin and Cartier, Hermès and Vuitton, and the excellence of their work is clearly seen in the book's specially commissioned photography.

In her final chapter Eaton describes her own delicate conservation work, carried out over the years, to maintain the dolls' original perfection. 70 photographs and illustrations, 50 in color.
See also: Antique Dolls
Hardcover: 144 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.69 x 10.64 x 9.90
Publisher: Thames & Hudson; (November )
ISBN: 0500976171

The Queen and Di: The Untold Story
by Ingrid Seward
Ingrid Seward, a prolific writer on the English royal family, was the last journalist to interview Princess Diana before her death in August 1997. In this intriguing book, Seward gives a worm's-eye view of Diana's trouble-plagued life, layered with episodes of betrayal and illness, and she accords full sympathy to the minor noblewoman who became "the people's princess." She is still more sympathetic to Diana's sometime nemesis Queen Elizabeth II, who, in Seward's account, labored endlessly to preserve the dignity of the monarchy in the face of a family that behaved in anything but a dignified manner. 

Rising above the caricatures that color the popular press, Seward depicts a queen who tried her best to accommodate Diana--who was, it seems, never shy in voicing her displeasures and had an undeniable flair for recruiting the media in her cause, all the while protesting the press's intrusion into a fairy-tale life that "turned into a Gothic nightmare." Diana's insistence on airing her dirty laundry in public was bound to irritate the ever-sensitive queen, but more, Seward writes, "in her demands for love and sympathy, she gave self-fulfillment precedence over duty"--and for Elizabeth, dereliction of duty was the greatest possible sin one could commit. Their relationship could end only in tears; and so it did, taking much of the English public's good will toward the royal family with it. 

Sometimes racy and breathless, but intelligent all the same, Seward's account enlarges our understanding of the internal dynamics of the modern court while delivering no end of scandalous news, just as a palace chronicle should. --Gregory McNamee - Amazon.com
Publisher: Arcade Publishing; (April )

Queen Elizabeth II: A Jubilee Portrait in Stamps
by Fay Sweet

Royal Racing: The Queen and Queen Mother's Sporting Life
by Sean Smith
Hardcover: 240 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.85 x 10.08 x 7.74
Publisher: Bbc Pubns;

The Daily Life of the Queen: An Artist's Diary
by Vivien Noakes
Publisher: Trafalgar Square; (March 1, )
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Prom at the Palace - The Queen's Concerts, Buckingham Palace
from Opus Arte
(DVD)