Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History

A major new biography of the late monarch by "the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet" (The Financial Times). Queen Elizabeth II occupies a unique place in the hearts of people around the world, and in this groundbreaking biography a century after her birth, acclaimed royal historian Hugo Vickers sheds new light on the woman behind the greatest reign in British history. Based on six decades of close research into her life and reign, this master work contains not only archival research and close personal observation but many hours of conversation with those who knew and worked with The Queen. After a supremely happy decade of early childhood, a certain gravitas descended with the death of her beloved grandfather, George V, and the Abdication of her uncle Edward VIII. As Vickers reveals in impeccable prose, she accepted her destiny and worked steadfastly to prepare for what was to come, dedicating her life to the service of the Commonwealth. On her twenty-first birthday in 1947, she made a promise to serve and kept it for a remarkable seventy-five years.