Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch

This biography of Queen Elizabeth II examines the woman behind the public image and her decades-long reign. From her ascension to the throne in 1952 at age twenty-five, Elizabeth II faced intense public scrutiny. Drawing on interviews and previously unrevealed documents, Sally Bedell Smith provides an intimate look at both the public and private lives of the Queen, who led her country and Commonwealth through the conflicts and changes of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book traces key moments in Elizabeth's life: her status as heiress presumptive after her uncle's abdication, her childhood relationship with Philip, a young navy cadet whom she determined to marry despite her parents' preference for wealthier English aristocrats, her service repairing army trucks during World War II, and her presence with Winston Churchill at Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. Smith also explores the young Queen's efforts to balance her official duties with motherhood. The biography details the Queen's daily work—reviewing red boxes of documents, holding weekly meetings with twelve prime ministers, conducting physically demanding tours abroad, and managing constant press attention—alongside her personal relationships with Prince Philip, her children, grandchildren, and friends.