Elizabeth the Queen

The Life of a Modern Monarch

By: Sally Bedell Smith

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This “excellent, all-embracing” (The New York Times) biography of Queen Elizabeth II is a magisterial study of the woman known only from a distance—and a captivating window into her decades-long reign.

From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II was the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well did we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last twentieth and twenty-first centuries with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.

In Elizabeth the Queen, we meet the young girl who suddenly becomes “heiress presumptive” when her uncle abdicates the throne. We meet the thirteen-year-old Lilibet as she falls in love with a young navy cadet named Philip and becomes determined to marry him, even though her parents prefer wealthier English aristocrats. We see the teenage Lilibet repairing army trucks during World War II and standing with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. We see the young Queen struggling to balance the demands of her job with her role as the mother of two young children.

Sally Bedell Smith brings us inside the palace doors and into the Queen’s daily routines—the “red boxes” of documents she reviewed each day, the weekly meetings she had with twelve prime ministers, her physically demanding tours abroad, and the constant scrutiny of the press—as well as her personal relationships: with her husband, Prince Philip, the love of her life; her children and their often-disastrous marriages; her grandchildren and friends.

An Enchanted Life of a Queen and Duty

If you could sum up Elizabeth the Queen in three words, what would they be?

Duty, Motherhood, and Love of Country

Who was your favorite character and why?

Elizabeth the Queen of course!

What does Rosalyn Landor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brought compassion, reality and an incredible sense of personal knowlwedge and intimacy of a woman who will be remembered for generations.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The description of Elizabeth's relationship with her Father and losing him so young and being thrust into a role she may not have been quite ready for.

Any additional comments?

I would definately and likely be reading this again.

I love the book. I enjoy being read to .

I love this book. I love the ideal being read to since my eyes won't allow me to read very long.

Amazing

What a treat this book was. I kept walking just to hear more of it. Loved every chapter. The narrator was perfect as well!

The Crown

Loved it! Very thorough history. Very long book with lots of interesting facts. Well worth listening to.

Yawn

The book is interesting but the narration is so boring and uninteresting. She just drolls on and sounds so dull.