Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II

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On February 6th, 2022 ,she marks 70 years on the Throne. Robert Hardman, the acclaimed and respected author of Her Majesty and Queen of the World has already examined the Queen as a modern monarch and her role as a stateswoman abroad. Now, he wraps up the full story of one of the undisputed greats in a thousand years of monarchy. To celebrate this unprecedented anniversary, events and initiatives will take place throughout the year, culminating in a four-day UK bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June. With fascinating revelations from those who knew her best and special access to unseen royal papers granted by Elizabeth II herself, author and royal expert Robert Hardman explores the full, astonishing life of our longest reigning monarch in this authoritative yet intimate biography. Elizabeth was dutiful, reserved, reluctant to be the centre of attention, reticent with emotions and opinions.” The Queen emerges as remarkably robust, even today. One aide remarked there was no danger of her going to pieces over Philip’s death. “She is much stronger than that.” The head of state who appeared on film with James Bond at the 2012 Olympics is still able to adapt to change, as shown by her new-found enthusiasm for Zoom. Hardman’s exhaustive and endlessly enthusiastic biography paints a vivid picture of a phenomenal sovereign.

Hardman briskly dismisses the suggestion that the Queen neglected her children Charles and Anne when small. As for the affair of Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, Hardman claims that the story of “star-crossed lovers” was a myth invented by Princess Margaret after the event. In fact, Margaret herself made the decision not to marry Townsend, and the Queen supported her throughout. As for Lord Altrincham’s magazine article criticising the Queen, whom he described as a “priggish schoolgirl”, Hardman considers that its impact has been wildly exaggerated. On 6th February this year Her Majesty The Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth. All of these describe Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned through more seismic social change than any monarch since 1066 (Charles I included). From the Abdication to the Sussexes, she has witnessed family crises on a scale not seen since the days of George III. I need to start this review by saying that I have read numerous books about Queen Elizabeth, as well as about many other members of the English royal family. As an American, I have always enjoyed reading about Great Britain, its people and customs. This includes lots of books that take place there. Queen Of Our Times is the definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth II by one of Britain’s leading royal authorities, Robert Hardman. This commemorative edition includes an epilogue reflecting upon Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, her passing and her funeral.Queen Elizabeth's reign is the longest by any British monarch and the longest by any female head of the State. The world has changed a lot from 1952 when she became the Queen, and she will always be remembered for her sense of duty and dedication for more than 70 years when she was the Queen. The author is also telling us about the glorious relationship queen had with the American people in this book.

Mit einem angenehmen Schreibstil führt Robert Hardmann uns sachlich, aber informativ durch einen Querschnitt des Lebens der Queen. There are plenty of good stories. Who knew that Thelma Holland, who did the Queen’s makeup for her Coronation, was the daughter-in-law of Oscar Wilde? There’s an anecdote about the sharp-eyed Queen inspecting film footage of Queen Victoria at one of her Jubilees. “That’s interesting,” she remarked after a pause. “They had eight horses on the landau.” Or a glimpse of the Queen on a Pacific cruise in the 1970s helping one of her equerries to dress up as a Polynesian beauty. The Queen was kneeling on the floor, and “he was stripped to the waist and she was fitting a brassiere on him.”Robert has written this book in the best possible way without showing any bias, including all the controversies that the Queen had to face. Diana's funeral and controversies related to Prince Andrew and Prince Harry-Meghan Markle are all discussed in detail here.

You can get a feel for Hardman’s style and content in this article, published by the Daily Mail on June 1, 2022, the eve of the Queens Jubilee Celebrations announced in the opening statement of this review: The four days of celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on The Queen’s 70 years of service.” ( https://www.royal.uk/platinum-jubilee..., Retrieved 8/6/2022) Hardman distils Elizabeth's complex life in to a must-read study of dynastic survival and renewal. It is a portrait of a world leader who remains as intriguing today as the day she came to the Throne at age twenty-five. There is of course, an ethical question at the center of the constitutional/ parliamentary monarchy. It is this: Recognizing all the benefits of this system, particularly those realized through a capable long reigning monarch, the great percentage of which cannot be realized by an appointed rather inherited royalty: Perhaps the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, have strengthened the monarchy by leaving. They have demonstrated that your fate is not completely sealed by birth into the State system because, whether already King or merely in the line of succession, you can step away from public service to the monarchy. Likewise, perhaps the expulsion of Prince Andrew for his long-documented abuses of status indicates the family can be self-monitoring to maintain their beneficent role? Meanwhile, the success of the Queen, her husband Prince Philip, her daughter Princess Anne and son Prince Edward (with his wife Sophie), and Prince William (and his wife, Katherine) highlight that the role can be fulfilled well.For the Jubilee, I also watched a few documentaries about Queen Elizabeth. My favorite was, The Unseen Queen, 2022.