Elizabeth the Queen

Sally Bedell Smith's biography of Queen Elizabeth II traces her life from the unexpected shift to "heiress presumptive" after her uncle's abdication through more than sixty years on the throne.

Drawing on interviews and previously unpublished material, the book follows her courtship with Prince Philip, her coronation, and her working relationships with a succession of prime ministers, alongside the daily routines of monarchy: the red boxes of state documents, weekly audiences at Buckingham Palace, and decades of overseas tours.

It also covers her role as head of the Commonwealth and the pressures of sustained press scrutiny on her public duties and private family life.