Description
Virginia Woolf compared her to a caterpillar; Anne Frank kept pictures of her on the wall of her annex; Jimi Hendrix played her tune; Haile Selassie gave her a gold tiara; Dirk Bogarde watched Death in Venice with her; Andy Warhol envied her fame; Donald Trump offended her; E.M. Forster confessed he would have married her, if only she had been a boy.
Queen Elizabeth II was famous for longer than anyone who has ever lived.
When people spoke of her, they spoke of themselves; when they dreamed of her, they dreamed of themselves.
She mirrored their hopes and anxieties.
To the optimist, she seemed an optimist; to the pessimist, a pessimist; to the awestruck, charismatic; and to the cynical, humdrum.
Though by nature reserved and unassuming, her presence could fill presidents and rock gods with terror.
For close to a century, she inhabited the psyche of a nation.
Combining biography, essays, cultural history, dream diaries, travelogue and satire, the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma’am Darling and One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most public yet private of sovereigns.
‘An enthralling reverie on memory, identity, coincidence and meaning – testing, teasing, charming, moving and deceptively wise’ – Rory Stewart
‘Completely and utterly brilliant and exquisitely funny and fascinating. This book is, dare I say, majestic. Craig Brown has no peers – I would curtsey to him if I met him’ – Marina Hyde
‘You wouldn’t think the world needed another book about Queen Elizabeth – but how wrong you’d be. Craig Brown’s wholly original and enthralling biography is absolute heaven from start to finish’ – India Knight
‘Craig Brown continues to reinvent the art of biography…utterly fascinating’ – Jason Cowley
Craig Brown’s book One Two Three Four won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in November 2020.
