Synopsis
Bestselling biographer and royal commentator Robert Hardman has had unique access to the world of Elizabeth II – including family, staff, advisors and even the last state visitor of her record-breaking reign, President Donald Trump himself – to produce this intimate, authoritative, richly entertaining new portrait of the late Queen in her centenary year.
As daughter, wife, mother and Sovereign, Elizabeth II lived fascinating parallel lives, both in private and in public. But she remained something of a mystery – beloved, even revered, modest yet daunting, naturally shy but globally recognizable, inscrutable and also authentic. She was grand but so familiar that we felt we knew her. Yet we would always be left asking the same question: ‘What’s she really like?’ No one has written more authoritatively on Elizabeth II than Robert Hardman. Who better to answer that question?
The only biographer to have interviewed all the senior members of the Royal Family, some of them several times, Hardman has crafted a gripping story of drama, devotion, triumph, tragedy, humour and conflict; of an outwardly stoical, inwardly complex woman whose love of family, love of country and duty to the Crown might pull her in different directions but never derailed her; a global stateswoman who wielded her great authority with charm and understatement.
Elizabeth II will explain why she was not merely the most famous woman in the world. She was one of history’s all-time greats.
Details
09 April 2026
9781035097302Reviews
An unmissable portrait of a modest and endlessly fascinating giant of modern history - from the master of royal biography. All Robert Hardman’s books have brought riveting new stories to light, none more so than this peerless new study of Elizabeth II – and in her centenary year, too.
If you read one biography on Elizabeth II, this is the one: Hardman is the chief authority on the Queen and the royal family, his knowledge unrivalled. Magnificent in style, magisterial in analysis, charming and humane in its portrait of monarch and woman, rich in fresh material, masterly insights, superb anecdotes – some hilarious, some tear-jerking, this new compact portrait of Elizabeth II is the best of the whole lot.
