Overview

From one of the funniest writers of our time, the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of One Two Three Four and Ma'am Darling turns his attention to Queen Elizabeth II in an unforgettable and fascinating biography. 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

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9780008557508

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Reviews

Praise for Craig Brown: ‘The most screamingly funny living writer’ Barry Humphries, Mail on Sunday ‘The greatest satirist since Max Beerbohm’ Elaine Showalter Guardian ‘Craig Brown's humour will outlive his victims. His journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now’ David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph ‘A genius … in every instance, the skill of the parodist dwarfs any achievement attributable to his subject’ Auberon Waugh, Daily Telegraph ‘He is the comic writer the rest of us admire from afar, and envy beyond the bounds of reason. How does he do it?’ Markus Berkmann, Spectator ‘Britain’s wittiest satirist’ The Times ‘[Craig Brown] has an acutely attuned comic ear, an unmatched eye for spotting the absurdities of human behaviour and a bloodhound-grade nose for sniffing out phoniness and pretension’ Mail On Sunday

Praise for Craig Brown: 'In my wilder moments, I wonder if he hasn’t reinvented the biographical form' Rachel Cooke, Observer ‘The most screamingly funny living writer’ Barry Humphries, Mail on Sunday ‘The greatest satirist since Max Beerbohm’ Elaine Showalter Guardian ‘Craig Brown's humour will outlive his victims. His journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now’ David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph ‘A genius … in every instance, the skill of the parodist dwarfs any achievement attributable to his subject’ Auberon Waugh, Daily Telegraph ‘He is the comic writer the rest of us admire from afar, and envy beyond the bounds of reason. How does he do it?’ Markus Berkmann, Spectator ‘Britain’s wittiest satirist’ The Times ‘[Craig Brown] has an acutely attuned comic ear, an unmatched eye for spotting the absurdities of human behaviour and a bloodhound-grade nose for sniffing out phoniness and pretension’ Mail On Sunday

'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

‘Brown sees, correctly, that comedy is a part of all that is serious, and by laughing at things we have a better understanding of their nature … Most of all in this magnificent book we have a sense of the monarch being looked at freshly, without any prejudice or point to prove, and with a real understanding of human complexity … It is hard to think that a more thoughtful book on its subject will be published for many years’ PHILIP HENSHER, SPECTATOR 'A very unusual masterpiece … teems with facts, humour and intelligence … I enjoyed A Voyage Around the Queen so much that I wished it were longer than its 672 pages' CHRISTOPHER HOWSE, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Brown gives an astute account of the wellnigh unaccountable public life of an intensely private person … In any case, he has performed the task with admirable zeal. The book is crammed with facts, statistics, anecdotes, and much of it is gloriously bizarre…' JOHN BANVILLE, GUARDIAN 'Rich in vignettes, but also has a revelatory depth … thought-provoking, perhaps even deep … a vivid and remarkably telling study of our late head of state, and even more so of the people she reigned over for 70 years' STEPHEN SMITH, OBSERVER 'Brown is as sharp and dryly funny as his subject … fun, fizzy and told in Brown’s inimitable insidery, gossipy style' HARRIET ADDISON, EVENING STANDARD 'Wonderfully readable … At once sympathetic but clear-eyed, kind but sharp, Brown has given us a serious reflection on the nature of power and why institutions such as the monarchy, in the right hands, can provide a society with stability and a sense of continuity, especially in turbulent times' MARGARET MACMILLAN, NEW STATESMAN 'Celebrated author Craig Brown delves into the fascinating public and private life of the late monarch in this biography that’s witty, sharp and unforgettable'WOMAN’S OWN

Author Information

Craig Brown has been writing the Private Eye celebrity diary since 1989. He has also written parodies for many other publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Vanity Fair, The Times and The Guardian. He is the author of several books, most recently ‘The Lost Diaries’ and ‘One on One’.

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