*A TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK TO WATCH IN 2026*

Queen Elizabeth II occupies a unique place in the hearts of her people, and in this new, revelatory biography, acclaimed royal historian Hugo Vickers sheds new light on the woman behind the crown.

Even as a child, Elizabeth was elegant, self-contained, and enigmatic. After a supremely happy childhood, gravitas descended with the death of her beloved grandfather and the Abdication of her uncle Edward VIII. As Vickers reveals in impeccable prose, she accepted her destiny and worked steadfastly to prepare for what was to come. On her twenty-first birthday in 1947, she made a promise to serve and kept it for a remarkable 75 years. She was steadfast and conciliatory and presided calmly over decades of change, political upheaval and family tragedy.

This major new biography is based on sixty years of close observation and research, and uses never-before-seen sources and personal recollections to illuminate her life as never before. Hugo Vickers has been described by the Financial Times as 'the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet'. This is his most incisive book yet, decoding hidden patterns in our most iconic monarch's behaviour to shed new light on her as never before.