Elizabeth The Queen: The Life Of A Modern Monarch (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
In this book you will not only find a detailed storyline of the Queen's life during her reign, but you will also find a brief history of England. I have been a long term fan of everything British and the Queen is the symbol of Britain, that's why I decided to read her biography. The book not only told me a behind the scenes story of the most important events in the royal family's life but it also showed me a different side of the Queen herself. After reading this book I feel more closer to the queen because I saw her in a different light. This book was a basic chronicling of the Queen's life, relatively thorough but with no surprises or anything of real depth. What I found completely annoying was that its slant was so pro-monarchy that I felt it could have been written by the Queen's press office. The entire royal family is discussed in mostly glowing terms and the offsprings' scandals (of which there were a number) were glossed over and the family was mostly given a pass. Outsiders, especially Diana and Fergie, were vilified. This author could have been taking dictation from Charles himself as she described Diana as mentally ill and paranoid. If you think your husband is having an affair and then it turns out he DID, that's not paranoia. I don't mind a person's faults being pointed out, but the author chose to show every wart on Diana and then paint Camilla as someone who has earned the country's respect. Bedell-Smith also showed bias against the Labour Party, pointing out where their governments had failed, but seemed to always depict the Tory Party as cleaning up the former's messes when they reached office. A completely unbalanced biography that tells readers little more than could be gleaned from Wikipedia and a couple Google searches.
What do You think about Elizabeth The Queen: The Life Of A Modern Monarch (2012)?
Not great - read like a 500- page wikipedia entry.
—lorri
