Lyons Press: Princess (ePub)

I always felt a small connection to Queen Elizabeth II., because she was the only 'celebrity' I knew that shared my birthday. My other classmates could say that they have their birthday together with Madonna, one from New Kids on the Block or Vanilla Ice. One of my classmates was especially proud that he was born on the exact date Elvis Presley died. And me? When someone asked me about my birthday I always said: one day after H*tler, one day before Lenin and together with the British Queen.

As long as I 'know' her, she is an old lady with a hat, that seldomly smiles and is even rarely waving on the pictures. So reading about the first 26 years of her life should be quite informative. I've seen "The King's Speech", thus I knew a bit about her father and mother, and of course also why he became King in the first place. But that's about it.

This biography even tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II. mother's birth and how she became the wife of Prince Albert.
You learn about major events in their lives, and what they wore on that occasion. You come to know which presents Princess Elizabeth received for birthdays and christmas (and where this was celebrated), which subjects she was taught in, what duties and appointments she had to keep when she became Heiress Presumptive and which speeches she gave. And what fun it was to celebrate the ending of World War II, when she was allowed to mingle with the cheering crowd 'incognito' roaming the streets of London.

You hear the names of countless of relatives and/or people working for the Royals. That is sometimes a bit confusing and I constantly checked Wikipedia to read more about who is the child of whom and how are they related to Elizabeth. I did know that Elizabeth and Prince Philip are related, thanks to the 'grandmother of Europe' Queen Victoria. And after reading this book is makes perfectly sense that Elizabeth chose as a husband someone she and her family knew practically since she was born. Where else should she meet a suitable man, since she has no normal social life like her peers.

Since the brief description of the books starts with Elizabeth's love for Philip, I taught that this books will give a real inside into how they were courting. But although we follow both of their lives very closely, you learn next to nothing about their blooming relationship. Philips visits to the Royal family are stated, as well as the fact that he exchanged letters with Elizabeth and also her mother, who was then the Queen. And then at one point they somehow agreed that they were now engaged. But we don't 'witness' the actual engagement nor any single courting or even date. Probably because the sources of the author were not present themselves on those occasions, and I doubt that Elizabeth ever let someone have a peek into her personal love letters (but I'm sure she still keeps them somewhere, all the letters Philips must have written her while he was on a battleship fighting in World War II).

Thus I do understand why such personal things are not included in this biography, but at the same time it therefore feels like a compilation of many many facts (and some of them quite interesting) but not as if I got to know Queen Elizabeth so much better now. You can read between the lines a bit, and even get a glimpse at her personality as a child and teenager. But I expected a bit more I guess. I would give the book a 3.5 star rating. Since it is really really lot of work to research so many many details, and I acknowledge this effort, I round it up to 4 stars.