How much do you know about your grandmother’s life? When she was young, what would she have for breakfast? When she was 40, what did her friends think of her? In Craig Brown’s new book, Voyage around the Queen, he points out Her Maj’s life has been so faithfully chronicled, that even anti-monarchists probably know more about the late Queen than their own grandparents. “Like it or not — like them or not— the royal family are under our skin”, Brown says.
In this new book, published this week, he puts Elizabeth II’s life into historical context , presenting a portrait of the monarch by exploring the recollections of those who orbited and encountered her, from the civilians to the politicians to the celebrities. It also, oddly, has a section reporting people's dreams about the Queen. Ignoring that, and moving back to actual events, the tidbits are random and varied and cover the scope of her life and reign. Some of these stories are fabulous, from Margaret Thatcher being mocked in-house (in-palace) for the depth of her curtsey to the Christmas present Prince Philip gave her in 1944. Marilyn Monroe was so nervous at the prospect of meeting the Queen that she spent all day “curtseying all over the house and even trying to talk in an English accent”. When they did meet, “within a few seconds the Queen has moved on to the next in line”. The Queen reported later that she“ felt sorry for her, because she was so nervous that she had licked all her lipstick off”.
