Items related to The Queen & Us: The Second Elizabethan Age
At the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 Nigel Nicolson was in his mid-thirties and already a successful publisher, a left-leaning Conservative MP (elected to Parliament the day King George VI died) and an author. He moved close to royal circles yet was not part of the Court. He has kept a daily diary throughout these years and has observed how a nation that still boasted an empire gradually down-sized to a sovereign state that is now part of the European community. In 1953 the Queen ruled over a country still recovering from the depradations of world war II. The royal family kept its private life private. How it has all changed since then! Why has it changed? asks Nicolson. Is it a change for the good? Should we continue to have a royal family? Then there are the social changes, the technological innovations. Nicolson comments on them, writing with a wry sense of humour and a keen sense of history.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"...a unique quality of authenticity...the book has perfect pitch."
— Peregrine Worsthorne, THE SPECTATOR
"...elegant and engaging... a handy distillation and an essay about a
relationship with royalty which is as persistent as it is, on occasion,
manifestly absurd." — Ben Pimlott, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"As an overall picture of the Queen in her constitutional and family
circumstances, it is excellent... Weidenfeld & Nicolson... are to be
congratulated in publishing such a restrained but authoritative work on the
Queen's anniversary." Paul Minet, ROYALTY DIGEST
Book Description:
— Peregrine Worsthorne, THE SPECTATOR
"...elegant and engaging... a handy distillation and an essay about a
relationship with royalty which is as persistent as it is, on occasion,
manifestly absurd." — Ben Pimlott, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"As an overall picture of the Queen in her constitutional and family
circumstances, it is excellent... Weidenfeld & Nicolson... are to be
congratulated in publishing such a restrained but authoritative work on the
Queen's anniversary." Paul Minet, ROYALTY DIGEST
In this book, which is published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation, Nigel Nicolson writes about the changes that have taken place in the public's attitude to the royal family during his lifetime, and their response to those changes. He asks: What is the Queen like? What does she do? What is the future of the Monarchy? In answering these questions, Nicolson draws on his own memories of the royal family, public and private, and on the diaries of his father, Sir Harold Nicolson, who wrote the official biography of George V, and witnessed at first hand the drama of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. But the main part of the book deals with the Queen herself - her upbringing, her accession to the throne at the age of twenty-five, her relations with her ten Prime Ministers (Churchill to Blair), what remains of the royal prerogatives, the luxury of her life, her travels abroad as Head of the Commonwealth, her many formal functions at home, and her personal life, character and interests. Nicolson also examines the influence on the royal style of other members of her family - the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother, and especially Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. In a concluding section, he looks at the future of the Monarchy, how necessary it is, how events (like Diana's death and the Queen's Golden Jubilee) affect its popularity, and what might be done to sustain the Crown's role in our rapidly changing society. He ends on a note of hope, qualified by this dilemma: We want our royals to behave like ordinary people, but if they do, can we go on bowing and curtseying to people just like ourselves? Illustrated 14.99 in UK only [Author photo] Nigel Nicolson was born in 1917, the son of Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West. He has been writing and publishing for more than fifty years - his books include the edited letters of his parents and an account of their unorthodox marriage, Portrait of a Marriage. He has also written several biographies, including Virginia Woolf and Mary Curzon (which won the Whitbread Prize), as well as books on politics and the arts. He was Editor of the six volumes of Virginia Woolf's letters. For some years he was a Member of Parliament. After the war, he founded, with George Weidenfeld, the publishing firm of Weidenfeld & Nicolson. He published his memoirs, Long Life, in 1997. He lives at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, now a property of the National Trust. Weidenfeld & Nicolson The Orion Publishing Group Orion House 5 Upper Saint Martin's Lane London, WC2H 9EA --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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- PublisherBedford Square Books
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 1908318198
- ISBN 13 9781908318190
- BindingPaperback
- Rating
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