Elizabeth : An intimate portrait from the writer who knew her and her family for over fifty years

A personal account of the life and character of Britain's longest-reigning monarch, from the writer who knew her family best.

Gyles Brandreth first met the Queen in 1968, when he was twenty.

Over the next fifty years he met her many times, both at public and at private events. Through his friendship with the Duke of Edinburgh, he was given privileged access to Elizabeth II.

He kept a record of all those encounters, and his conversations with the Queen over the years, his meetings with her family and friends, and his observations of her at close quarters are what make this very personal account of her extraordinary life uniquely fascinating.

From her childhood in the 1920s to the era of Harry and Meghan in the 2020s, from her war years at Windsor Castle to her death at Balmoral, this is both a record of a tumultuous century of royal history and a truly intimate portrait of a remarkable woman.

Author: Gyles Brandreth

United Kingdom, Great Britain, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), c 2000 to c 2010, c 2010 to c 2020, Biography: royalty, British & Irish history, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000

Published on 16 Apr 2026 by Penguin Books Ltd.