Young Elizabeth

by Kate Williams

Overview

We can hardly imagine a Britain without Elizabeth II on the throne. It seems to be the job she was born for. And yet for much of her early life the young princess did not know the role that her future would hold. She was our accidental Queen.Elizabeth's determination to share in the struggles of her people marked her out from a young age. Her father initially refused to let her volunteer as a nurse during the Blitz, but relented when she was 18 and allowed her to work as a mechanic and truck driver for the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. It was her forward-thinking approach that ensured that her coronation was televised, against the advice of politicians at the time.Kate Williams reveals how the 25-year-old young queen carved out a lasting role for herself amid the changes of the 20th century. Her monarchy would be a very different one to that of her parents and grandparents, and its continuing popularity in the 21st century owes much to the intelligence and elusive personality of this remarkable woman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605988924
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/15/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	294,586
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Kate Williams is the author of the New York Times bestseller Becoming Queen Victoria, which was the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She is also the author of Ambition&Desire, a biography of Josephine Bonaparte. Kate works as CNN's British royalty and historical expert. She lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

08/24/2015
Williams (Becoming Queen Victoria), British historian and biographer, dives into the life of the U.K.’s reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, zeroing in on her childhood and young adulthood and portraying those years as the most pivotal of Elizabeth’s life. As a young royal, Elizabeth was ”brought up to be a good aristocratic wife”; her uncle, David, the Prince of Wales, was to be king, and her father wasn’t expected to hold any particular influence on the crown. But when David abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth’s father was named the new king, and she was suddenly thrust in line for the throne. Williams documents the ease with which Elizabeth, with her penchant for order and composure, fell into her new role. The author’s research is all-encompassing, but the life of Elizabeth herself is a bit muted. There is nothing particularly new or exciting in this biography; Williams writes a simple piece on an already very well documented royal life. Agency: Zoe Pagnamenta Literary Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"The future Elizabeth I served one of the most dramatic apprenticeships of any queen of England, with her life subject to the twists and turns of the unstable politics of her day. In Young Elizabeth, Nicola Tallis takes a forensic view of the princess’s difficult early life, using her considerable expertise as an historian to paint a dramatic and believable portrait of a girl whose future never seemed certain. Nicola Tallis brings to life the girl who would later become England’s most iconic ruler.

Dr. Elizabeth Norton

"A remarkable achievement. Tallis brings to life the glowing girl behind the iconic mask of the later Virgin Queen. With a wealth of detail unfamiliar even to Elizabethan scholars, it represents a vital contribution to our understanding of the woman and her age. Fresh, vibrant, and scholarly, this is history at its very best.

Sarah Gristwood

A
briskly written, admirably probing, and sympathetically voiced exploration of the elements that went into the formation of the woman we now know to be a very successful monarch.

Booklist (starred review)

It is a fascinating story.

Good Book Guide

Fascinating insights make this a worthwhile,
enjoyable read.

The Daily Telegraph

An accomplished history, told with literary grace and intellectual confidence.

BBC History Magazine

An airy and affectionate account of Princess
Lilibet's upbringing and ascension to the throne.

The Sunday Telegraph

Williams has penned a biography that draws us in and makes us feel as though we're intimately acquainted with a woman who is recognized by millions but truly known by just a few.

Bookreporter.com

Brilliant. A passionate and poignant story of a glittering family on the precipice of a vanished world. Spellbinding, gripping and beautiful. A must read.

Lisa Hilton

A big juicy drama set on the eve of the First World War. Kate Williams paints a spellbinding portrait of a family clinging on desperately to their privileged way of life.

Good Housekeeping (UK)

Williams keeps her story moving and the result is a vivid portrait of a perennially fascinating period of history.

The Observer (UK)

A well-written account of the Queen's early life.

The Lady

Wartime-saga lovers will be kept on their toes to the end.

The Daily Mail

Kate Williams in a vivid writer, conjuring atmosphere through scents and tastes as well as period props. The enjoyable elements of a sweeping family saga are present, but Williams also develops a sense of the emotionaland psychological revolutions, both collective and individual, that were catalysed by the conflict.

The Times Literary Supplement

Celia de Witt is the 15 year old daughter of a German born industrialist and his aristocratic wife who live in a magnificent country house; her elder sister is about to have a grand society wedding. What could go wrong? The First World War, that's what. Shades of 'Downton,' with a dash of Atonement.”

Tatler

The new novel by the historian Kate Williams, is an epic story about a young woman whose idyllic world is shattered by the First World War.

Sunday Telegraph

Williams is too good a historian for melodramatic sentimentality; trusting the historical detail, the reader can relax into a well-paced, truly affecting narrative. Richly detailed, light of foot, Williams tantalises withloose ends and disturbs with shocking shadows.

The Independent

This terrific saga comes with a fascinating twist. Williams has a gift for showing how great movements in history affect the lives of people caught up in them.

The Times (London)

A beautifully conjured family saga. Fans of ‘Downton Abbey’ will love it.

Alison Weir

"The author's research is all-encompassing " —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

10/15/2015
Elizabeth II (b. 1926) was never supposed to be queen. When her uncle abdicated, Elizabeth's father, George VI, became king and Elizabeth heir to the throne. Precocious, neat, and conscientious, Elizabeth seemed tailor-made for royalty and was the darling of the public. Though treated as a child well into her teens, the current queen exhibited an old soul at a young age, eager to do the right thing and always anxious to please. Her courtship with Prince Philip of Greece was a rare occasion when she insisted on her way. Williams (Ambition and Desire; Becoming Queen Victoria) traces the path of Elizabeth, from a girl playing pony in her nursery to the woman who accepted the throne at age 26. This biography, previously published in the UK, assumes a prior knowledge of the royal lineage. A family tree, starting with Queen Victoria, and a short glossary of royalty-related terms would have been a welcome addition. Offering a gracious yet honest viewpoint of the strengths and weaknesses of the longest-reigning monarch, Williams tours Elizabeth's beginning years and illuminates the often overlooked humanity of her personal life. VERDICT This eloquent and engaging account will appeal to those interested in British history and the early life of Queen Elizabeth II.—Stacy Shaw, Orange, CA

Library Journal

2015-08-09
Early-life biography of the queen, who "in one sense…is the twentieth century." As CNN's British royalty expert Williams (Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte, 2014, etc.) acknowledges, Queen Elizabeth II has not lacked biographers. While breaking no new ground, the author's lively, gossipy narrative offers a sympathetic portrait of a young woman whose path to the throne resulted from two unexpected events: the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, which made her father King George VI; and her father's early death, which elevated 25-year-old Elizabeth to queen of England. As princesses, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret, grew up sheltered, doted upon, and happily carefree. Their parents saw education as irrelevant for girls who were destined to do nothing more than marry well. Their governess was charged with tutoring them for an hour and a half per day. When Elizabeth was 10, however, her prospects changed. As royal watchers well know, Edward VIII, much preferring a glittery social whirl to the tedium of kingship, claimed that he could not rule without the support of the woman he loved, the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. Like the royal family, Williams characterizes Edward and Wallis as spoiled, selfish, and irresponsible. Edward's threat to abdicate was, Williams writes, "a bluffing game." But the cabinet would not concede, he was forced to abdicate, and his brother was forced into a position for which he felt ill-prepared. As royal heiress, Elizabeth's education somewhat intensified: she was sent to Eton twice a week to learn constitutional history. Socially, though, she remained sheltered (she did not leave her nursery bedroom until she turned 18), which Williams believes explains her intense romantic crush, at the age of 13, on debonair Prince Philip of Greece; they married when she turned 21. The author sees Elizabeth as exemplary: although "not born for the role," she has fulfilled it "with grace and dignity." A celebratory and entertaining royal biography.

Kirkus Reviews