Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography by William Shawcross was published in hardback in 2009, six years after being commissioned by the Queen. The paperback came out in July 2010. The Queen Mother is a remarkable figure in the history of the monarchy. Born in 1900 as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, she married Bertie, Prince Albert the Duke of York in 1923 and became Duchess of York. When his brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, the couple and their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, were suddenly propelled onto the throne, something they had not expected nor wanted. As King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, they saw ...  Read the complete review

Even the most ardent admirers of the Queen Mother may find themselves skipping some of the thousand-plus pages of this magisterial biography. It is, as the title proclaims, an official biography, a work of record that will answer almost any question on the life of the longest-lived (at the time of her death) member of the Royal Family that the a general reader might wish to ask. The historian of the future will be well served by the scrupulous footnotes that particularise the legions of minor royals, politicians and civil servants mentioned (however fleetingly) in the text. Never was research more thorough: Shawcross gives detailed itineraries of foreign visits, ...  Read the complete review