An exemplary book. --Martin Amis, The New Yorker In Monarch, Robert Lacey makes you feel like you're right there--in the palace, in the castle...I was absolutely riveted. --Dominick Dunne

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor--who became Elizabeth II, Queen of England on February 6, 1952--has been loved and loathed, revered and feared, applauded and criticized by her people. Still she remained a captivating figure in the British monarchy for over seventy years.

In Monarch, a meticulously detailed portrait of Elizabeth II as both a human being and an institution, bestselling author Robert Lacey brings the queen to life as never before: as baby Lilibet learning to wave to a crowd in the Royal Mews; as a child ardently praying for a brother so as to avoid her fate; as a young woman falling in love with and marrying her cousin Philip; and as the mother-in-law of the most complicated royal of all, Princess Diana.

Featuring dozens of photographs, a family tree of the Hanoverian-Windsor-Mountbatten families, and a map that charts the location of royal castles--Monarch is an engaging, critical, and celebratory account of Elizabeth's reign that no reader of popular history should be without.