Young Elizabeth

'Rich with princess anecdotes... energised, nostalgic storytelling' Sunday Telegraph

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.

Kate Williams explores the sheltered upbringing of the young princess, her complicated relationship with her sister, Princess Margaret, and her dependence on her nanny. She details the profound and devastating impact of the abdication crisis, where at the impressionable age of ten, Elizabeth's position changed overnight: she was now heiress to the throne.

Elizabeth's monarchy would be a very different one to that of her parents and grandparents. As Kate Williams shows, its continuing popularity in the twenty-first century owes much to the intelligence, fortitude and elusive personality of this remarkable woman.