For fans of the Netflix series The Crown and from the New York Times best-selling author of 17 Carnations comes a captivating biography of Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret.
Elizabeth & Margaret: The intimate world of the Windsor sisters by Andrew Morton is a book I was dying to read anyway and when I was offered a place on this tour I was so pleased!
They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called ‘Lillibet’. And bow to her wishes.
Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister’s antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret’s struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system – and her fraught relationship with its expectations – was often a source of tension. Famously, the queen had to inform Margaret that the church and government would not countenance her marrying a divorcee, Group Captain Peter Townsend, forcing Margaret to choose between keeping her title and royal allowances or her divorcee lover.
From the idyll of their cloistered early life, through their hidden war-time lives, into the divergent paths they took following their father’s death and Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne, this book explores their relationship over the years. Andrew Morton’s latest biography offers unique insight into these two drastically different sisters – one resigned to duty and responsibility, the other resistant to it – and the lasting impact they have had on the Crown, the royal family and the ways it adapted to the changing mores of the 20th century.
The royal family is a long-established institution for the United Kingdom and for so long they have lived in the public eye. The one person who has lived the longest within that whirlwind public life is Queen Elizabeth herself. This book gives us an in-depth look at the Queen and her dearly beloved sister Princess Margaret. It begins with the birth of Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, ‘Lillibet’ and it ends with the death of her sister. Since being a child I have been so interested in royalty, past and present. Programmes, films and books. I have devoured them all as I did this book. Andrew Morton has made his name with the royal books he has written. He has done his research and written a book that is very well done.
If anyone has seen The Crown and enjoyed it, this is a book for you. The difference being is that the facts in this book are more concrete as The Crown is only ‘based’ upon facts, they are embellished as per dramatic license. A great read that clarifies certain things and has the treasured pictures included also. I had the best time looking through those.
Thank you to Love Book Tours and Michael O Mara Books for my copy of this beautiful book.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 