The Real Elizabeth

This U.S. title (UK title: Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and Her People) is misleading. What Marr (The Making of Modern Britain), host of an eponymous BBC Sunday morning interview program, offers up is an enjoyable book about the British monarchy as embodied by Queen Elizabeth II, who will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee—the 60th anniversary of her accession—next June. There are no intimate revelations and no unmasking of the Queen as different from what we'd guessed. Quite the contrary, Marr reinforces our sense of Queen Elizabeth as a woman of constancy, possessed of enormous endurance and self-discipline. He shows how deeply she keeps herself aware of the ship of state, even if she is not in any real sense its captain. With anecdotes and quotations (many also in Sally Bedell Smith's Elizabeth the Queen, reviewed below), Marr takes a thematic approach, e.g., "The Queen in the World," along an overall chronological path. VERDICT Recommended for fans of today's British monarchy, who will come away further admiring the queen's mind for detail, her openness for enabling the royal household (and her tax obligations) to evolve, her nuanced relationship with 13 successive prime ministers, and her strong marriage. Those who just love the gossip may prefer to look elsewhere. [See Prepub Alert, 7/18/11.]—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal