In November 2017 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated
their 70th wedding anniversary. As a 13-year-old Princess, she fell
in love with Prince Philip of Greece, an ambitious naval cadet, and
they married when she was 21; when she suddenly became Queen at 25,
their lives changed forever. Philip has been her great support, but
fortunately she also had a solid foundation that helped prepare her
for a life dedicated to duty. With previously unpublished material
and unique memories from friends and relatives who have known her
since childhood, this book looks afresh and in richer depth at her
life as Princess, glittering yet isolating. Vivid detail and
anecdotes reveal more about her, the era in which she grew up and
the people who shaped her life. The archives of royal confidante
Lady Desborough and Private Secretary Sir Alec Hardinge reveal
unseen letters from the Princess and the royal family, giving
intimate insights into their lives and minds. Here is her sadness
at the death of her nanny, Alah; her joy in her children; her
melancholy as a young wife when Philip returns to his ship; the
sensitivities of her father. Here too is the Princess with the
aristocratic Bowes Lyons, her mother's family, who featured
significantly in her life, yet rarely appear in books. The author
sheds new light on anomalies surrounding the birth of her mother
who, it has been asserted, was the daughter of the family's cook.
The strain of wartime on the royal family is highlighted in new
material contrasting the stance of the Princess's uncles, the Duke
of Windsor and David Bowes Lyon. In contrast with her upbringing,
Philip's early life was turbulent, although their lives shared some
interesting parallels. Lady Butter, a relation of Philip and friend
of the Princess, recalls time spent with each of them; and
unpublished documents show how intelligence agencies considered the
socialist influence of the Mountbattens on Philip and thus on the
royal court. More importantly, Princess traces how an "ordinary
country girl" suddenly found herself in the line of succession to
the crown at age ten when her Uncle, the Duke of Windsor, abdicated
the throne to his brother Albert ("Bertie" to family and friends),
the once and future King George VI. Breaking new ground for a
future English monarch, she became the first female member of the
royal family to serve on active duty during World War II, and broke
tradition by sending her children away to school rather having them
privately tutored. Indeed, by the time of her coronation in 1953,
she had already achieved a "broad and solid background from which
she could draw during the rapidly changing times of her long reign.
Out of a little princess they made a Queen."
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