The Queen: Her Life, a review by Shelley

I loved Andrew Morton’s book Elizabeth & Margaret, so when I got this from NetGalley I was super excited. I liked how in both books Mr. Morton corrected untruths and exaggerations as told in the Netflix series “The Crown”. Of course, I requested and got approved for it long before the Queen passed away but her death just made it all the more interesting to read. As a Canadian, I have always been interested in the royal family as we are part of the Commonwealth.

I liked how the book showed both the good and bad about being a royal and about the Queen herself. She wasn’t Miss Perfect and has her bad side but she also had a wonderful sense of humour, an admirable love of animals, and a fierce obligation to family and the firm. Her love of horse racing is something she and I share as I come from a horseracing-loving family, in fact, my brother is a racing judge here in Ontario, Canada.

Even though I didn’t really learn anything new about her majesty I still found her life and relationships with those in the know very interesting and thought the author did an amazing job with his research. My favourite tidbit from this book was when I learned that during WWII then Princess Elizabeth joined the men for an ice hockey game on the frozen lake near York Cottage, Elizabeth scored a goal and then she and Margaret joined in a snowball fight. It was those little moments in the book that made this such a pleasure to read. I would read pretty much anything Andrew Morton writes about the Royals.