Young Elizabeth

The Making of the Queen

By: Kate Williams

Narrated by: Kate Williams

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

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. She was our accidental queen.

Elizabeth's determination to share in the struggles of her people marked her out from a young age. Her father initially refused to let her volunteer as a nurse during the Blitz but relented when she was 18, allowing her to work as a mechanic and truck driver for the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. It was her forward-thinking approach that ensured that her coronation was televised, against the advice of politicians at the time.

In Young Elizabeth, Kate Williams reveals how the 25-year-old young queen carved out a lasting role for herself amid the changes of the 20th century. Her monarchy would be a very different one from that of her parents and grandparents, and its continuing popularity in the 21st century owes much to the intelligence and elusive personality of this remarkable woman.

©2012 Kate Williams (P)2015 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"The author's research is all-encompassing...." ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting

This book was written for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2012. It is not an official biography and the Queen was not interviewed for the book. It just presents known information about the Queen.

The Queen was born in 1926 and was never expected to be Queen until the 1936 abdication of her uncle King Edward VIII. Edward’s younger brother and Elizabeth’s father became King. She then started her training to become the monarch. She drove ambulances during World War II. She became Queen in 1952. The book concludes with Elizabeth becoming Queen. The Queen is a suburb horsewoman as is Princess Anne who was the first Royal to compete in the Olympics in 1976. HRH Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips competed in the Olympics in 2012; all three women have won many medals in equestrian competitions.

The book is well written and researched. It provides an overview of the life of the Queen. Williams writes in a light easy to read manner with humor and gossip. There is no new information; Williams presents the official information but her easy to read style makes it enjoyable. Williams has written a biography of Queen Victoria. Kate Williams narrated her own book.

Narration does not aid comprehension use markers effectively distinguish

Narrator forgets text isn’t available and ignores the need for marking one part of description from another and worse, one name from another. For example, a reader would notice and mentally add emphasis to distinguish on one royal George from another: this narrator is oblivious to the need to assist the listener in such distinctions.

I ended up checking the hard copy out from the library.

Interesting

Williams' reading is engaging. The text gives insight into previously unknown excerpts of the Princesses lives, humanely and with consideration to their status and royal demands and expectations.