Just as we celebrate the seventy years of the reign of Elizabeth IIone unauthorized biography of the queen promises to create a new media storm around the royal house. At least according to the advances published by Daily Mail. The book is titled The Queen and the author is Andrew Mortonwhich already in 1992 revealed the more hidden and tormented side of lady Diana publishing a text that later became a bestseller. In The Queen Morton dispenses private tales, confessions from very informed royal sources, curious and unpublished anecdotes that outline a surprising portrait of the sovereign. A journey «that takes you behind the scenes to discover the woman behind the crown», As the note from the publishing house states.
The excerpts from the biography that have appeared so far on the Daily Mail mainly concern the problematic relationship between Elizabeth and Diana. In the 1992an extraordinarily complicated year for the royal family, the sovereign had to face it crumbling of the marriages of his two sons Carlo and Andrea da Diana and Sarah Ferguson. Two divorces in the global media spotlight, which brought the queen to a high level of stress. In the biography, Morton writes that “the queen’s extraordinary poise has been tested far more than we ever knew. According to a person close to her, Elisabetta was beside herself when Carlo and Andrea’s marriages collapsed, and wondered aloud when his family and the monarchy would finally have a truce. ‘ According to the author of The Queenmoreover, in that situation of strong stress Elisabetta would have succumbed to her iron routine, seeking solace in alcohol: «He no longer drank a single dry martini in the evening. Her staff noted that her Majesty’s modest alcohol consumption had significantly increased. ‘
Morton also tells the initial enthusiasm of Elizabeth and the royal family for the entry of twenty-year-old Diana into the Windsor clan. The royal author points out how, after the first visit of the young Spencer to the castle of Balmoral, in 1980, the queen exclaimed: “She is one of us“. Morton’s new book then outlines Diana’s bond with ex-sister-in-law Fergie, initially frowned upon by Elizabeth. At least until an accident left the queen annoyed by the behavior of the two friends. It happened during thebachelor party of Prince Andrewwhen Diana and Sarah thought it best to dress up as police officers and “arrest” the future bridegroom before a cocktail all together. Morton writes: “When the story came out, the sovereign was deeply bothered by the fact that the future Queen of England had been spotted running around London dressed as a police officer, which was technically a criminal offense“.
Naturally, The Queen also tells one of the most tragic moments in the history of the British monarchy, the death of Diana. And reveal some unpublished details on Elizabeth’s reaction. When the news of the fatal accident in Paris arrived, her Majesty was at the castle of Balmoral with Charles and his children, the Prince William and the prince Harry. In those tragic moments, Morton writes, in “a rare display of affection” the sovereign and her son embraced, consoling each other. Morton writes that “the queen ordered a cup of tea but never touched a drop while she, Prince Philip and Prince Charles walked down the Scottish carpeted corridor, wondering what to do. “
In the days following Diana’s death, the royals stayed in Balmoral and gathered around William and Harry, desperate for the loss of their mother. They returned to London for Lady D’s funeral. And only then, seeing the river of mourners, the queen realized the extraordinary wave of emotion generated by the untimely death of the «people’s princess»: «All this had not arrived at Balmoral. Until they were in London they didn’t understand. All the comments and people hugging each other, sobbing, the whole nation seemed to have gone mad. The Queen and Prince Philip felt completely disoriented“.
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Source: Vanity Fair
