King Farouk—I have read somewhere that it was Napoleon, but Lacey says Farouk; not that it matters—predicted in the near future the demise of all but five royal houses: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and Windsors. Truer dictum cannot ever have been uttered by fallen monarch, whichever monarch it was. The British sovereign’s staying power is among the miracles of the modern age. Crowns and thrones may perish, and yet Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II reigns on, more or less serenely.
Lacey’s biography of the Queen is timed to exploit worldwide interest in her Silver Jubilee. But the book stands on its own considerable merits as a study of how a woman too much underrated for her charm and understanding has steered an enormously ancient institution through the storms of the twentieth century, and in so doing has brought the monarchy to new heights of popularity and respect.
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