ELIZABETH: THE QUEEN AND THE CROWN

(Pavilion £16.99) HAS anyone had more books written about her than the current Queen? But her story remains a great one, and the monarchy’s greater openness over the past few years has helped writers no end. It also helps that Sarah Gristwood is a proper writer. The result is a curiously gripping book, with many, to my eyes, previously unseen photographs, such as this one of the Queen arriving at Aberdeen airport in 1974 with her dorgis (dachshund/ corgi cross). Is that the Queen dancing the lindy hop? Or is she ‘playing deck games with officers of HMS Vanguard’, as the caption insists? Page 47, in case you’re wondering.