QUEEN OF THE WORLD
ROBERT HARDMAN
Century, 592pp, £25
‘This is a serious book with a silly title,’ AN Wilson declared in the
Times. ‘The serious subject,’ Wilson considered, ‘is how a hereditary monarch might play a role in international politics that could not be played by politicians.’ Making descriptions of royal tours interesting is a challenge, especially as Hardman is ‘relentlessly interested in statistics’. Nor is Hardman critical enough, in Wilson’s opinion. ‘There are legitimate questions to be asked even about the Queen’s expenses abroad, questions Hardman does not pose.’ And, ‘After hundreds of pages of adulations for Her Majesty the book considers her successors and finds them more or less flawless, too.’ Surely the sleazy decade when Prince Andrew was special trade representative should merit more than a paragraph? Wilson prompted. William Shawcross in the
Spectator was adulatory. ‘What makes Hardman a superb journalist and royal correspondent is his capacity for hard work as well as his extraordinary memory and witty, courteous style…hardman’s book,’ he claimed, ‘filled with details, will be an essential source for any historian of modern Britain. It’s also a glorious read.’
AN Wilson disagreed: ‘Hardman gives no references for his sources. He has evidently interviewed many senior politicians and some members of the royal family. He quotes Prince Charles’s journals. But it is impossible to tell whether his quotations come from these primary sources or from the books listed in the bibliography.’
Kirkus conceded it is ‘a respectful and thoughtfully documented history of the British monarch but not the definitive biography one might hope for’.