Listed below are the principal secondary sources consulted during research for this book; several, written during the course of the Queen’s reign, have themselves become primary sources. These published accounts were an aspect of my research, alongside unpublished written sources, the archives of national and regional newspapers and magazines, newsreel and television footage. Among those I interviewed during the book’s genesis were those who asked to remain unidentified; I have extended this confidentiality to all the interviewees whose information and views shaped this account.
Adie, Kate, The Kindness of Strangers: An Autobiography (Headline, London, 2002)
Alexandra, Queen of Yugoslavia, Prince Philip: A Family Portrait (Bobbs-Merrill, New York, 1959)
Alice, Princess, Countess of Athlone, For My Grandchildren (Evans Brothers, London, 1966)
Alice, Princess, Duchess of Gloucester, The Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (Collins, London, 1983)
Amies, Hardy, Still Here: An Autobiography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1984)
Asquith, Lady Cynthia, The Duchess of York (Hutchinson & Co, London, 1926)
—, The King’s Daughters (Hutchinson & Co, London, 1937)
—, The Family Life of Queen Elizabeth (Hutchinson & Co, London, 1937)
Barratt, John, With the Greatest Respect: The Private Lives of Earl Mountbatten and Prince & Princess Michael of Kent (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1991)
Basford, Elizabeth, Princess Mary (The History Press, Stroud, 2020)
Bath and Wells, Bishop of, et al, The Coronation Book of Queen Elizabeth II (Odhams, London, 1953)
Beckles, Gordon, Coronation Souvenir Book 1937 (Daily Express Publications, London, 1937)
Bedell Smith, Sally, Elizabeth the Queen (Penguin, London, 2012)
—, Charles: The Misunderstood Prince (Penguin, London, 2017)
Bennett, Alan, Writing Home (Faber & Faber, London, 1995)
Blair, Tony, A Journey (Hutchinson, London, 2010)
Bogdanor, Vernon, The Monarchy and the Constitution (OUP, Oxford, 1995)
Boothroyd, Basil, Philip: An Informal Biography (Longman, London, 1971)
Bradford, Sarah, George VI (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1989)
—, Elizabeth (William Heinemann, London, 1996)
—, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times (Viking, London, 2011)
Bradley, Ian, God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Dimension of Monarchy (Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 2002)
Brandreth, Gyles, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage (Century, London, 2004)
—, Something Sensational to Read in the Train: The Diary of a Lifetime (John Murray, London, 2009)
Brendon, Piers, & Whitehead, Phillip, The Windsors: A Dynasty Revealed 1917–2000 (Pimlico, London, 2000)
Brooke-Little, John, Royal Ceremonies of State (Country Life Books, London, 1980)
Brown, Craig, Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret (Fourth Estate, London, 2018
Brown, Susanna, Queen Elizabeth II: Portraits by Cecil Beaton (V&A Publishing, London, 2011)
Burnet, Alistair, In Private – In Public: The Prince and Princess of Wales (ITN books, London, 1986)
Campbell-Preston, Frances, & Vickers, Hugo, ed., The Rich Spoils of Time (The Dovecote Press, Wimborne Minster, 2006)
Cannadine, David, Margaret Thatcher: A Life & Legacy (OUP, Oxford, 2017)
Carpenter, Humphrey, Benjamin Britten: A Biography (Faber & Faber, London, 1993)
Cathcart, Helen, The Queen in her Circle (W. H. Allen, London, 1977)
—, The Queen Herself (Star, London, 1983)
Clark, Brigadier Stanley, Palace Diary (George G. Harrap & Co., London, 1958)
Colville, John, The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939–1955 (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1989)
Cornforth, John, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Clarence House (Michael Joseph, London, 1996)
Cumming, Valerie, Royal Dress (B. T. Batsford, London, 1989)
d’Abo, Lady Ursula, The Girl with the Widow’s Peak: The Memoirs (d’Abo Publications, London, 2014)
de Courcy, Anne, Snowdon (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2008)
Dimbleby, Jonathan, The Prince of Wales: A Biography (Little, Brown & Company, London, 1994)
Dismore, Jane, Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II (LP, Guilford, Connecticut, 2018)
Donaldson, Frances, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1977)
Duff, David, Queen Mary (William Collins, London, 1985)
—, George & Elizabeth (William Collins, London, 1983)
Duncan, Andrew, The Reality of Monarchy (William Heinemann, London, 1970)
Dunne, E., & Sutcliffe, H., 101 Reasons Why We Love the Queen (Short Books, London, 2020)
Eastoe, Jane, Elizabeth Reigning in Style (Pavilion, London, 2012)
Edwards, Anne, Matriarch Queen Mary & the House of Windsor (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1984)
—, The Queen’s Clothes (Elm Tree Books, London, 1977)
—, Royal Sisters (William Morrow & Company, New York, 1990)
Elborn, Geoffrey, Princess Alexandra (Sheldon Press, London, 1982)
Ellis, Jennifer, ed., Thatched with Gold: The Memoirs of Mabell, Countess of Airlie (Hutchinson, London, 1962)
Ferrier, Neil, The Queen Elizabeth Coronation Book (L. T. A. Robinson, London, 1953)
Field, Leslie, The Queen’s Jewels (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1987)
Ford, Colin, ed., Happy and Glorious: 130 Years of Royal Photographs (National Portrait Gallery, London, 1977)
Galli-Pahlavi, Anna, ed., A Turbulent Decade: The Diaries of Auberon Waugh 1976–1985 (Private Eye/Andre Deutsch, London, 1985)
Garrett, Richard, Royal Travel (Blandford Press, Poole, 1982)
Glenconner, Anne, Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2019)
Girouard, Mark, Windsor: The Most Romantic Castle (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1993)
Gordon, Sophie, Noble Hounds and Dear Companions (Royal Collection, London, 2007)
Graham, Tim, The Royal Year 1994 (Michael O Mara Books, London, 1994)
Greig, Geordie, Louis and the Prince (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1999)
Grenfell, Joyce, In Pleasant Places (Macmillan, London, 1979)
Hall, Phillip, Royal Fortune: Tax, Money & the Monarchy (Bloomsbury, London, 1992)
Hardman, Robert, Our Queen (Hutchinson, London, 2011)
—, Queen of the World (Century, London, 2018)
Harewood, Lord, The Tongs and the Bones (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1981)
Harris, Kenneth, The Queen (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1994)
Hartnell, Norman, Silver and Gold (Evans Brothers, London, 1955)
Heald, Tim, The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1991)
—, Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2007)
Healey, Edna, The Queen’s House (Pegasus, New York, 1998)
Heighway, Lisa, Marcus Adams: Royal Photographer (Royal Collection Publications, London, 2010)
Hibbert, Christopher, The Court of St James’s (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979)
Hoey, Brian, At Home with the Queen (HarperCollins, London, 2002)
—, Her Majesty: 60 Regal Years (The Robson Press, London, 2012)
Howard, Anthony, ed., The Crossman Diaries Selections from the Diaries of a Cabinet Minister 1964–70 (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1979)
Hussey, Christopher, Clarence House (Country Life Books, London, 1949)
Jay, Anthony, Elizabeth R: The Role of the Monarchy Today (BBC Books, London, 1992)
—, Confessions of a Reformed BBC Producer (Centre for Policy Studies, London, 2007)
Jebb, Miles, ed., The Diaries of Cynthia Gladwyn (Constable, London, 1995)
Judd, Denis, Prince Philip: A Biography (Michael Joseph, London, 1980)
Junor, Penny, The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor (HarperCollins, London, 2006)
Kelleway, Philip, Highly Desirable: The Zinkeisen Sisters & their Legacy (Leiston Press, 2016)
Kelly, Angela, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe (HarperCollins, London, 2019)
Lacey, Robert, God Bless Her! Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Century, London, 1987)
—, Royal (Little, Brown, London, 2002)
—, Battle of Brothers (William Collins, London, 2020)
Laredo, Rodney, Informally Royal: Studio Lisa and the Royal Family 1936–66 (The History Press, Stroud, 2019)
Laird, Dorothy, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1966)
Lees-Milne, James, Caves of Ice & Midway on the Waves: Diaries 1946–49 (John Murray repr., London, 1996)
—, Diaries 1942–54 (John Murray, London, 2006)
—, Deep Romantic Chasm: Diaries 1979–81 (John Murray, London, 2000)
—, Holy Dread: Diaries 1982–84 (John Murray, London, 2001)
—, Beneath a Waning Moon: Diaries 1985–87 (John Murray, London, 2003)
—, Ceaseless Turmoil Diaries 1988–92 (John Murray, London, 2004)
—, The Milk of Paradise: Diaries 1993–97 (John Murray, London, 2005)
Le Hardy, William, The Coronation Book 1953 (Staples, Rochester, 1953)
Lloyd, Christopher, Ceremony & Celebration: Coronation Day 1953 (Royal Collection, London, 2003)
Lloyd, Ian, The Duke (The History Press, Cheltenham, 2021)
Longford, Elizabeth, The Queen Mother: A Biography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1981)
—, Elizabeth R (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1983)
—, Royal Throne: The Future of the Monarchy (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1993)
MacCarthy, Fiona, Last Curtsey: The End of the English Debutante (Faber & Faber, London, 2006)
Machin, Arnold, Artist of an Icon (Frontier Publishing, Kirstead, 2002)
Maclean, Veronica, Past Forgetting (Headline Review, London, 2002)
Marie Louise, Princess, My Memories of Six Reigns (Evans Brothers, London, 1956)
Marr, Andrew, The Diamond Queen (Macmillan, London, 2011)
Matson, John, Sandringham Days: The Domestic Life of the Royal Family in Norfolk 1862–1952 (History Press, Stroud, 2013)
Mayer, Catherine, Charles: The Heart of a King (W. H. Allen, London, 2015)
McDowell, Colin, A Hundred Years of Royal Style (Muller, Blond & White, London, 1985)
Menkes, Suzy, The Royal Jewels (Grafton, London, 1985)
Middleboe, Penelope, ed., Edith Olivier: From her Journals 1924–48 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1989)
Moore, Charles, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography, Volume One: Not For Turning (Allen Lane, London, 2013)
—, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography, Volume Two: Everything She Wants (Allen Lane, London, 2015)
Moorhouse, Paul, The Queen: Art & Image (National Portrait Gallery, London, 2012)
Morrah, Dermot, Princess Elizabeth (Odhams, London, 1947)
—, The Royal Family (Odhams, London, 1950)
—, To Be a King (Hutchinson, London, 1968)
Morrow, Ann, The Queen (Granada Publishing, London, 1983)
Mortimer, Penelope, Queen Elizabeth: A Life of the Queen Mother (Viking, London, 1986)
Mosley, Charlotte, ed., The Letters of Nancy Mitford (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1993)
—, The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters (Fourth Estate, London, 2007)
Mountbatten, Pamela, India Remembered (Pavilion, London, 2007)
Nairn, Tom, The Enchanted Glass: Britain and its Monarchy (Radius, London, 1988)
Nicolson, Harold, King George V: His Life & Reign (Constable, London, 1952)
Nicolson, Nigel, Long Life Memoirs (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1997)
—, The Queen & Us (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2003)
—, Harold Nicolson: Diaries and Letters, 1939–1945 (Collins, London, 1967)
—, Vita & Harold: The Letters of Vita Sackville-West & Harold Nicolson 1910–62 (Phoenix, London, 1993)
—, Harold Nicolson: The Later Years, 1945–1962 (Athenaeum, New York, 1968)
Owens, Susan, Watercolours and Drawings from the Collection of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Royal Collection Publications, London, 2005)
Parker, Eileen, Step Aside for Royalty (Bachman & Turner, Maidstone, 1982)
Parker, John, Prince Philip: A Critical Biography (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1990)
Paxman, Jeremy, On Royalty (Viking, London, 2006)
Payn, Graham, & Morley, Sheridan, eds., The Noel Coward Diaries (Macmillan, London, 1982)
Peacock, Lady, TRH Prince Charles & Princess Anne (Hutchinson, London, 1955)
Pearson, John, The Ultimate Family: The Making of the House of Windsor (Michael Joseph, London, 1986)
Pick, Michael, Norman Hartnell: The Biography (Zuleika, London, 2019)
Pimlott, Ben, The Queen (HarperCollins, London, 1996)
Pope-Hennessy, James, Queen Mary (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1959)
—, & Vickers, Hugo, ed., The Quest for Queen Mary (Zuleika, London, 2018)
Pottle, Mark, ed., Daring to Hope: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter 1946–69 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2000)
Powell, Anthony, Journals 1982–86 (Heinemann, London, 1995)
Prochaska, Frank, Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1995)
Quennell, Peter, ed., A Lonely Business: A Self-Portrait of James Pope-Hennessy (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1981)
Reed, Freddie, Freddie Reed’s Royal Tours: 50 Years of Royal Photographs (David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1989)
Reynelle, Margaret, The 1973 Royal Family Year Book (Clipper Press, Farnham, 1973)
Rhodes James, Robert, ed., Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1967)
Ring, Anne, The Story of Princess Elizabeth Brought up to date and including some Stories of Princess Margaret (John Murray, London, 1932)
Rhodes, Margaret, The Final Curtsey (Umbria Press/Berlinn, London, 2012)
Robinson, John Martin, Royal Palaces: Windsor Castle (Michael Joseph, London, 1996)
Roberts, Hugh, The Queen’s Diamonds (Royal Collection Publications, London, 2012)
Rogers, Malcolm, Elizabeth II: Portraits of Sixty Years (National Portrait Gallery, London, 1986)
Roosevelt, Eleanor, This I Remember (Hutchinson, London, 1950)
Rose, Kenneth, King George V (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1983)
Salisbury, F. G. H., George V and Edward VIII (Daily Express Publications, London, 1936)
Sebba, Anne, That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson Duchess of Windsor (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2011)
Seward, Ingrid, The Last Great Edwardian Lady (Century, London, 1999)
—, The Queen & Di (HarperCollins, London, 2000)
—, The Queen’s Speech (Simon & Schuster, London, 2016)
—, My Husband & I (Simon & Schuster, London, 2017)
—, Prince Philip Revealed: A Man of His Century (Simon & Schuster, London, 2020)
Shawcross, William, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: The Official Biography (Macmillan, London, 2009)
—, Queen and Country (BBC Books, London, 2002)
Shawcross, William, ed., Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Macmillan, London, 2012)
Sheridan, Lisa, Our Princesses at Home (John Murray, London, 1940)
—, Our Princesses in 1942 (John Murray, London, 1942)
—, From Cabbages to Kings (Odhams, London, 1955)
—, A Day with Prince Andrew (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1962)
Sitwell, Osbert, Queen Mary and Others (Michael Joseph, London, 1974)
Smith, Horace, A Horseman Through Six Reigns (Odhams, London, 1955)
Speaight, Richard N., Memoirs of a Court Photographer (Hurst & Blackett, London, 1926)
Strong, Roy, Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits (Thames & Hudson, London, 1988)
—, Coronation (HarperCollins, London, 2005)
—, The Roy Strong Diaries, 1967–1987 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1997)
—, Scenes and Apparitions: The Roy Strong Diaries 1988–2003 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2016)
Sykes, Eric, If I Don’t Write It, Nobody Else Will (Harper Perennial, London, 2006)
Tennant, Emma, The Autobiography of the Queen (Arcadia, London, 2007)
—, Waiting for Princess Margaret (Quartet Books, London, 2009)
Thatcher, Margaret, The Downing Street Years (HarperCollins, London, 1993)
Thomson, Malcolm, et al, The Life and Times of King George VI (Odhams, London, 1952)
Thorpe, D. R., ed., Who Loses Who Wins: The Journals of Kenneth Rose, Volume Two 1979–2014 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2019)
Tomlinson, Richard, Divine Right: The Inglorious Survival of British Royalty (Little, Brown & Company, London, 1994)
Turner, Graham, Elizabeth: The Woman and the Queen (Macmillan, London, 2002)
Van der Kiste, John, George V’s Children (Alan Sutton, Stroud, 1991)
Vickers, Hugo, intro., The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as he wrote them (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2002)
—, Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2003)
Vickers, Hugo, Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece (Penguin, London, 2001)
—, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (Hutchinson, London, 2005)
—, The Crown: Truth & Fiction (Zuleika, London, 2017)
—, The Crown Dissected: Seasons 1, 2 and 3 (Zuleika, London, 2019)
Viney, Graham, The Last Hurrah (Robinson, London, 2018)
Warwick, Christopher, Princess Margaret (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1983)
—, George and Marina: The Duke and Duchess of Kent (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1988)
—, Her Majesty (Taschen, London, 2013)
Warwick, Christopher, ed., Queen Mary’s Photograph Albums (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1989)
Wheeler Bennett, John, King George VI: His Life & Reign (Macmillan, London, 1958)
Whitelaw, William, The Whitelaw Memoirs (Aurum Press, London, 1989)
Williams, Kate, Young Elizabeth: The Making of Our Queen (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2013)
Williams, Marcia, Inside Number 10 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1972)
Wilson, A. N., The Rise & Fall of the House of Windsor (Sinclair Stevenson, London, 1993)
—, The Queen (Atlantic, London, 2016)
—, Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II (Hutchinson, London, 2008)
Wilson, Mary, New Poems (Hutchinson, London, 1979)
Windsor, HRH The Duke of, A King’s Story (Cassell & Company, London, 1951)
Winstone, Ruth, ed., The Benn Diaries (Hutchinson, London, 1995)
—, Tony Benn: Free at Last! Diaries 1991–2001 (Hutchinson, London, 2002)
—, Tony Benn: More Time for Politics, Diaries 2001–2007 (Hutchinson, London, 2007)
Ziegler, Philip, Crown and People (HarperCollins, London, 1978)
—, Mountbatten: The Official Biography (William Collins, London, 1985)
—, King Edward VIII: The Official Biography (Fontana, London, 1990)
—, Wilson: The Authorised Life (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1993)
—, Between the Wars (Quercus, London, 2017)