A Voyage Around the Queen: 'gloriously bizarre' royal biography
Craig Brown's book paints a 'vivid and remarkably telling' picture of Elizabeth II
As a "man who supposedly trades in throwaway wisecracks", you wouldn't think the satirist Craig Brown would be the person to "tell us something thought-provoking, perhaps even deep, about monarchy", said Stephen Smith in The Observer. Yet in his glorious new book – a follow-up to similar works about Princess Margaret and the Beatles – that's exactly what he does.
Brown has hoovered up virtually everything ever written about Elizabeth II – decades-old newspaper reports, the "memoirs of courtiers, flunkies and hangers-on" – and out of this material has crafted 112 thematic chapters, focused on everything from the Queen's love of horse racing to the dreams people have had about her. (The oddest belongs to Paul Theroux, who imagined "her nipples cool against my ears".)
It adds up to a "vivid and remarkably telling study of our late head of state". Brown has perhaps only one serious thesis, said Matthew Parris in Literary Review: "almost everyone, he says, goes slightly bonkers" in the Queen's presence. "We gabble, we dry up, we lose our thread, we gawp, we stammer." Kingsley Amis even avoided beans before meeting her, so anxious was he about farting or belching.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Brown devotes a chapter to the "brisk dispatch with which she would terminate conversations". "How very interesting," she'd intone, before moving on. As much as this "wonderfully readable" book is about the Queen, it is also "about ourselves as a nation, reflected and refracted through our own relationships with one person".
"I enjoyed 'A Voyage Around the Queen' so much that I wished it were longer than its 672 pages," said Christopher Howse in The Daily Telegraph. We learn that when Mahatma Gandhi sent Elizabeth a hand-woven tablecloth as a wedding gift, her grandmother, Queen Mary, declared it a "horrible thing", having mistaken it for one of his loincloths. When, at the beacon lighting for the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the officer in charge confided that "absolutely everything" had gone wrong, she replied: "Oh good. What fun!"
Brown even has "unmistakably irreverent fun" with the aftermath of her death, said John Banville in The Guardian – noting the battier expressions of mourning, including Norwich Council's decision to close a bike rack as a mark of respect. Funny, clever and "gloriously bizarre", his book is an "astute account of the well-nigh unaccountable public life of an intensely private person".
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Shogun' dominates Emmys, 'Hacks' surprises
Speed Read 'Shogun' won a record 18 Emmys and 'Hacks' beat 'The Bear' in a surprise upset
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ohio governor slams attacks on Haitian migrants
Speed Read Mike DeWine condemned the conspiracies boosted by Donald Trump and JD Vance about immigrants eating people's pets
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FBI: Secret Service stops 2nd Trump assassination try
Speed Read The former president evaded a second assassination attempt at his golf club in Palm Beach, Florida
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
A foodie guide to Seattle
The Week Recommends From bustling markets to burger joints, these are the best spots in the city
By Neil Davey Published
-
7 cocktails for a comforting autumn
The Week Recommends Vodka, rum, brandy, mezcal: The gang's all here
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Discover Ravenna's glittering treasures
The Week Recommends The 'magical' town is home to magnificent churches and excellent restaurants
By The Week UK Published
-
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: pure 'nostalgia bait'
Talking Point Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return for sequel to the 1988 cult classic
By The Week UK Published
-
6 unmissable museum exhibitions to see this fall
The Week Recommends Elizabeth Catlett, Tamara de Lempicka and Marina Abramovic are in the spotlight
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Grand Tour: One For The Road – a trip down memory lane
The Week Recommends Our 'gouty trio' bow out after 21 years together with banter, breakdowns, and efforts not to blub
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sam Leith picks his favourite children's books
The Week Recommends The author and journalist chooses works from Nicholas Fisk, Richard Adams and more
By The Week UK Published
-
6 immersive experiences that bend reality
The Week Recommends Take a journey into the fantastic
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published