Lilibet: An Intimate Portrait of Elizabeth II

by Carolly Erickson

In Lilibet , master biographer Carolly Erickson turns her skill at writing un-put-downable narrative to telling the remarkable story of Elizabeth II, Queen of England.

With her customary psychological insight, historian Erickson traces the queen's gilded but often thorny path from her overprotected girlhood to her ascension to the throne at twenty-five to her personal and national difficulties as queen.

Lilibet shows us an Elizabeth we thought we knew-but shows her in a different as a small, shy woman with a sly and at times raucous sense of humor, a woman who appears stiff in public, but in private enjoys watching wrestling on TV. A woman most at home among her horses and dogs. And a woman long annealed to heartbreak and sorrow, who has presided over the decline of Great Britain and the decline in prestige of her own Windsor dynasty.

Far from being a light, gossipy treatment of a celebrity, Lilibet tells the queen's story from her point of view, letting the reader relive Elizabeth's long and eventful life with all its splendid ceremonies, momentous responsibilities and family clashes. Through it all we glimpse, as never before, the strong and appealing sovereign who has ruled over her people for half a century and more, a ruler of immense wealth, international esteem and high character whose daily life is grounded in the bedrock of common sense.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, British Literature, 20th Century, Royalty

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, The First Elizabeth, Great Catherine, Alexandra and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Hawaii.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/caroll...

Reviews

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uninspiring and boring. Nothing much new or even particularly interesting. Ran out of steam by the end. Disappointing.

[Kristina Hoerner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a readable bio of Queen Elizabeth but I can't really say it was factually accurate.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth II was born in 1926. She was originally Princess Elizabeth of York, but when her uncle Edward VII abdicated the throne, her father became King George VI. She married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. They had four children: Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. She was an extremely dynamic woman, from her thoughts and activities, her wartime service, love of horses and dogs, to her reign. She died at the age of 96 in 2022.

I genuinely enjoy books by this author. I own all of them, and I have read them all except one. I appreciate the level of research this author does on her works, and I also appreciate the way she is able to convey the historical record in a way that is an interesting and informative read. I was very pleased with this book, especially because I found it used for a dollar!

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lilibet was overinvolved with horses and dogs and underinvolved with her four children. They did not grow up in an affectionate atmosphere.

Philip bullied Charles, and the Queen Mother overspent.

Lilibet wrote in her diary and read detective stories.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a few (odd) factual errors, this is a mostly dependable, earnest biography. As a first biography for someone who doesn't know much about Queen Elizabeth II, it probably would be fine. But it just never grabbed me. It took me much longer than usual to finish this; I just never felt compelled to pick it up again.

Erickson's writing style sometimes gets in her way. She has a habit of referring to significant events as afterthoughts -- as if to say, oh, I forgot to mention that her Golden Jubilee had happened. After a while I found myself getting annoyed at all the "had happened"s that pop up. And the sentence fragment beginning with "for": "For this was a woman who ...."

To Erickson's credit, she's mostly even-handed about the royals, and treats Elizabeth as a woman shaped by duty who can be reserved and closed to her family, but who also has a strong work ethic. That's laudable. But this insight, like most of her insights, aren't especially remarkable or insightful.

The funny thing for me, reading this in 2017, is that she ends on a sad and somber note in 2002. Yes, this was a sad time for the monarchy, but Erickson seems to see it as presage of a sad future, as the queen is facing "growing enfeeblement and death": "For the air was growing colder and she was all too aware ... that she stood alone, a small figure in a field ... in a lost and uncertain time."

We now know that upcoming events -- Charles and Camilla's marriage, William and Kate's marriage, the births of George and Charlotte, the queen's glorious Diamond Jubilee, have put the monarchy in a much more sparkling, beloved light. Erickson seems to have completely misread what was to emerge from the challenges and struggles she has just spent 300 pages exploring.

[Julia Torseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you do not like biographies or historical accounts, you will not like this book. It closely follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II. It is definitely slow in parts, but that is typical with biographies. However, the author writes in a style that’s more like a novel than a biography. She describes the times, the setting, the background, and the feelings of the people involved (if she has sources, like a dairy). I enjoyed the combination of the creative writing style and the historically accurate details. The author writes every single character as a human, she does not idealize anyone. She even shows some of the issues in Queen Elizabeth‘s character. This is a no-frills, straight forward, well written biography.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the rare books I’ve decided not to finish. I enjoyed the first part of the book, where it describes the Queen as a child and a teenager; with her father and her beginnings with Phillip. I’m at tgd part now where she has 3 children and the author is describing her relationship with them. Yawn. We’ve seen it in the media, heard about from the kids and grandkids, watched the crown. We know that she showed her animals more affection than her children. I got some novels for Christmas that I want to dive into so I’m going to put this one down.

[Melissa Kayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just watched the first season of the Crown on Netflix and am now obsessed with the Royals, particularly Queen Elizabeth. It must be so lonely to be the Queen and have to be so public but emotionless at all times. I also didn't realize the extent to how difficult her relationships were with her kids, her sister and mother, the prime ministers she's had to work with and even sometimes Prince Philip. Definitely an interesting and informative read.

[Angela Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this portrait of the Queen. While other works go into more detail and are perhaps more unforgiving, this was light and an easy to read tome that presented much of Queen Elizabeths basic story. Erickson refers to Pimlott quite often and that work is probably more of a reference than this one.

[Khadijah Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that offers a sympathetic yet understandable explanation for the way certain events occurred. I enjoyed seeing the past 90-odd years from Queen Elizabeth’s perspective. Is it true? No one can ever know for sure, but I enjoyed reading it all the same.

The writing was eloquent and engaging - unlike most books on this subject!

[SM Surber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about QEII. Published in 2004, the last 18 years of her life are obviously not covered. I came away feeling that although she was surrounded by people she seemed to live a lonely life of duty and commitment to her country sacrificing close personal relationships in order to fulfill her role as monarch.

[JJ C · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor effort. The book spends a good deal of time trashing England and the sorry shape it's supposedly been in for the past umpteen years. The author doesn't seem to have much liking for the monarchy in general.

[Abcdarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars Not well written.

[Christi Exman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like reading propaganda for the monarchy and I love the monarchy. This was just too much.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much supposition, not fact.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so insightful about The Queen, the other Royal Family members and the inner workings of the Palace.

[Carol]

Never finished it.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read, some insights and gossip. Got a bit tired of the corgis and, of course, my sympathies were with Diana.

[Ralph Plagman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a companion to the Netflix series, The Crown. I really enjoyed it.

[Bonnie Fennig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging book of Queen Elizabeth's life from birth to later years of her reign. Learned a lot of details of behind-the-scenes events and relationships. Author is big on using a lot of adjectives!

[Lyn Mettler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of the life of Elizabeth II and those around her. Carrolly Erickson is always an entertaining, never dry read.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the biography of Elizabeth II by Erickson to be tedious, irrelevant and ill-advised. The pages were filled with gossip and conjecture. However, this book would be well suited for people who enjoy reading gossip magazines, of which there are quite a few. Many times the statements "they must have" and "surely they" as well as "she surely felt" were used to express sentiments never even alluded to in the facts of any significant event in the queens life. We all see the world and events through the lens of our own perspective, and any biography must be read with the understanding that it was written from the authors viewpoint; still and all as a biography I feel there are many better written examples.

[Amber the Human · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wandering about the library yesterday (like I do - often) when I saw this book, which I read over a year ago, and wondered if I had 'entered' it into Goodreads. Indeed I had not! A royal book, no less! So here it is. I liked it. I always find it a little weird to be reading unauthorized bios of people who are still alive, but it wasn't too scandalous. Phillip is kind of a jerk, but whatcha gonna do. I need to read the three or so royal books I own that I've been picking up slowly but surely at used book stores. At least it's winter (or, fall, or, whatever, it's raining today) - so more time for reading!

[Samantha Loewen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This was my first experience reading a more in-depth writing about the Queen, and the perspective was definitely a shift from what I had assumed from media coverage - particularly that of Charles and Diana. Clearly there are always two sides to every story, and I felt as though Erickson portrayed her findings on Elizabeth fairly - with respect as well as honesty. I appreciate the Royal family more now - and have a greater understanding of how challenging the life of a royal must be in our modern world.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit soapy, but still interesting. I know this sounds silly, but the queen has not changed much in my lifetime - and since I was not around or too young to understand the political-social situations of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, I learned a lot about that from reading this book.

Incredible to me that she was celebrating her Silver Jubilee when I was not even two years old.

Lots of interesting insight into the queen's grandparents, parents, uncles, husband, and children.

[erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just watched The Queen; my interest was piqued. I don't think I've read a biography since high school - Catherine the Great, I believe - it's just not a genre I really enjoy. However, I found Carolly Erickson's style engaging and am looking forward to the Marie Antoinette biography of hers that I've already picked up.

[Lisa Castellano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice basic biography about Queen Elizabeth. A lot of material was drawn from Marion Crawford, "Crawfie" the Queen's nanny. It is not a salacious, gossipy book. The bits of concurrent history are tied in akwardly. the book ends in 2008 so there's nothing about Kate and William. Worth getting from the library, but not buying. Not up to Carolly Erickson's usual standards.

[Phyllis Fredericksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy a biography on the royals. This book paints a picture of HRH's early life and through 2002. The author seems to be slightly negative about the monarchy. The picture she paints of Prince Phillip was most interesting to me. He comes across as a playboy, adulterer among other things. Glad I read it, but wouldn't recommend it.

[Ellen]

Interesting read. Lilibet is shown as a woman who has faults, but who is able to come to terms with mistakes. She tries to do what is right. Her biggest failure is with family matters. Her greatest triumphs are with ruling matters. She is obsessive about her dogs and horses, but when one has a husband who is so restless, what can be done? She has to have an outlet. I admire her, warts and all.

[Elaine K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dueling biographies. I read a little about Pearl Buck, then I put that one down and read a chapter in this one. So far I would say that Pearl is the more compelling character. But, "Lilibet" is a down to earth telling of Queen Elizabeth II's life.