A Voyage Around the Queen: The new Sunday Times bestselling biography of Queen Elizabeth II, from the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

THE TIMES and SUNDAY TIMES BEST MEMOIR OF 2024: 'GENIUS'

Accolades & Recognition

This unforgettable biography of Queen Elizabeth II has been celebrated as:

• A BOOK OF THE YEAR for:
  SPECTATOR, MAIL ON SUNDAY, NEW STATESMAN, FINANCIAL TIMES, INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY EXPRESS, and THE TABLET.

About the Author

From one of the funniest writers of our time, Craig Brown, the award-winning author of One Two Three Four and Ma’am Darling, delivers a fascinating and kaleidoscopic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Praise for the Book

• 'A crown jewel among royal biographies' – OBSERVER
• ‘Extraordinarily original, enlightening and fresh’ – SPECTATOR
• 'Absolutely fascinating' – Ruth Langsford, LOOSE WOMEN
• 'A very unusual masterpiece' – SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
• 'Brilliantly funny and well-researched' – FINANCIAL TIMES

A Unique Perspective on Queen Elizabeth II

Virginia Woolf compared her to a caterpillar. Anne Frank kept pictures of her on the wall of her annex. Jimi Hendrix played her tune. Haile Selassie gave her a gold tiara. Dirk Bogarde watched Death in Venice with her. Andy Warhol envied her fame. Donald Trump offended her. E.M. Forster confessed he would have married her, if only she had been a boy.

Queen Elizabeth II was famous for longer than anyone who has ever lived. She mirrored the hopes and anxieties of those who admired her:

• To the optimist, she was an optimist.
• To the pessimist, a pessimist.
• To the awestruck, charismatic.
• To the cynical, humdrum.

Though reserved and unassuming by nature, her presence could fill presidents and rock gods with terror. For close to a century, she inhabited the psyche of a nation.

A Kaleidoscopic Biography

Craig Brown combines biography, essays, cultural history, dream diaries, travelogue, and satire to create a vivid and multifaceted portrait of this most public yet private of sovereigns.

More Reviews from Critics

• 'An unconventional tribute that offers a snapshot of almost a century of social history with a mix of royal insanity and superior anecdotes, from farts and corgis to Paul McCartney and poets laureate' – THE TIMES and SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2024
• 'An enthralling reverie on memory, identity, coincidence and meaning – testing, teasing, charming, moving and deceptively wise' – RORY STEWART
• ‘An entertaining and revealing digest … fascinating … Craig Brown has captured something essential about Britain’s curious relationship with royalty’ – TLS
• 'Completely and utterly brilliant and exquisitely funny and fascinating. This book is, dare I say, majestic. Craig Brown has no peers – I would curtsey to him if I met him' – MARINA HYDE
• 'Wonderfully readable … At once sympathetic but clear-eyed, kind but sharp' – NEW STATESMAN
• 'Brown is as sharp and dryly funny as his subject' – EVENING STANDARD
• 'You wouldn’t think the world needed another book about Queen Elizabeth – but how wrong you’d be. Craig Brown’s wholly original and enthralling biography is absolute heaven from start to finish' – INDIA KNIGHT
• 'Craig Brown continues to reinvent the art of biography… utterly fascinating' – JASON COWLEY