Consort of King George VI, mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and grandmother of Prince Charles, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon--the ninth of the Earl of Strathmore's ten children--was born on August 4, 1900, and, certainly, no one could have imagined that her long life (she died in 2002) would come to reflect a changing nation over the course of an entire century.

Vividly detailed, written with unrestricted access to her personal papers, letters, and diaries, this candid royal biography by William Shawcross is also a singular history of Britain in the twentieth century.