A new biography portrays Queen Elizabeth II as the British public's emotional anchor

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2024

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

Author and essayist Craig Brown is perhaps best known for his sketch comedy writing and satirical columns poking fun at the British government. But he's also a biographer, having written about subjects like Princess Margaret and The Beatles. Now, he's turned his attention to Queen Elizabeth II in a new biography, Q: A Voyage Around the Queen. In the book, Brown portrays the monarch as an anchor for the British public who penetrated the emotional psyche of a nation–even appearing in people's dreams. In today's episode, Brown joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk about what Queen Elizabeth II symbolized to people, what she would've done with her life had she not been royalty, and the unchanging nature of her character.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Amper's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I'll be real. I have a tough time
0:07.1	wrapping my head around Americans' fascination with British royalty. Like, my wife will watch
0:13.4	the crown on Netflix, and that's when I'll head to the other room to play video games. But today's
0:18.0	author says this about Queen Elizabeth, that British people dreamt about her,
0:22.9	and, quote, she inhabited the psyche of a nation. And I think someone with that power deserves
0:29.6	to be reckoned with. Right at Craig Brown did just that. His book, Q, a voyage around the queen,
0:36.1	isn't so much a biography of her, but an examination of her
0:39.4	cultural impact, how she shaped the world around her just by existing. Brown spoke with
0:46.3	NPR Scott Simon about how British people used her as a way to see themselves. That's ahead.
0:53.1	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:58.0	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:02.5	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:04.5	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:08.2	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:12.1	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:17.6	In this garment of white, in such contrast to the splendors about her,
1:23.2	she will move for the first time to King Edward's chair.
1:28.1	In 1953, Elizabeth Windsor was crowned, queen, live on the BBC and leading up to the coronation.
1:36.5	Ten-year-old boy won an essay contest held by the Liverpool Public Libraries in which he wrote,
1:41.5	quote, no rioting nor killing will take place because present-day royalty rules with affection rather than force.
1:50.6	That 10-year-old boy was Paul McCartney.
1:53.4	Author and essayist Craig Brown joins us now.
	...

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