On February 6, 1952, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor became Elizabeth II, Queen of England. Monarch's bestselling author Robert Lacey's unique biography of Elizabeth Windsor as well as his acute analysis of history's most durable symbol of political authority: the British monarchy. Monarch is a revelatory examination of Elizabeth II as a human being and of an institution shaped over the years by the wishes and dreams-and sometimes the anger and unhappiness-of the British people. As such, it is both a celebration and an analysis of the world's best-known monarchy. Here are Elizabeth's ancestors and models: her great-grandmother Victoria (adored as a young queen, derided for her middle-aged seclusion from her subjects, and revered as the longest-reigning monarch in British history); the playboy Prince of Wales, later Edward VII; Elizabeth's grandfather George V; her adored uncle David, who abdicated as Edward VIII; her father, George VI; and her extraordinarily well loved mother, the Queen Mum. Monarch brings Elizabeth to life as never before: "Lillibet" as a baby, being instructed in the proper way to wave to a crowd; as a child, inspiring her people with radio addresses through the Blitz; annotating her books on constitutional law with carefully written notes on how to be a queen; and falling in love with her cousin Philip at age thirteen-for life ...