A Voyage Around the Queen
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A Voyage Around the Queen
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Narrated by:
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Harriet Walter
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Craig Brown
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By:
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Craig Brown
About this listen
From one of the funniest writers of our time, the award-winning author of One Two Three Four and Ma'am Darling turns his attention to Queen Elizabeth II in an unforgettable and fascinating biography.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'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
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. When people spoke of her, they spoke of themselves; when they dreamed of her, they dreamed of themselves. She mirrored their hopes and anxieties. To the optimist, she seemed an optimist; to the pessimist, a pessimist; to the awestruck, charismatic; and to the cynical, humdrum. Though by nature reserved and unassuming, her presence could fill presidents and rock gods with terror. For close to a century, she inhabited the psyche of a nation.
Combining biography, essays, cultural history, dream diaries, travelogue and satire, the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma'am Darling and One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most public yet private of sovereigns.
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'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
'It is a strength of Brown’s excavating talents that he can fill 650 pages with so many attendant gems' THE TIMES
'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
Craig Brown's book One Two Three Four won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in 2020.
©2024 Craig Brown (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about A Voyage Around the Queen
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julia Mann
- 15-09-24
A tour de force
I bought this with only mild interest in the late Queen but was immediately grabbed by the humour, detail and historical context of the book. The main reader was superb with a vast array of voices to capture the text and feelings of a whole host of characters who’d met, or had an opinion on, the Queen. Craig Brown is respectful but by no means a sycophant so there is balance. I’m not sure I know the Queen any better but that is the point really. We experienced her in our own way but she was always her own person.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ian Thompson
- 06-10-24
Entertaining
Balanced between critique and admiration. What mostly comes across is just how odd the institution of monarchy is.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S Ward
- 04-09-24
Interesting and enjoyable
Full of interesting stories and facts - presented in an accessible and enjoyable format. I could have done without the ‘dreams about the Queen’ sections - other people’s dreams are always boring!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 19-10-24
Loved the reading! And the book, as good as Brown’s previous book on Princess Margaret.
Loved it all! Reading as well as book! As good as Brown’s book on Princess Margaret.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jess
- 11-10-24
Excellent reading
I loved the quirky imaginative style of this book. It was equally probing humorous and moving. What could’ve just have been a collection of anecdotes is drawn together into a portrait of someone known unknown and unknowable
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Old Walrus Face.
- 09-09-24
Wide ranging and entertaining.
All the different ways you can approach writing about the Queen. Fascinating and funny, I've listened to it all the way through, and now I'm starting again for bits I've missed. One of the top 3 in my library of over 200 titles.Thoroughly recommended for inquisitive minds,whether royalist or not.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gareth Smith
- 03-10-24
funny, poignant and insightful
a very balanced and intelligent look at the life of our late great Queen. the storytelling was well paced and was never boring. it is no mean feat to cover the well documented decades of HMQ’s reign and yet still deliver anecdotes and insights that both brought a tear to my eye and made me giggle. i feel that i know and understand her better after reading this. i was mournful and tearful all over again when it ended. Rest in Peace your Majesty. you are missed but still loved.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth
- 09-09-24
Excellent
I thoroughly enjoyed this- by turns funny, gossipy, moving and thought-provoking, with a good sense of the strangeness of monarchy and the role the institution performs in our national and individual psyches. Excellent reading as well from both the author and Harriet Walter.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Christabel Bradley
- 16-10-24
Just brilliant
So well put together. Made me laugh out loud in some places, lump in throat in others. Craig B is a stunning writer and this book would be the best present for anyone who did or didn’t admire the Queen. The reader was superb - captured the essence of a huge variety of characters. I’ll read this again one day.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gael H
- 31-08-24
It gets better as it goes along.
Edit: I wrote a scathing review after listening to the first few chapters. But I persevered, and after about chapter 20, it became rather funny. Even the terrible accents became tolerable.
Really quait enjoyable.
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