5019. The Queen The Life of Elizabeth II, by Elizabeth Longford (read 28 Apr 2013) I should have read this book in 1983, when it was timely and pertinent. I read it now because I still remembered how greatly I appreciated the author's biography of Victoria, which I read 18 Aug 1966. This book is very defensive and deferential to the Queen--so much so that I felt the author was always thinking what will the queen think if I say this. There are good words on the role of the monarchy and its place in English constitutional theory. But so much has happened since 1983 that the final chapters of the book did not hold my interest very well, I think if I had read this 30 years ago I would ranked it higher than I can now. ( )