Royal Audience

January 22, 2024
British journalist Charter (What Has the EU Ever Done For Us?) showcases the personal side of Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) in this admiring survey of her relationships with 13 American presidents from Truman to Biden. According to Charter, the queen used her “crucial modern role” and considerate manner to solidify the long-term “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S. Her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, advised her to “stay close to the Americans” as the allies navigated post-WWII international matters, and she heeded his advice throughout her 70-year reign. Despite some high-stakes “charm offensives” during times of tension, most of the narrative focuses on uplifting stories that humanize both the royals and the first families, particularly when warm personal friendships blossomed. Most notably, Ronald Reagan and Elizabeth bonded over horses, their shared interest captured famously in a candid 1982 photograph of the two on horseback. The easy rapport between Reagan and Elizabeth not only filled human interest stories of the era; behind the scenes, it also helped convince the White House to provide covert support for the British during the Falklands War while maintaining a publicly neutral stance. Though Charter’s upbeat narrative glosses over presidential scandals and royal excesses, his interviews with eyewitnesses achieve genuine depth of insight into his subjects’ character. It adds up to a perceptive, if highly burnished, overview of diplomatic relations between two countries’ heads of state.