this is one of those books i have no clue how to talk about it, let alone review it in a helpful way.

it was interesting to see snippets into the lives of this couple and how they meet and got married.

but because we only got snippets of specific moments, never got the introduction, never got the moment after the wedding or even the actual wedding which would have been interesting since it was the entire build up of the book.

on top of that the writing in this book was so over simplified that j have no idea which age group this book is targeted to.
ya? adult? on between? even younger? no clue!
if it’s adult it felt a bit too simple and i wish we could have been given more of the real struggles that elizabeth and phillip must have been going through with their decisions and how everyone around them reacted to their decision to marry.
if it’s ya i think it might have been helpful to give a bit more background infos?

i have no idea, which is why this book is confusing to rate.
it has so many middle ground moments that are hard to rate or talk about without the other person having read the book as well to understand what the “problems” are.

so to simplify:

- i liked how human and realistic the people are in this book.
elizabeth has a character, has feelings and emotions and sometimes struggles with her role that she didn’t pick but will take in because it’s what’s expected of her.
it was nice to see that a person who always seem so assured and strong be portrayed as someone struggling with self confidence sometimes.

- i didn’t like how this feels very much like an essay collection since we kept being dropped in moments that are already in full swing and while it gets explained over time would it have been easier to make it all connect better and not having to go back and explain after already starting?

- i didn’t enjoy how it’s so unclear what’s fiction and what isn’t.
is the way the queen and her husband meet real?
is the story about philips family real?
if so how come nobody ever mentioned that his sisters where married to SS officers?!?
and how the heck could he have really expected them to come to his wedding??
was that real if so dear god what kind of person is that man?!

so as someone that doesn’t know a huge amount of those two royals i wish we could have gotten a better overview of what’s actual fact and what’s fiction.


all in all?
it’s okay.
it’s not bad.

but it’s a strange type of book where i would guess that everyone that knows a lot about the royals wouldn’t find it overly interesting but if you don’t know a lot about them (the group i fall in) the book is skipping a lot that would be helpful and doesn’t give real facts to know what the author added herself.

it wasn’t a great one for me personally but i guess if you try jt and enjoy how it’s written it might be for you.