Chatto bags Ridley's biography of Queen told through her relationships

Chatto has signed a biography of Queen Elizabeth II as told through her relationships by royal biographer and historian Jane Ridley.

Becky Hardie, deputy publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caroline Dawnay at United Agents. The title and date of the publication are yet to be released.

In the unofficial biography, Ridley will cover the first 50 years of the Queen’s life and the first 25 of her reign, up to her Silver Jubilee in 1977. Rather than give a chronological account, she will look at the Queen through her relationships – with her private secretaries and her ladies-in-waiting, with prime ministers and Commonwealth leaders and with members of her close family: her parents, Princess Margaret, Prince Philip and her children. 

The publisher said the book will address the myths that have grown up around the Queen’s early life, showing how the monarchy evolved. 

“This first phase of her reign has been eclipsed by the tumultuous years that followed, yet it is a rich, entertaining story of a forgotten era of royal history, the lull before the onset of the Diana years,” the synopsis says. “These early years were when the Queen’s family grew up, and by examining her relationships with her children the book will give a new angle on the family dynamic and the crises that exploded later.”

The author said: “It has taken me all this while to realise that of course this is the book I have always wanted to write.”

Ridley is professor of history at Buckingham University, where she teaches an MA course on biography. Her books include The Young Disraeli (Sinclair Stevenson) and Victoria, written for the Penguin Monarchs series. Her most recent biography, George V (Chatto), was published in 2021.

Hardie commented: “We whooped for joy when Jane told us she wanted to write about the Queen next. She has been preparing for this subject – if the Queen can ever be called a subject – for many, many years. She brings the deepest research, clearest of eyes and best sense of humour to the many and varied mysteries of our royal family and we cannot wait to read her insights into the most mysterious member of all, the Queen.”

Dawnay added: “Jane Ridley is the greatest royal biographer of her generation. The book is not authorised. However, no one will write a better life of the Queen.