A very informative and enjoyable account of the early life of Princess Elizebeth.
I enjoyed it and would recommend even if you are not a fan of the Royal. Family

This was a wonderful and informative book on the beautiful Queen Elizabeth II. After reading several books about her and the royal family in general, this did contain some information that I didn’t know, which was very nice. Thank you for the advanced copy!

Dinsmoore, Jane. Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, 2018.

The only thing we commoners like better than a royal wedding is a royal scandal. The magazines and newspapers who ooh-ed and aah-ed over the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle saw no irony in publishing snarky articles about supposed rows with her new family members a week later. The British royal family lives in a gilded cage, and for all the riches, pomp, and splendor, we would do well to remember they are also people. In Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II, author Jane Dinsmoore allows us to see the world’s longest-reigning monarch as just that: a regular person born into unbelievable and sometimes overwhelming responsibility.

Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor to the Duke and Duchess of York in 1926, Princess Elizabeth was known as Lillibet by close family members. She was third in line for the throne, but this could all change if her uncle David finally married and produced an heir. She loved horses, participating in Girl Guards activities (the British version of America’s Girl Scouts), and putting up with the theatrics of her little sister, Margaret. She lived a charmed life as the apple of her parent’s eye, and if she begrudged sharing them with their royal duties, she said little. Ten years later, everything changed. With King Edward VIII’s abdication of the throne, Lillibet’s father became king and she became the heir presumptive. The princess began learning statecraft at one of the most difficult points of British history: the abdication threatened the monarchy as an institution while the coming war with Germany would test the monarchy’s place in governing the country.

Pulling from interviews, memoirs, and other writings, Dinsmoore’s writing sometimes resembles a day planner more than a narrative, but her attention to detail is phenomenal. Elizabeth II’s childhood and adulthood could be seen as a type of school for scandal, perhaps preparing her for the issues that would crop up with her children’s and grandchildren’s marriages. George VI’s handling of the continued machinations of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (made Duke and Duchess of Windsor after his abdication) and discovery of Mountbatten designs on the monarchy (introduced with Elizabeth’s relationship with Prince Phillip of Greece) no doubt impacted how Queen Elizabeth would deal with her children’s affairs, failed marriages, divorces, and remarriages.

“When I was a little boy I read about a fairy princess, and there she is,” wrote American President Harry Truman, but there is so much more to Elizabeth Windsor’s story. The Queen Elizabeth seen during the Trooping of the Colour, royal weddings, celebrations, and memorial ceremonies is also the woman who battled insecurity and loved fiercely. She was once a young girl, a young wife, a young mother. The beautiful grounds of Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle were once torn apart by Luftwaffe airstrikes, their lights dimmed and dining tables bare as the royal family stayed true to the austerity measures they asked of their people. When we go looking for fairy stories, we will find them. The truth is harder to locate and often harder to take. Dinsmoore’s Princess Elizabeth is a girl hoping to meet the expectations of her family and nation while also wanting to make her own mark on it all. Perhaps she was not that different from any young woman on the cusp of taking the world by storm.

Kate Murphy Schaefer, June 2018

Five Star Review. I love Biographies and Auto Biographies and any reading involving the royal family. Thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend.

I am by no means a royalist but I appreciate that they do make money as well as spend it! The number of tourists coming to the UK to visit Buckingham palace and other Royal residences has grown exponentially in the past few years and is set to grow even more with the addition of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.

I must admit I did watch the Royal wedding and was surprised to see a number of black performers including the cellist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the Kingdom Choir led by Karen Gibson, and that unforgettable sermon from Bishop Michael Curry. All of these performances were electrifying and beautiful, in my opinion. It it is long overdue that someone like Markle has finally made their way inside the historically white modern British monarchy.

Very few people actually realise that this is not the first time a person of different ethnic origins has married into the British Royal Family, that distinction actually goes way back to the 18th century to Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Victoria's grandmother. Charlotte was the wife of King George III, who was Queen from 1761 until her death in 1818, and was of mixed race. Apparently she was "directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House."

I picked this up mainly because I love history and being British, I feel I should know more about my country. It comes across as well-researched and was an easy and enjoyable canter through Queen Elizabeth II journey including meeting and falling in love with Prince Phillip of Greece as well as other important happenings from the early part of her life.

All in all, this is a thorough and detailed account of Queen Elizabeth's formative years and what set her on the road to becoming Queen. Interesting and packed with meticulous research, you could do worse than investing some time reading this. Dismore has done an exquisite job!

Many thanks to Thistle Publishing for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

I've read several books on Elizabeth. I found this one to be particularly readable and interesting. Ms. Dinsmore has an engaging style that kept me reading almost like the book was a novel. I learned a lot of new facts, particularly about the Queen's time as a newly wed. I also found out more about Prince Phillip's background.

I highly recommend this book for people interested in the Windsors.

Princess offers a few surprises. Queen Mary was far more interested in Elizabeth’s education than her mother was. Her father, Prince Bertie/King George VI, was the only straight arrow among his brothers. Her mother didn’t seem to want to recognize Elizabeth had grown up, always lecturing her in letters on how to conduct herself, even though Elizabeth had always been proper. Her own maternal instinct didn’t seem so strong; eager to spend time with Philip in Malta (admirable), she left Charles behind a lot.
Elizabeth was exactly what the monarchy needed to survive.

I read the Kindle edition.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Absolutely brilliant! This book gives the history of Queen Elizabeth II from before her birth with the history of both of her sets of grandparents, their lives, their homes and their demeanor. It was truly fascinating. We move along to the birth of Princess Elizabeth and her early childhood precociousness and her playful and yet serious personality. She was always very correct, learning to bow and curtsey and address her elders with respect. The public loved her from the start and craved seeing her. Although shown to the public rarely, they were apparently special times for those who caught a glimpse of the princess.

This book goes into detail about WWII and what the princesses were doing at that time. They volunteered and assisted with making the military men more comfortable. Both of the girls, Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret, were welcoming and friendly. The men were grateful for their company. The nights of terror in London during the bombings and the actual missile strikes against Westminster were detailed.

As she moves into adulthood, she falls for Philip Mountbatten at an early age. They get wed when she is twenty-one. They believe they have several years of togetherness before she has to assume the throne. They have two children, Charles and Anne. Suddenly, she is queen at age twenty-five following the sudden death of her father “Bertie” who is King George VI. Elizabeth and Philip’s lives are changed forever.

This book is well written in clear and concise English. On occasion, this reader got a little confused at the numerous names of relatives and others who surrounded Elizabeth. I felt at times that I needed a chart. There is some going back and forth between timelines as well. The footnotes at the end of each chapter were very helpful. It was so nice not to have to flip back and forth throughout the whole book to find the quote that the footnote cited. While most of my English history is based in the Tudor time period, I absolutely fell in love with Elizabeth and her family. The book covers Elizabeth’s early life to the time of her assuming the throne. She is such a refreshing person. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of Great Britain, or just loves a good biography.

I do so hope that Ms. Dismore goes on with her biography of Queen Elizabeth II.

I want to thank NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable biography for me to read, enjoy and review.

Thank you Thistle Publishing and David Haviland for this kindle advanced copy of Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II by Jane Dismore. This book will be released on July 5th 2018.

This is the story of Queen Elizabeth from before her birth to right around when Princess Anne was born. I was amazed by this book, so many things as you would expect with a lot of years of someone's life. This book is packed with births, marriages, death, history, love, and the life of the rich. What I didn't expect is bombs, Hitler, Gloria Vanderbelt, tales of ghosts in the palace. Ms. Dismore did a wonderful job on this historical biography on Queen Elizabeth. You will learn how she grew up, things she went through as the youngest Queen, being bombed by Hitler, meeting Phillip when they were very young, how it blossomed into a love affair and then marriage. It is interesting to know how well behaved and how polite Queen Elizabeth is growing up. Her love for animals and others. She also served in World War II and became Queen at age 10, age 10 that is impressive. I loved the work that went into her wedding dress, such detail that I could bring it up in my mind what it looked like vividly. This book also gives me insight to what was going on around my great grandparents and grandparents early life. Things they knew about that now it's too late to ask. Thanks to Ms. Dismore I have a new insight to those things. Thanks to Thistle Publishing and Mr. Haviland I would have never read a book like this and I sincerely thank you so much.

I recommend this book to all my family and friends, it's sure to be a best seller. The cover is beautiful.

Cherie'

Attention all Anglophiles! You will love this historically sound life of Princess Elizabeth from her birth until she becomes Queen. The author has thoroughly researched her story and many sources are included in this book.

The Princess had a quiet and sheltered early life, as much as possible in the royal world. Parts of her childhood were spent at the various palaces and royal homes, but she enjoyed a warm family life. I liked that the first Buckingham Palace Guide Company with twenty Guides and its Brownies pack of fourteen was formed for Elizabeth and her sister Margaret.

When she was ten years old, her father became King after the Abdication of his brother, and Elizabeth became the Heiress Presumptive and the most famous child in the world.

World War II was a dark and frightful time for the UK and Elizabeth and her family did their part to encourage the country. Elizabeth’s cultural programme continued and she carried out more wartime duties.

As she grew up, a friend recalled, “Princess Elizabeth was so beautiful to look at. She really was enchanting. She had a wonderful figure and wonderful skin and such a vivacious, lovely face when she smiled.”

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip was marvelous to read about. Readers will be touched by the loving letter from her father the King.

The book shares Elizabeth and Philip’s early married life. After attending a play, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip dined at London’s fashionable Café de Paris, where they were joined by the stars of the production, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

The book ends with the death of her father the King and the start of her outstanding reign as Queen. Elizabeth continues to be a remarkable and admirable person.

This book is written in a factual way that is very positive about the Princess and the Royal Family. As an American, all the different dukes and duchess and viscounts and family members were hard to keep track of but many readers may enjoy learning about this. I recommend this positive and informative book.

Jane Dismore's research is as meticulous as her writing form is engaging, and it is this balance of talents that makes Princess such a good read. What with Harry and Megan's recent wedding this topic is very much aucourant, and though I haven't watched any of these made-for-TV British royalty series straight through, from what glimpses I've seen I don't think they convey a sense of how much work and grit being royalty requires. Dismore does manage to do this. My only complaint is the abrupt ending, as I wanted to keep on reading through to present day!

I was surprised at how much of this history took place in Scotland, loved the descriptions of Castle Glamis, and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Delightful details of scandals around Thelma Furness and her twin sister Gloria Vanderbilt and of course their friend Wallis Simpson. So much turpitude involving married, high-born women! Much learned about the UK and all the various "pink bits", particularly surrounding wartime intrigue and the many sprawling royal family relations. Very interesting to note that Royal Wedding Hysteria is not at all a new development; Elizabeth was given twelve wedding cakes to choose from and she went with the four-tier creation by McVities and Price Ltd., makers of my all-time favorite Digestive Biscuits! And then after her first child was born she used the top of that wedding cake for the celebration of his birth?? My hat, how very sparing indeed.

Carefully researched and more set in context and well rounded than previous royal biographies, Dismore sets the childhood of Elizabeth II in the drastic social changes of post WWI Britain and demonstrates the effects of the abdication on her path from country house gentry to the throne, as well as the heavy weight of WWII.

Better than expected. The character development was actually really good. The tropes in the book prevented me from fully loving it, however, this is a solid plot with a solid idea. Definitely not a waste of an afternoon.