Scrolling through channels on TV last night I was rather alarmed to come across Grace Jones standing on stage at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert singing while gyrating with a hula hoop. I can’t imagine what the Queen would have thought and I don’t imagine she was amused, but if the singing quality of Paul McCartney and Elton John were anything to go by, I really don’t blame her for wearing her bright yellow earplugs.
It was at this point that I began to wonder if everyone had gone a bit overboard with this Diamond Jubilee business, and not to be outdone the publishing industry has published a multitude of new titles about the Queen and her 60 year reign. You will either be delighted or appalled by the fact that the library has bought many of them.
One of these books has taken my fancy, and although I have never had much interest in the Queen I hadn’t realised that the she had been such a fashion setter. During the 1950s especially, she turned out in some rather splendid outfits as seen in Elizabeth: reigning in style. Thankfully the monochrome coat/shoes/bag/hat/gloves routine didn’t appear until later.
Here is a list of the other titles that the Library has recently purchased.
- The Queen: A Biography
- The Diamond Queen: Elizabeth 11 and her people
- Our Queen
- Elizabeth the Queen: the life of a modern monarch
- Elizabeth: Her life, Our times: A diamond Jubilee celebration
- Young Elizabeth the making of our queen
- Queen ElizabethII: her life in our times
- Elizabeth: The diamond jubilee: A Diamond jubilee portrait