Penny Junor Quotes

I think the Queen enjoyed my book on her father, George VI.

Most of what I knew of George VI was from watching 'The King's Speech!'

When Elizabeth II was crowned - the sixth female monarch since the Norman conquest - the world lit up in her favour.

[Queen Elizabeth] is just the granny queen! She's our granny queen who shakes people's hands!

When George VI - displaying a flair for timing that was utterly absent in his lifetime - upped and died, the way was clear for her to inhabit her logical position as the eminence cerise, the bolster behind the throne.

I knew all about Edward VIII's abdication, George VI becoming the king and having a stammer, but nothing about how he got rid of it.

Sadly, I've never met Princess Kate.

I'd like to be Queen Elizabeth.

A few weeks before the jubilee began in 2002, Queen Elizabeth died, and the public outpouring of grief and affection, with hundreds of thousands of people queuing for hours to pass by her coffin, showed how widely and deeply loved she was.

I think you can't have the monarchy without the coronation. I think you would have to get rid of the whole kit and caboodle.

I think everyone in the United States has such admiration for the British royal family, and with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, there's a whole new interest in the younger generation.

I've written extensively on Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and seen up close how those women, who were born when the country hoped for a male heir, made their way as leaders.

Before filming 'The Crown,' I couldn't care less about the royal family. But now... I'm obsessed.

I don't think the monarchy is tawdry in the slightest. I think the monarchy is hugely important for Britain.

King Edward VIII was forced to abdicate because he was determined to marry a divorced woman. As a result of that decision, the Queen's father, George VI, was obliged to lead the country through a war that threatened its survival, with all the personal pain portrayed in 'The King's Speech.'

I think there are a number of reasons, not least of which is the personality of the Queen [ Elizabeth II]. It's very easy to underrate her significance. I think she finds the Commonwealth and her position as Head of the Commonwealth infinitely more interesting than being the Queen of England, because she has no significant role in the latter.

No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope?

I was happy to be in England, because my mother had always loved the royals, and so do I.

I have nothing against the Queen of England. Even in my heart I never resented her for not being Jackie Kennedy. She is, to my mind, a very gallant lady, victimized by whoever it is who designs the tops of her uniforms.

In England especially, I've found that if you bring up King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at a dinner party or a social gathering, it's like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the room.

When people think of hats, they think of her majesty the queen.

'Britain's Royal Families' became my first published book, in 1989, from The Bodley Head, and the rest of the story is - dare I say it? - history!

I like all the families in the U.K. But what I like about the idea of the royal family is... they seem like they're well educated and there's something admirable about them. And the Queen... she reminds me of my grandma.

The monarchy is a labor-intensive industry.

I know who Queen Elizabeth represents. I know she's the head of the British state. I know she has all sorts of titles in relation to different regiments in the British army. She knows my history. She knows I was a member of the IRA. She knows I was in conflict with her soldiers, yet both of us were prepared to rise above all of that.