Will Self Quotes

I became completely obsessed with the Royal family, or at least the psychology behind them.

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

No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope?

Royalty puts a human face on the operations of government.

The bump I was trying to hide could be the future king of England.

You are a member of the British royal family. We are never tired, and we all love hospitals.

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.

Prince Philippe is well prepared to succeed me.

I guess I've grown to admire Queen Elizabeth II more. I've always struggled with my feelings about the Royal Family. I am a supporter. I'm not someone who thinks we should get rid of them. But what I've struggled with is the lack of emotionality that the Queen seems to share.

I'd like to be Queen Elizabeth.

After our death, and from that time forward, the crown and kingdom of France, with all their rights and appurtenances, shall be vested permanently in our son [son-in-law], King Henry [of England], and his heirs.

Princes of the Royal Family should keep as much as possible aloof from Party Politics, as I think they else invariably become mixed up with Party violence, and frequently are made the tools of people who are utterly regardless of the mischief they cause to the Throne and Royal Family. Believe me.

Prime ministers come and go, but so long as he or she lives, the sovereign remains, receiving and reading all state papers and meeting once a week with the prime minister to advise, enquire, and comment - sometimes sharply, as was the case with Queen Elizabeth II and Mrs. Thatcher - on affairs of state.

One child is never enough for a monarch.

Kenya has deep resonances for the royals: it was here, after all, that the young Princess Elizabeth heard of the death of her father, George VI. From that moment, she was Queen.

The motivations of kings in British history can generally be reduced to two: the quest for territory and the search for a male heir. No king was secure on his throne until he had a son, and no queen consort was ever really safe without a boy.

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

Queen Elizabeth, who said, Not now, I'm on the throne. Never got a dinner!

I know he [Prince] is up there saying to me, "This is not the way I wanted it to happen, Stevie."

If I am going to be the future bloody Queen of England I'm going to wear that dress once because I'm giving up the rest of my life, all of my privacy. At least I can get a new dress every day!

My father had no sons, so I became queen. The only thing I had to do was perform the role.

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.

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

People are so much more fascinated by the royal family generally than in England.

The birth certificate of the royal baby lists her parents' occupations as being 'the prince and princess of the United Kingdom.' It says that under occupation, which I guess sounds better than 'unemployed.'