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Publishers are preparing a raft of titles ahead of the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012.
Big names will be penning their take on the Queen’s 60-year reign, with broadcaster Andrew Marr’s title The Diamond Queen (27th October 2011, £25, hb) coming from Macmillan. Tying in to a flagship BBC television series, the book looks at her relationship with politicians, her role as head of the Commonwealth and the changes to the media since her accession in 1952.
Meanwhile, Carlton Books will be publishing a title by former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, Elizabeth: The Diamond Jubilee (1st March, £20, hb), as well as The Treasures of Queen Elizabeth by fomer ITN royal correspondent Tim Ewart (12th April, £30, hb). The latter is packaged in a slipcase box containing the book as well as removeable reproductions of state and personal documents. Publisher Jonathan Goodman said: “It will be a good event for her, for us, and for the country.”
Biography Our Queen by Robert Hardman will be published by Hutchinson on 6th October this year as a £20 hardback, incorporating an interview with Prince William. From Penguin comes Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times (Penguin General, 6th January, £20, hb), with a soft release and newspaper serialisation planned for December. Written by royal biographer Sarah Bradford, the book aims to be the “definitive biography” and will draw on 40 years of interviews by Bradford with members of the royal household. Michael Joseph is publishing Sally Bedell Smith’s biography, Elizabeth the Queen, aiming to give a close-up look at the monarch and her life.
Debrett’s and Simon & Schuster will be co-publishing The Queen: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration (1st March, £20, hb), with a foreword by former Prime Minister John Major. S&S illustrated commercial director Ami Richards said the book will be for history buffs as well as the commemorative market.
Among the more unusual titles to be published will be a gift edition of Hodder’s Gin O’Clock, a spoof of the Queen’s diary (24th May, £6.99). Orion has children’s title The Queen by Richard Brassey (5th April, £4.99, pb), and Weidenfeld & Nicolson will publish Jubilee, a novel set on the day of the Silver Jubilee in 1977 by Shelley Harris (12th January, £12.99, hb).