that is great. the recipes are excellent. thank you. thank you so much. how are you? have a great day. that is what we are thinking about. thank you so much. [inaudible conversations] >> hi, how are you? >> excellent, excellent. >> how are you? >> it all happened. it work out. dcl those people? how are you? >> are you a garden or? excellent. >> if i were doing this -- it just keeps me going. >> thank you very much. >> how are you? >> are you gardening? excellent. tell them we are very proud. >> i will. >> great. what's going on? tell me names and ages and all of the vitals. almost like malia. congratulations. you are aged? excellent. what grade are you going into next year? you are 11? are you guys interested in gardening? and you are going to tell other kids about being vegetables, right? thanks for coming to see me. you know, since the girls went to their concert, i don't know -- [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> next sally bedell smith recounts the life of queen elizabeth ii who was under the british throne in 1952 at the age of 25. the author examines the queens public and personal life and politics and prose bookstore in washington d.c.. >> before we get started let me tell you because we are going to have a long signing line this evening. so if you want a book signed but you don't want to stand in line, purchase a book, and leave it at the information counter with the introductions of how you would like it signed and then you can pick it up anytime after tomorrow morning and we will get it signed for you. i am barbara and me. i'm one of the founders of politics and prose, and this evening i want to welcome sally bedell smith. i have introduced her several times before and this evening she is here to talk about her new biography, of elizabeth who is in hers 60th -- 50th year as the queen. for diamond anniversary. and chronicling the life of pamela harriman, diana, the kennedys and the clintons, sally has well established herself as a prominent biographer, prominent and best-selling biographer i should say. for the past 15 years she has also been a contributing editor to vogue. and therefore that she wrote a cultural reporter for "the new york times." during the time, this is a personal site, that she was researching this biography, while she was interviewing over 200 people and spending six months in residence in london, her daughter was married. this was a true anglo-american event. her daughter married an english army officer at the guards chapel which is what she says was a stone's throw from buckingham palace. that part as i was telling sally -- the part of the business life that i was so impressed with was her complete dedication to being a well-informed monarch. she was regularly briefed by the prime minister and and and she assiduously went to her diplomatic red leather box it came to her every day that had intelligence reports, minutes of various sessions of parliament. she was very studious in doing that. well, there is no recognized profession or school that you can go to to become a clean, so she came adit really with no experience but she successfully created a position in which she was both monarch, wife and mother. most of all i think the royal family that had been so marked by scandal, actually it was scandal that, is what put her onto the throne and that was the marriage of -- to the twice divorced simpson. he abdicated in order to do that and that placed her directly in line to succeed to the throne. and then on top of that, she had three divorces and her family. three of her children now have been divorced. she has had the lives of her two daughters-in-law, diana and camilla parker both have been in the gossip columns over and over again and it has been something that she so successfully created her own distance from and she has by all reports, and i think you will certainly feel this when you finish the book, is a well-respected queen. and his sally will tell us about she has also been able to preserve a very good sense of humor and has a great what sally describes as -- so here his sally to tell us all about it. [applause] >> thank you very much barbara. i am so tickled to see you here tonight because i so enjoyed being interviewed by you. you are always so thoughtful in your introduction so thank you very very much. several years ago when the queen was in one of her yearly garden parties at buckingham palace making her way through a crowd of nearly 9000 people and reading a selection of guests, she was asking standard questions such as have you come far? when one woman looked at her, and said, what do you do? [laughter] several days later at a friends birthday friend's birthday party the queen described this and confessed, i had no idea what to say. it was the first time in over the years of meeting people that anybody had ever asked me that question. my job and writing "elizabeth the queen" was not only to describe what she does but to describe what she's really likened to take the reader as close as possible to elizabeth the human being, the wife, the mother and a friend as well as the highly respected leader. to them -- so then let me talk first what it was like to write about queen elizabeth and first share with you the many disparate -- surprising discoveries i made about the queen, because she is the best-known best non-woman in the world. people feel as if they know her but the real woman is very different from the woman in velvet. this is my sixth biography, all of them about larger-than-life characters as barbara mentioned that there is no one like the queen and she lives in her very own remarkable world. while other heads of state have come and gone, elizabeth is the longest-serving leader in the world, spanning the 20 and 21st centuries. she is the 40th monarch in the 1000 year history as the british monarchy. reigning over the united kingdom of england, wales, scotland and northern ireland along with 15 rounds and 15 overseas territories. she is the second monarch to celebrate the diamond jubilee marking 60 years on the throne which is a milestone that she will reach on the gory sixth. the only other was her great great grandmother, queen victoria who celebration was 115 years ago in 1897 when she was 78 years old. if elizabeth, who will soon turn 86, is still on the throne in september of 2015, she will surpass victoria's reign of nearly 63 years. between the two of them, victoria and elizabeth have been on the throne for 124 of the last 174 years and have symbolized britain's far longer than the four men who worked change between their reigns. elizabeth is always surrounded by people, but dean queen makes her a solitary and singular figure. it is crucial for her to keep a delicate talent at all times. if she seems to mysterious and distant, she loses her bond of her subject but if she seems too much like everyone else, she loses her mystique. she doesn't carry a passport. she doesn't have a driver's license, although one of her cousins told me that she drives like a bat out of hell on the roads in her country estate. she cannot vote. she cannot appear at the witnesses court and she cannot change her faith from anglican to roman catholic and because of her hereditary position everyone around her, including her closest friends and her family, bows and curtsies when they greet her and when they say goodbye to her. although she was trained by strict nannies who prevented her from being spoiled, she was also trained from childhood to expect deference. a friend of mine told me about the time when then princess ben princess elizabeth came to visit the family castle in scotland and he playfully threw her onto a sofa. his father, the 12th girl of error it took him by the arm, punched him in the stomach and said don't you ever do that to royalty. the princess didn't mind my friend told me that was the structure in which she was brought up. so how does the biography particularly in america -- especially when the queen has had a policy of not granting interviews? actually it really wasn't too distant from the way i approach my other books which was to turn to those who knew her best for insights and information. i am a long time anglophile and i have visited britain frequently over the past three decades and have made a lot of friends. some of them helped me when i was reporting my book of princess diana in the late 1990s. when i started researching the queen's life i went back to a group of key sources who agreed to help me again and to introduce me to more people who knew the royal family. they also served as my advocates in getting cooperation from buckingham palace. my book on diana has been shared with the royal family and particularly with charles so the senior staff of the palace gave me the green light. as a result, i have access to her inner circle of close friends and advisers. while the queen has disciplined herself to keep her views and emotions under wrap in public, those close to her shared with me some of her fascinating opinions and feelings. what worried her most about prince charles and his marriage to diana was falling apart for example. what would happen if she became physically or mentally incapacitated and even when politically sensitive opinions including one hot-button issue that she discussed with an american ambassador? her friends explains the secrets of her serenity and her courage and they sized her up, sometimes in unusual, and usually purse up ways. the california horse whisperer who was one of her most unlikely friends, told me that when the queen gave him good advice, she showed an incredible ability to read intention just like a horse does. with the assistance of the palace i was also able to watch the queen and prince philip in many different settings, at as the parade at windsor castle while presenting honors at buckingham palace and that whenever anyabwile garden parties at the palace. for that i received a personalized invitation on white pasteboard embossed with gold with the queen's crown and cipher announcing that the lord chamberlain had been commanded by her majesty to invite me. everybody got back. watching the queen at that garden party along the lines line of people i was struck or measured pace. lord chamberlain who is the senior official at buckingham palace later told me that she moves slowly to absorb everything that is going on and to take as much and as she can. i also marvel at her mastery of brief but focused conversation and her sturdy stance, a technique that she once explained to the wife of one of the foreign secretaries, by lifting her evening gown above her ankle and saying, one plans one's feet apart like this, always keeps them parallel, makes sure your weight is evenly distributed and that is all there is to it. as i observed the queen over the course of the year i accumulated impressions that helps me understand how she carries out her role and how earnestly she does her job with great discipline and concentration in every situation. she is not just a figurehead. and she has an impressive range of duties. every day except christmas and easter, she spent several hours reading those government boxes that are rich as described. are delivered. they are red leather boxes that can only be opened by four keys. she reads them in the morning and at night and even on weekends. one of her close friends told me about the time during one of the queen's visit when she was deskbound all morning. must you, maam, her friend asked. that queen replied, if i miss once i might never catch up again. mary stone who is the youngest daughter of the queen's first prime minister winston churchill, told me that when elizabeth was a young 25-year-old queen, her father had been impressed by her attentiveness that she always paid attention to whatever she was doing. it is hard to imagine the amount of information that the queen has accumulated over six decades and she has used this in exercising her rights to be consultants, consultant, to encourage and to war and when she meets with government officials as well as being a military officer, clergymen, diplomats and judges who come to her for confidential private audiences. as she once said, the fact that there is nobody else there gives them a feeling that they can say what they like. the most important counters of these encounters has been the weekly audiences with her 12 prime minister's. consider the church rectory from churchill who was born in the 19th century and served in the army of her great great grandmother, clique -- queen victoria to david cameron, her current prime minister who was born three years after her youngest child, prince edward to go she actually glimpsed at the first -- for the first time her future 12 prime minister when he appeared as hh in the school production of toad hall. probably her most fascinating relationship was with margaret thatcher and in the course of our reporting i gained some great insights into how that relationship worked and some of which contradicted the common view. the queen does not have executive power, but she does have unique influence. in her role as head of state she represents government officially at home and abroad but she also serves as the head of nations which means that she connects with people to reward their achievements and remain in touch with their concerns. to decades past the normal retirement age, she still does something like 400 engagements a year. traveling around the united kingdom, cities as well as tiny hamlets. charles pole who served as private secretary for john meyer and margaret thatcher told me that the queen knows every inch of this country and in a way no one else does. she spends so much time meeting people that she has an understanding of what other people's lives are like. she understands what the normal human condition is. she has also spent an extraordinary amount of time honoring citizens and members of the military for exemplary service. in 60 years, she has conferred more been for more than 400,000 honors and awards and given them in person over 600 times. people need pats on the back sometimes she has said. it's a very dingy world otherwise. traveling with the queen was particularly valuable especially the overseas royal to her i took to bermuda and trinidad. she was 83 years old at the time and her program called for long days of meeting and greeting. her stamina was impressive. matched only by 88-year-old prince philip. whenever they go off on a trip together like that, the lord chamberlain always accompanies them to the airport and someone turns around and waves at them and says mind the shop. i got a real sense of how much in sync philip and elizabeth are with an expert choreography, sort of like fred astaire and ginger rogers. i also saw aspects of them that contradict his caricature of rashness and insensitivity. he always watches the queen intently to see whether she needs any assistance. i once saw him bring a little child over to greet her. you often spot people in the crowd you can't see very well and he will walk them out to give them a better vantage point. when the queen needs a boost, he is also there with a humorous aside such as, don't be so sad, sausage. on the last night in trinidad i also witnessed close range what i had heard about from several people, that the queen does not respond or even in the hottest temperatures. the british high commissioner was hosting a garden party in his hilltop home on an such a steamy evening that everyone including me was dripping from the heat. after an hour of lively conversation with some 65 guests, the queen walked past me very close by and there was absolutely no moisture on her face. one of her cousins who traveled in the tropics with her explain to me in her own an medical way that the queen's skin does not run water. [laughter] and while it may look good, it does make her uncomfortable. i saw further evidence of this a year later on a july day at ground zero in manhattan when the temperature was 103 degrees. one of the women the queen spoke to said to me afterwards, we were all pouring sweat but she didn't have a bead on her. that must be what it's like to be a royal. during these trips, was able to see the buckingham palace machinery on the road. to get to know the senior officials and to get a feel for the atmosphere around the queen and the way her household has changed from the early days when it was run entirely by aristocratic men, as they stood in the lobby of her hotel in trinidad, her master of the household pointed to a half dozen footmen one of whom was a woman, all dressed in navy blue suits. see sam over there he said, he has a master's degree in paleontology. it was a far cry from the stereotype of doubt and abby. getting to know all the places important to the queen further deepened my understanding and her stable -- one ofr horse trainers took me out on the gallup which is a rolling hill where she loves to spend hours in the early morning mist wearing her headscarf, her tweed jacket and her wellington boots as she watches the race horses work out. at holyrood house, her castleman edinboro aid former palace official gave me a private tour. i spent the night in the tower of tower of the castle of may which was the queen mother's house in northern scotland where the queen used to visit every year. i hiked the hills and walked along the river of the queen's estate. and her estate in norfolk where she is in every six weeks in the winter i spent a the day getting a tour of the stud farm with her stud manager and head stallion ground. i also spent a day inspecting the royal yacht can you which is now in a museum near edinboro and i was lucky enough to attend several dinners in the ballroom and a picture gallery at buckingham palace. i was not allowed as a guest of the queen but i was invited by prince charles who was hosting his annual gathering for the prince of wales foundation. sitting at his table decorated with george iii silver candelabra and sculpted centerpiece is, i could immerse myself in the experience of being observed by footmen in royal livery and rooms where the queen entertains heads of state. but my favorite moments were at windsor, which the queen considers her real home. i spent time with two of the queen's elderly first cousins who have known her longer than anybody else. both live near the castle in moderate homes that the queen gave to them. every sunday after church, the queen drives her jaguar to visit one of the cousins who greets her with a curtsy and hands are a gin and dubonnet. and they sit down and they chat about friends and family. as i sat on margaret's sagging sofa in her living room where her dogs toys were scattered all around on the floor, i could imagine the queen sitting in these very same spot with her hat on her head, but completely relaxed. at public events, i watched the queen at a distance. a smiling icon moving through the crowd, careful not to engage too much. so it was especially helpful to have three social encounters at private gatherings and each time i caught the animated gestures and the sparkling blue eyes and a flashing smile familiar to her friends but rare in public. on my first meeting during a garden party at the british ambassador's residence here in washington i watch the queen in a spirited conversation with my husband about the kentucky derby and i remembered what the british artist howard morgan had told me after painting her portrait. her private side took me completely by surprise he said. she talks like an italian. she waves her hands about. [laughter] two years later after i've been working on the queen's biography for a year, and that her again at the reception at the palace, this time in honor of the pilgrims which is a group that promotes anglo-american fellowship. when i mentioned to her that my daughter was getting married in london she asked, when is the wedding? the fourth of july i replied. oh she said, that is a little dangerous. [laughter] call-in .. so, i told her about it and particularly how much of it has been designed for the grand children. yes, she said, and they have so many, don't they? clearly. the first question that people ask me about the queen is what was most surprising, was the most surprising thing i learned about her which is very difficult to answer because so much was unexpected. one surprise is the humility that i just mentioned. part of her side that is seldom seen behind her regal and dignified, the queen is also smart, shrewd, tolerant, cozy, sensitive, lively, funny, compassionate, spontaneous, observant and even earthy. i will give you an example of the traits that i found. how about cozy? when the american artist was at windsor capital to paint a portrait of prince philip queen invited him to lunch in the private dining room. to her amazement there were no bumpers around to serve the meal. not only did the queen insist on serving him from the buffet, she also insisted on clearing the table. she stacked the plates, he said, which is what we were taught never to do when we were growing up. another time she was entertaining a larger group at a luncheon and she told the man next to her i need to explain about the napkins' as she looked at the table. she said they are doing it wrong. they have the storch side downs of the napkins' would fall on their knees. dewitt like this with the and start test site on your lap, then he took it under your bottom. what about some pontine es? while driving a scottish clerical mature she suddenly stated horray as they passed one of the gain keepers on the hill to the young women. she was absolutely delighted to be with a little girl friend. sensitive. when margaret thatcher had her 80th birthday party in 2005, she had become frail and her mind had been impaired by strokes as the queen approached the former prime minister extended her hand and the queen held it as margaret thatcher could see. but what was surprising is the clean continue to hold her hand and a planned tender we guided her through the crowd of 650 guests which was a remarkable sight for the british to see the queens of physically demonstrative compassionate when the terrorists killed the lord, the queen's cousin and phillips favorite uncle a law with several other members of the family timothy had been severely injured in the attack. when he arrived late one evening with his sister, the queen was there to greet them and they serve the soup and sandwiches and took them to their rooms and even started to unpack them until they were pretty upon to go to bed. he told me that the queen had been caring and sensitive and intuitive and that she had managed to get him talking about his travel experience in a way that nobody else had been able to do. british actors got rave reviews from playing the queen in alan bennett's play a question about tradition and she was introduced the queen and about the and the queen said i can be doing it to you. earthy probably the least expected aaa to the country to imagine her stocking stagger on the hills of both morrill and her mcintosh trousers with her nose against the boots in front of her and visiting her yearlings in their stables and seeing the seem to be suffering from problems she blew her nose and show her trainer what was in the handkerchief and said it's too dusty and here. there is no air. needless to say he promptly installed a better demolition system. and finally, something surprising because i just think the image is so sweet. when the queen and prince philip were guests of ronald and nancy reagan on a trip to california in 1983, his debt to the chief of staff asked the queen's private secretary why she was taking so long to prepare for the evening the queen needs her tiara time, he said. the secretary explained he had a little kit with tools she uses to decorate certain diamond tiaras by hooking pearls depending how much she's wearing. this pastime is something that she enjoys a great deal. it would surprise many people. elizabeth's behavior has always been reassuring and consistent and predictable. her weiss condra and unifying the unifying force are more value today than ever, long admired and respected she is our beloved. when she submitted her golden jubilee ten years ago people realized that she was about stability, continuity,, through adversity and humor when things are going wrong. her former senior adviser charles told me. suddenly they got the point of the queen who had been doing her job for 50 years. now that she has reached her sixth year milestone she is bigger than politics or celebrity or fashion yet she has learned to move with the times making sure the marquee is responsive without being trendy it is ever the more impressive when you consider that she grew up at a lagarde and atmosphere. she is the sheet anchor in the middle for people to hang onto in times of turbulence. her friend and former top adviser told me. and i hope the readers are equally inspired thanking. [applause] we have a microphone in the middle for questions. >> right behind you. right behind you. what was the situation with diana and charles? >> welcome that was one of the most difficult periods i would say. she was hoping that her son, charles, what mary happily coming and i think in the beginning they all fought that diana was the ideal and they seem to be in love or at least they talked themselves into thinking they were but they were in fact very badly mismanaged. she was very welcoming to diana in the beginning. i think everybody underestimated how sensitive. one of princess diana's close friends said that the queen always kept an open door for her. the problem was so clean can be a bit formidable command diana was very young and she was somebody intimidated by her and so she didn't take that opportunity to go and spend time with her aunt get to know her better. she would assume other people would take care of her and bring her along which didn't really happen. but a lot of the problems that happen between charles and diana would be quite invisible to both the queen and prince philip coming and it really wasn't until the book written by andrew morton that diana secretly cooperated with that was published in 1992 which was 11 years after they were married and a was highly critical of charles and very tough on the royal family. so the queen, you know, not completely understandably viewed this as an act of betrayal and disloyalty and it was compounded by the fact that when she was asked about it diana didn't tell the truth, so at that point it became clear it would be difficult and the separated not long after that, and then -- she chose a grandson and not a son to succeed her? >> she hasn't done that. charles is definitely in line to succeed her. that's the way it works. i think there have been public opinion polls that have indicated a lot of people would prefer to see the beautiful young couple succeed her but charles is the one. yeah. >> somebody has a microphone. yes? >> perhaps i will read about it in the book. i wonder if the queen has never commented to her circle of friends or publicly about the speech of her father. has she talked about it? >> well, i think to this extent i think she so admired him for his duties and his absolute determination to overcome that. i think it must have been very difficult for her to see. she once said that the quality that affected her most about him was the steadfastness coming and she learned a lot from watching him and from seeing him overcome what was an almost crippling disability, and yet go on and be an incredibly admirable king. particularly during world war ii. i think that is when she saw her parents in a new light because they were very brave. they could have gone elsewhere but it came to london every day. the girls were living at windsor castle, which was very well fortified and then queen elizabeth came and spent many nights there with their lives online by going into london and buckingham palace was hit nine times by the bombs left which almost care killed the two of them so she developed great admiration for both of them and their duty and their courage. stomach it's sort of a empathy that most of the royals don't get >> the private secretary noted that after they've taken it, the trip to south africa and he said something to that effect that she noticed an ability to connect with people and embassies she said was frear in the royal family. she has seen the king's speech by the way. she did see. she was reluctant to see it because she was nervous about seeing her parents portrayed, but her cousin margaret every sunday told me that she did see it. i think people told her the reaction which was common there and here at the end. she liked it, she wasn't abusive. she felt it was fine but