Our greatest ambassador

In her 66 years on the throne the Queen has represented Britain on official visits to at least 126 countries or territories, some of them many times. Robert Hardman has had the idea to write about her reign, and about Britain, through these myriad voyages. He is right to call his book Queen of the World. There is no other.

He quotes Neil MacGregor, now the director of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum, pointing out that the Queen has officially entered the German language. The correct word for ‘queen’ used to be ‘die Konigin’; but now German grammar lists a new entry ‘die Queen’ and states: ‘There is no plural.’

Hardman argues that the meticulous care she has taken on all her overseas visits has done immeasurable good for the reputation of Britain — partly through the pleasure she has given everywhere she has been. It is clear that she is much admired even in communist countries, and that Britain is envied for having such a loyal head of state, who so perfectly embodies its history as well as its changing present.

The banquets and picnics, the triumphant voyages in Britannia, the carefully chosen official and private gifts, and the even more carefully chosen words — Hardman describes them all. He even describes Her Majesty’s choice of colours: ‘I can’t wear beige because people won’t know who I am,’ she once said. ‘And I have to be seen to be believed.’

But this is also a serious history of Britain’s role in the modern world. What makes Hardman a superb journalist and royal correspondent is his capacity for hard work as well as his extraordinary memory and witty, courteous style. Above all, he understands that the monarchy is not just a source of tabloid gossip but central to the unity of Great Britain, and never more so than in the decades since 1952.