STILL IN CHARGE

As the queen celebrates her platinum jubilee, author Robert Hardman explains in his new book why the monarch has no intention of becoming a little old granny and fading away

SHE was just 21 and four years shy of becoming monarch when she pledged her life to the service of her people and she's more than lived up to that promise in the unprecedented seven decades she's been on the throne.

Now, as Queen Elizabeth celebrates her historic platinum jubilee, the world is honouring a remarkable woman who's put duty above all else, setting aside her family troubles while she fulfills her vow of being a working monarch for life.

In tribute to her 70 years on the throne, royal author Robert Hardman has released a new book, Queen of our Time: The Life of Elizabeth II, and in this extract, he provides a fascinating insight into the queen in the roller-coaster months preceding her jubilee year.

The queen may be 96 and growing increasingly frail but, as Hardman says, "she's still very much in charge".

"The queen has ultimate authority. And she always will."

AT TWO minutes past midday on 9 April last year, the queen announced "with deep sorrow" the death of her beloved husband. The longest love story and partnership in royal history had reached its end with the queen at the duke's side. It was the moment for which she, perhaps more than anyone, had been prepared.

"She had just been so worried about him for years it was one of the main reasons she stopped going abroad," a friend of the family says. Ultimately, though, the duke made a peaceful and painless departure to the hereafter, something for which the queen was, above all else, extremely grateful, according to those around her.

It became clear very quickly that she was certainly not going to be slowing down or changing course from now on.

"Those who thought she would go to pieces after the duke's death completely misunderstood her, one senior aide says. "She's much stronger than that."