In 2020, the Queen finally appeared to be at ease in the modern world, helped by the new generation of Windsors. But then Harry and Meghan announced that they were leaving ‘The Firm’, and Prince Andrew was relieved of his duties following revelations of his involvement with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, inflamed by a car-crash TV interview. Suddenly, the Faustian bargain the royal family had struck with the media to ensure their survival had never seemed so close to breaking point.

Here, through Clive Irving’s unique insight, we look behind the facade to find a fragile institution which owes its continued existence to one extraordinarily dutiful matriarch. Part biography, part meditation on a changing society, The Last Queen asks: how long can the House of Windsor survive beyond the reign of Elizabeth II?

Picking up his tale in 1936, with the abdication of Edward VIII, Irving follows Elizabeth and her family’s struggle to survive in the face of unprecedented changes in attitudes towards the monarchy - a story honed by the critical eye of an investigative reporter who has been close to the action since the very beginning.