Biographer to discuss her book, ‘Elizabeth the Queen’

Elizabeth the Queen cover-elizabeth

Fox News journalist Brit Hume will introduce the author at the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium at 3 p.m.

Smith has written bestselling biographies of such people as Diana, Princess of Wales, Jack and Jackie Kennedy, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Her books are noted for being thorough, interesting and

scrupulously fair. (sallybedellsmith.com)
The New York Times has called the book "an excellent all-embracing new biography of Queen Elizabeth II, by the superb chronicler Sally Bedell Smith ... (who) puts fascinating details into her portrait of Elizabeth, shining a beam onto unlighted corners of the monarch's experience."

Of local interest, the book traces the Queen's friendship and long association with Boca Grande's own Will and Sarah Farish. Also, one of those interviewed for the book was artist George (Frolic) Weymouth, brother of long time Boca Grande resident Patty Hobbs.

The idea for the book came when the author met the Queen at a garden party at the British ambassador's residence in Washington in 2007.

Smith said, "Nine months later I began my three-year exploration of the Queen’s epic life."

The book provides a rare glimpse into the private side of the Queen's personality, revealing a more lively and fun-loving figure than the stoic, stiff-upper-lip monarch visible in her public appearances.  

"As a woman I was intrigued by how she thrived in a man’s world, juggling her roles as dedicated professional as well as wife and mother,” Smith said. “I also wanted to describe for the first time her close relationship with the United States – her 11 visits, five of them private, and her friendships with an array of fascinating Americans, including all the presidents since Harry Truman ... except Lyndon Johnson, who desperately tried to meet her."

Books will be for sale and the talk will be followed by a book signing and reception in the Woman’s Club Room. There is an admission charge of $20 per person. Tickets can be purchased at the Friend’s office or on the web site www.friendsofbocagrande.org.

The author and her husband, fellow journalist Stephen Smith, will be staying with the Humes in Boca Grande while he is playing in a tournament at Gasparilla Golf Club.

Call 964-0827 for more information.