In this major biography of the queen, Wallace MacCaffrey focuses on Elizabeth's career as a practicing politician, taking into account her testing personal experience, her temperament, her own view of her role and the constraints she frequently faced whether imposed by the inheritance from her predecessors or by contemporary events. The Elizabeth who emerges from these pages has a more human appearance than the stiff, richly garbed, bejeweled Elizabeth of the royal portraits. She is more fallible. And more interesting.