Kate Williams explores the sheltered upbringing of the young princess, with a gentle father and domineering mother, her complicated relationship with her sister, Princess Margaret, and her dependence on her nanny, Marion 'Crawfie' Crawford. She details the profound and devastating impact of the abdication crisis, when, at the impressionable age of eleven, Elizabeth found her position changed overnight: no longer a minor princess she was now heiress to the throne. Elizabeth's determination to share in the struggles of her people marked her out from a young age. Kate Williams reveals how the 25-year-old young Queen carved out a lasting role for herself amid the changes of the twentieth century.