When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, few could have any inkling of the stupendous changes that were going to take place, in Britain and around the world, during her reign. This text tells of how Britain reinvented itself after the loss of the Empire and the austerity of the post-war years. The third part in A.N. Wilson's magisterial history of Britain, which includes the critically acclaimed and bestselling The Victorians and After the Victorians, brings the reader up to the present day.