If you follow any of my social media feeds, I'm sure you're aware of my anglophilia. It's not just because HRM and myself have the same name, I swear. If you've been binging on The Crown at all, the story they tell comes mostly from the accounts in this book.

I spent roughly all of last month and a smidge of this month listening to this story on Audible during my commutes to and from the office, and I was enthralled from beginning-to-end. Simply put, Elizabeth astounds me. No matter how many times her life is told to me, I can't wrap my brain around the fact that she became queen by time she was twenty-five. I'm thirty-three and I joke (although it's mostly true) that I still don't wear shoes with laces because I don't like the responsibility that comes with tying them whenever they're loose. Just to give a bit of comparison.

Elizabeth's life is such a mix of enchantment, dedication, lavishness, while also being fairly sad all at the same time. From a very young age, she was groomed to rule, which she has done and continues to do, making England and The Commonwealth her priority. She's well-versed and well-trained in her mannerisms somehow laying down the law, but exuding grace and dignity.

Through good times and bad, she's endured and ruled with civility, and the traditional, british, stiff upper lip. I've always had this gut feeling that she's rarely been able to convey her true self and true emotions, and if anything, this book solidified that for me. From losing family when their ship sank due to being bombed by the IRA, to trying to balance being a grandmother and a queen when losing her daughter in-law, or losing her mother and her sister a matter of weeks apart, and even having to grieve in solitude when she lost her father at such a young age, my heart really went out to her. At the end of the day, she's simply human, while somehow so much more with the weight of one of the most powerful empires on her shoulders.

Smith's detailing and recounting of the lives of The Royals, from their pasts with Elizabeth's father, King George VI and her mom, The Queen Mother, Philip's Mountbatten roots, every minute with Elizabeth, Philip and their children, and tying in the future of the monarchy with Harry and William was such an involved and interesting process. I enjoyed learning about the seemingly precarious balancing act this family faces every single day trying to adapt to the modern age, while also maintaining almost ancient traditions and ceremonies. It certainly makes for an interesting day-to-day.

Reading this account of this wonderful family just made me adore them even more than I already did. I loved discovering Lilibit's cheeky personality and Philip's keen interest with technology and progress. As a certified lover of all things Brit, there was a fair amount in this book I already knew, but so much more that I didn't, so I thoroughly savored every single moment spent in the House of Windsor.

Needless to say, I'm practically chomping at the bit and gearing up for the impending wedding! Give me all the pomp and circumstance! God Save the Queen!