Exclusive interview with author Jane Roberts and a review of her book Queen Elizabeth II: A Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album
Rating: Four Stars
Reviewed by Gabrielle Pantera
“The idea of producing a small illustrated souvenir on The Queen’s reign was a follow-on from the little illustrated books that we have been producing over the last six years,” says Queen Elizabeth II: A Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album author Jane Roberts. “These have proved very popular both with our UK audience and with people around the world.”
This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II to the British throne. Celebrations started the beginning of the year and will reach a crescendo this coming weekend. Queen Victoria is the only British queen to have reigned longer than Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth II: A Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album commemorates the event with photos and documents haven’t been seen before. Many of the photos are from the Royal Archives. The book features 300 full color illustrations. The book is a wonderful souvenir album, a pictorial and written history for this event. It starts from when Elizabeth was a child to her life this year.
“A comparison of The Queen’s life in 2012, with that of the last monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee, Queen Victoria in 1897, is inevitably revealing of many things,” says Roberts. “The Queen is still very active, both nationally and internationally. The support that The Duke of Edinburgh provides is key to so many aspects of her life.” Both queens have seen huge technological advances, with the Age of Steam in the Victorian Age and the Digital Age today.
Jane Roberts is the Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle and the author of several books, including Five Gold Rings, also published by Royal Collection Publications.
The majority of the research for Diamond Jubilee was picture research. “The computerized database of the Royal Collection is invaluable in finding relevant items, dating from both the present reign and from earlier centuries,” says Roberts. “I did no primary research for the book on documents. The book is not intended to say anything new, just to illustrate the key aspects of The Queen’s life, and reign. The illustrations are intentionally a mixture between items in the Royal Collection and Royal Archives, and photographs, especially press photography.” Roberts first chose key topics for each year, then found the best items to illustrate, then wrote the words to inform the reader on those topics.
Roberts has written numerous catalogs to accompany exhibitions of drawings in the Royal Collection, including those of Leonardo da Vinci, Holbein and Paul Sandby. She edited the catalogs of the Royal Collection exhibitions Royal Treasures and George III and Queen Charlotte as Collectors and Patrons. She wrote Royal Landscapes, a study of the history of the royal parks and gardens of Windsor. Her other Royal Collection publications include Queen Elizabeth II: A Birthday Souvenir Album; Charles, Prince of Wales: a birthday souvenir album; and Five Gold Rings.
Roberts is currently writing A History of the Royal Library. She was born in London and lives in Windsor.
Queen Elizabeth II: A Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album (Royal Collection Publications – Souvenir Album) by Jane Roberts (Author). Hardcover: 144 pages, Publisher: Royal Collection Publications (February 15, 2012). Language: English, ISBN: 9781905686407 $24.95
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