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Informationen zum Autor David Charter Klappentext "From the moment she first enchanted the world as a youthful princess, Queen Elizabeth II found a unique place in American hearts--and she also played an unprecedented role in forging transatlantic ties. Over her seventy-year reign, she developed extraordinary and varied personal bonds with thirteen U.S. presidents--Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, both Bush Sr. and Jr., Clinton, Obama, Trump, and Biden--that other diplomats and leaders could only dream of. [An] ... in-depth look at international relations and interpersonal intrigue, Royal Audience peels back the curtain on the 'special relationship' between the U.S. and the U.K. as embodied by the Queen herself, charting Elizabeth II's distinctive brand of one-to-one diplomacy through the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand"-- Leseprobe Chapter 1 When I was a little boy I read about a Fairy Princess-and there she is. -Harry S. Truman, October 31, 1951 Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, was twenty-five years old and much closer than she desired to her destiny of inheriting the British throne when she became the first member of the royal family to fly across the Atlantic. Her historic transatlantic flight on October 8, 1951, together with her dashing naval officer husband, Philip, was not, however, part of the original plan for the young royals' first North American tour. They were initially scheduled to travel on an ocean liner like her father, George VI, and mother, Queen Elizabeth, had done twelve years earlier. But the Edinburghs' departure was dramatically postponed just two days before they were due to set sail when the King's doctors decided that he should undergo an emergency lung operation. This caused them to delay the trip and saw Elizabeth's role as heiress presumptive thrust into the spotlight, as she joined a council of state with other senior royals to work out how to relieve her father of official duties during his convalescence. Wartime searchlights shone a victory V over Whitehall after the King survived a "lung resection," but neither the nation nor, initially, the monarch himself were told that cancer had been diagnosed. Nor was the public informed that the operation entailed the removal of the King's entire left lung. Three days afterward, Buckingham Palace issued a bulletin warning that "although no complications have arisen so far, there will inevitably be a period of some anxiety for the next week or ten days." It was progress enough for Elizabeth's North American trip to go ahead, and her itinerary ended up being pushed back by just one week thanks to a flight on a Boeing Stratocruiser operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation. This modern advance required extra security measures: Royal Navy warships patrolled the Atlantic every seven hundred miles along the flight path. It was clear even before the King's operation that Elizabeth was being readied for her future role as Queen: she had started to receive confidential governmental papers in June 1950. Throughout the visit The Times of London arrived by airmail daily so she could keep up-to-date with current affairs. The fifty-five-year-old King's fragile condition was always in the background, while articles in the Canadian press pointing out that she looked "a bit wan" and "her broad, flashing smile wasn't so much in evidence" suggested the pressures building on the young princess. Her father had been too sick to see her off at the airport when she bade farewell to her two infant children, Charles and Anne. In his briefcase Martin Charteris, the princess's private secretary, carried paperwork for the accession should it become necessary. It was a time of upheaval for the United Kingdom at home and abroad: not only was the King in perilous health, but his empire was crumbling, and while Elizabeth was on her travels, the postwar socialis...
