The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume 1: Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen (1947-1955) Kindle Edition

One of my favorite shows! Can't wait for Season 5!

This is a good book. However, the author writes, "The family were" and The Couple were" I won't say that my grammar is that great. But even I know the author should say 'the family was' and 'the couple was'

I purchased the UK version recommended by another reviewer on this site and was pleasantly surprised at what a beautiful companion it is. I have companion books for Cranford/Call the Midwife/Downtown Abbey and this book has the same measurements as those with the same high quality paper, artistic design and glorious color photos. The other version of this book (that you'll find on most websites)has the same text and many of the same photos but they are mainly b/w and the paper quality is that of an average hardcover. This would make a wonderful gift!

This takes some liberty with the historical facts. For example, Queen Mary quite approved of Philip's marriage to Elizabeth; King George VI never knew that he had lung cancer. Jared Harris does not look like King George VI, but he does a splendid job of portraying the monarch. What The Crown lacks in historical accuracy, it captures the spirit of the events (even when that spirit dissolves into fiction such as the "fog" and the death of Churchill's Venetia who never did exist. Some of my favorite moments were the Queen Mother acquiring the Castle of Mey, Queen Mary's stern advice to the new Queen Elizabeth II given at the bedside of the old Queen, and almost anything that John Lithgow's Churchill utters. I loved his comments about Philip's sisters, Mountbatten, and Clement Attlee. I cannot understand the fictional nature of some of the scenes such as thescene with Philip and the bull elephant, the wedding scene which looked nothing like Westminster Abbey, even though I did like Churchill's comment about why Philip's sisters were not present, and I laughed out loud at Queen Elizabeth (mother of the Princess Elizabeth) and her comment about Philip's mother. There is much to be enjoyed here, and I look forward to the time when Series 2 will, be available on DVD.

If you are really interested in the history of the second half of the 20th Century, this book is a start. Like the show it is a revelation about what the life of a monarch in a modern day democratic government is like you certainly will learn a lot from this book. Like the TV series you get a glimpse into the early part of Elizabeth II's reign and how she felt sometimes overwhelmed and unprepared for her position. This is made more difficult by the differing opinions and advice she received when faced by decisions that weren't as easy to make as they might seem especially for a queen.

This book is not a biography, but rather a companion book to the series “The Crown.” I have plenty of biographical material on Queen Elizabeth II and the British royal family in general, and a companion book for the series was exactly what I was looking for, so it's everything I wanted in that respect.Each chapter is titled according to each episode of the first season of the show, and provides a lot more historical context than you might get than from just watching the show. What I particularly like about it is that wherever the show invented things to create drama, or to make things easier to portray on screen, the book points this out and tells things as they really happened.Robert Lacey has written many books on the royal family over the years, on the queen in particular, so whenever I see a new book by him I know I'm getting something good. His books are always filled with something for everyone-- old information and new, classic photos and ones I haven't seen before. His books sell and his publishers know it.So what I don't understand is the decision to format what should have been a coffee table size book into a standard hardcover. The people who buy these books want room on large, glossy pages for color pictures and nicely formatted text. We like the books as much for looking at them as for reading them. While many of the historical photos may be in black and white, many of them are not, and the photos from the show should have been in color. They're also smaller than they could have been, and everything feels crowded and compressed.So if the cramped formatting doesn't bother you, and you don't mind a lot of black and white pictures that should have been in color, this is a great companion book to the TV series. You'll get a lot of information, and a lot of photos of the real people, often side by side with the actors who portrayed them. I just can't rate this more than 3 stars because I think the formatting was a huge mistake. I think the UK version  The Crown: The Inside History  might be much more enjoyable and have ordered it.

I read the second volume of this series before the first, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much better the first volume is. Lacey doesn't go off on dry tangents to the degree he does in Volume II, and he sticks to the subject at hand in an interesting and concise manner. However, I had to knock off a star for the vignettes that interrupt each chapter, making it hard to follow a narrative line. One will be reading about, say, Peter Townsend and suddenly be presented with a full separate "chapter" on another subject entirely. As with book two, I chalk this up to poor editing choices.

Very informative not only about the series but also the true history behind the fictional.Many nice pictures.Old enough to have grown up with black&white so that wasn't a deal breaker for me,some also in color.A good companion to the DVD series.Gave it as a Xmas gift along with first two seasons on DVD.

Very disappointing that it only covered series one and I was looking for background history from day one. I’m ashamed that my history was so bad....I just couldn’t remember the passage of events even though I lived through it all and was hoping it would give me a proper time line. It dotted about from one character to another rather than starting at the beginning and working its way through the event s

Excellent book loved the story, but some parts I thought were a bit harsh. The portrait of Princess Margaret was not very nice

A disappointing read. Too much time spent reviewing the episodes (which you have already seen!). Much more time could have been devoted to separating the fact from the fiction in greater detail.

A good companion to the Netflix series and with a writer of such pedigree as Robert Lacey is, it is also an informative addition to other books about the Queen. A really enjoyable read.

Well, I got Netflix on the basis of the series so I had to get the book. A lovely coffee table book amply illustrated with great text. Hope if they do not bring out a book for Series two they will bring one out for every cast change.Highly recommended.