Queen Elizabeth II by Sarah Bradford
Authors are star-struck by the royal razzmatazzOne of the sharpest moments in TV satire was David Frost's send-up of a BBC "royal broadcast". In the final episode of That Was The Week That Was, Frost adopted the stately tones of a Dimbleby an...
Jo Shapcott wins Queen’s gold medal for poetry
Costa prize-winning poet follows illustrious predecessors including WH Auden and John BetjemanThe poet Jo Shapcott, who began the year by winning the Costa book of the year award for her collection Of Mutability, has ended 2011 by being named the lates...
The digested read
Macmillan, £25The diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II will make millions of people reflective. It will also offer thousands of opportunists the chance to cash in by recycling every dreary detail of our Sovereign's reign, which is why I am getting in...
The Earl of Harewood obituary
Grandson of George V whose work with English National Opera helped transform British attitudesGeorge Lascelles, the seventh Earl of Harewood, who has died aged 88, was unusual for a member of the royal family in deserving a substantial obituary on acco...
Thanks for coming to Ireland – but we still need a bailout | Colm Toibin
When Colm Toíbín was a boy, his father took him to see John F Kennedy during his visit to Ireland. This week, he met the Queen in Dublin, and next he will watch President Obama fly in. Visiting celebrities are great, but the Irish economy is still a ...
Royal wedding: Knit your own corgi
The Queen has loved corgis since receiving one for her 18th birthday. They'll surely be putting in an appearance at the wedding of the year – but can you emulate this famously hardworking breed and produce a knitted version to match?Extracted from Fi...
The 10 best twitter personalities – in pictures
It's five years since the first tweet, so who communicates best?Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy
Harry Potter creator JK Rowling named most influential woman in the UK
Victoria Beckham is runner-up and the Queen at third place in National Magazine Company's top-100 listJK Rowling, the writer who created Harry Potter, has been named the most influential woman in the UK by leading magazine editors.Rowling, who recently...
The Queen at Breakfast – painted by the Duke
The Duke of Edinburgh's impressionist painting of his wife, kept in his private collection since 1965, will be included in a book to be published on MondayShe has been painted by just about every famous artist from Annigonni to Lucian Freud, but perhap...
Bidisha’s thought for the day: Queens