Peter Morgan is the inspiration of The Crown, and he is also the inspiration of this book, The Inside History, which has been raised upon the solid foundations of his drama. The book has been piloted by Peter’s purpose to lay out the historical evidence on which the drama is based – and from which, on a few occasions, he unashamedly departs. History, as Hilary Mantel has recently reminded us, is our imperfect way of organising our ignorance of the past. Imagination is our way of understanding it, and Peter has supplied both imagination and understanding in abundance.
Thank you also to Andy Harries of Left Bank Pictures for his whole-hearted support and encouragement – along with his colleagues Marigo Kehoe, Suzanne Mackie, Charlie Goldberg, Ian Johnson, Robert Fox and Matthew Byam-Shaw. In writing the book, I have benefitted hugely from the historical delving and documentation of Left Bank’s Crown script and research team: Kerry Gill-Pryde, Annie Sulzberger, Edward Hemming, David Hancock and Oona O’Beirn. What happened to King George VI’s severed lung? Left Bank discovered the secret.
The pre-ordained protocols of modern publishing can drain the fun and creativity out of old-fashioned, hands-on book production. But not the lively and creative team at Blink, with whom it has been such a pleasure to work: Ben Dunn, Beth Eynon, Oliver Holden-Rea, Emily Rough, Vivien Hamley and Richard Collins. Thank you for your hope and brightness, your taste and style, your original thinking and your problem-solving sensitivities which have added so much to every page. And thank you too, Michael Foster, for your own push and problem-solving at some difficult moments, and for the unfailing support of Jonathan Pegg.
On some specific points of history, I have benefitted from the collegial advice of Michael Bloch and William Shawcross, as well as from Dr. Jane Connors and Dr. Yvonne Ward in Australia. On questions of literary balance, I have relied on the immaculate instincts of my old friend Ben Dyal with his sharp-eyed partner Mrs. Norris. Robert Donnelly supplied the elegant family tree. Roy and Zoe Snell brought their precision to fuzzy pictures. And thank you to Lesley Baker, Jane Turner and Emma Anstock for their professional secretarial back-up.
Susan Link Camp, my California-based Nancy Drew, has been my indispensable colleague in checking the facts and discovering original documents and photographs, many of them reflecting her particular flair for fashion history. This book has been written, designed and produced in a miraculously short length of time, and if the nimble Blink team can take credit for the editorial end of things, it is Susan’s tireless hours of support and research that have made it possible for me to fulfil my end of the bargain.
I have never forgotten the morning of 2nd June 1953, when my family trooped next door to watch the coronation of Elizabeth II on the newly acquired television of our neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Ronny Gleave, in Westbury-On-Trym, Bristol. Little did I imagine that Jane Stewart, the Maid of Honour carrying the train just behind the Queen’s left shoulder, would one day bring such happiness into my own life. But here we are in a new century, with dear Jane’s love and laughter bringing such joy to an author’s weariness.
Robert Lacey, July 2017