With Chartists, Diggers and Levellers among her cast, the revered Green MP for Brighton offers an inclusive account of Englishness that differs radically from that purveyed by the Right.
The author lived alongside Elizabeth and Margaret at Windsor during the war, between the ages of 16 and 22, the span of these diaries. She remained a confidante until her death in 2001.
Following the catastrophe in which Henry's heir was drowned, England sank into a terrible civil war in which English, Normans, Scots and Welsh competed in the ancient game of thrones.
The author is a distinguished historian; as professor of British history at Stanford, she has a commanding view of the Empire and its changing narratives. Original and well-informed.