She came to the throne in 1952 when Britain had a far-flung empire, sweets were rationed, mums stayed home and kids played on bombsites. Seventy years on, everything has changed utterly – except the Queen herself, ageing far more gracefully than the fractious nation over which she so lightly presides.

How did we get from there to here in a single reign? To cancel culture, anti-vaxxers and Twitter feeds? Matthew Engel tells the story – starting with the years from Churchill to Thatcher – with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating, forgotten, often funny detail.