Penny Junor - The Firm

She wanted to be the Queen of People’s Hearts.

William at 18 – already showing signs of being his mother’s son.

The King is dead. Long live the Queen. Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. Individuals come and go but the institution is what matters and the institution carries on.

The Queen Mother’s funeral at Westminster Abbey. She lived to the age of 101 and enchanted the nation. Queues for the lying-in-state stretched for three miles.

Prince William learning to cook at Eton. The photo was one of a series shot for his 18th birthday, which caused ‘a storm in a Fleet Street teacup’ and lost the Prince’s Press Secretary her job.

It was a good experience for William, however, and helped him to relax with the media that he had grown up hating.

It’s a Royal Knockout was a turning point. It was done with the best of intentions but it placed royalty on a par with showbusiness personalities.

That doesn’t mean all good works have to be serious. William and Harry replace ponies with bicycles to raise money for a charity polo match in Wiltshire.

A country woman at heart with a love of dogs and horses and not a trace of vanity.

The Queen, Princess Anne and Zara Philips. Three generations of equestrians

The mask seldom drops, but the enormity of 9/11 – and the memorial service for its victims at St Paul’s – was almost too much.

Charles and Camilla on the night their engagement was announced in 2005. After years of hostility the Queen finally gave them her blessing – and a family heirloom for an engagement ring.

The tragedy was that his marriage to Diana had failed so spectacularly. Posing after their engagement in 1981, the future had seemed secure. But she was young and ill – prepared and the spectre of Camilla haunted her from the start.

The first and second in line to the throne on the 50th anniversary of Victory in Japan day, August 1995. An early glimpse for Prince William about what the future holds.

A photo call on the Home Farm near High grove in 2004. The night before William met journalists in a local pub for a pint of cider – a new approach by ex Manchester United man Paddy Harverson.

Prince Harry being restrained after taking a swing at a photographer waiting outside a West End nightclub. He’s vulnerable and volatile – an accident waiting to happen.

Diana in her misery was another loose cannon. Her interview with Martin Bashir – a masterly performance – was the final straw. The Queen decided it was time to call a halt to the marriage.

The Queen’s great curse is that in repose her face looks glum, and if she’s watching the Derby and her horse is beginning to flag what can you expect? But if the horse comes in … jubilation.

People who work for the Queen say they are in ‘the feel-good business’. Meeting people is an important part of the job and if she overlooks someone, the Duke of Edinburgh is always there to notice and make amends.

Arriving on the Royal Train at Bristol for the Maundy Service. It’s an expensive option but – comfortably furnished and kitted out with full office and communications equipment – it’s a very secure and reliable means of transport, and one of her favourite.

William and Harry – the future. Service, dedication, duty is in the genes. But what if self-destruction is too?

I am very grateful to the authors and publishers of the following works:

Allison, Ronald and Riddell, Sarah, editors, The Royal Encyclopaedia (Macmillan Press, 1991)

Benn, Tony, Common Sense (Hutchinson, 1993)

Bentley, Tom and Wilsdon, James, editors, Monarchies (Demos, 2002)

Bogdanor, Vernon, The Monarchy and the Constitution (Oxford, 1995)

Brandreth, Gyles, Philip and Elizabeth (Century, 2004)

Burrell, Paul, A Royal Duty (Michael Joseph, 2003)

Dimbleby, Jonathan, The Prince of Wales: A Biography (Little, Brown, 1994)

Healey, Edna, The Queen’s House (Michael Joseph, 1997)

Hutton, Will, The State We’re In (Vintage, 1995)

Junor, John, The Best of JJ (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1981)

Major, John, John Major: The Autobiography (HarperCollins, 1999)

Lacey, Robert, Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Little, Brown, 2002)

Morton, Andrew, Diana: Her True Story (Michael O’Mara Books, 1992/1997)