Calling All Queen Elizabeth Fans...

Friends! Oh, how I love to discover books 📚📚📚(!!!) You’ll never guess how I found the one we’re talking about this week!

Recently I received an email from a gal who had happened upon an older article on my website. It’s about having the chance to meet and have lunch with Ellen DeKroon Stamps. Ellen had the privilege and honor of being Corrie Ten Boom’s Assistant for many years. (Here’s a link to that post if you missed it.)

The gal who contacted me about how to reach Ellen is named Katy Rose. She’s a young married mom of four, has a fabulous website where you can enjoy (and perhaps order!) some of her beautiful artwork, read some of her excellent blog posts, plus learn of her new children’s book (which is where I’m about to lead you….)

Katy also is hugely fond of Corrie Ten Boom, has seen Corrie’s home in the Netherlands, and has written about her on her blog in the post, “On Corrie’s Street.”

Here’s the book I want to discuss with you this week:

***Lilibet the Brave: The unusual childhood of an unlikely Queen***
Words and Pictures by Katy Rose

Katy’s website: www.katyrosecollection.com

Lilibet the Brave is much more than just a children’s book. You and your child or grandchild will learn a lot about our beloved Queen Elizabeth.

Katy’s illustrations make the book come alive. We learn many fun things about Elizabeth and her little sister, Margaret. We get a peek into their family life as well as their schooling. We also get to see Elizabeth’s affinity for Corgis (She owned over thirty corgis in her lifetime!) and animals in general…

Queen Elizabeth had a very strong, endearing relationship with her grandfather and it was he who tried to get her repeatedly to say her name, “Elizabeth”, only to have her, on her own, come out with “Lilibet.” It stuck.

You’ll be delighted to see her grandfather in his regalia, as he was—small detail—the King of England…thus making Lilibet a princess! Sadly, her grandfather became ill and died. Then her uncle became king. Oh, but that didn’t last long as he didn’t want to be the king, so Lilibet’s Father became the King of England!

Soon World War II struck and their lives changed drastically. As you turn the pages, you’ll be surprised at how Lilibet and Margaret lived, not always with their parents either. They truly made the best of a very dire situation. Setbacks brought various opportunities and you’ll enjoy reliving them with the girls.

You may be surprised to learn Princess Lilibet joined the Auxiliary Territorial Services (ATS) where “she trained as a mechanic and driver.” This was at the ripe age of eighteen. To say she was a determined soul is quite the understatement. We learn “her commanding officer suggested she take a break and rest for a few days, worried for her health. But Lilibet felt it was no time for resting.”

I was happily surprised to learn author Ann Voskamp invited Katy to be a guest author on her website in December of 2022. The article is entitled, “Shots Fired Don’t Mean We Fall and 3 Ways to Keep Moving Forward.” It is a lovely write-up where Katy shares more with us about writing Lilibet and its’ effect on her own life.

Katy points out 3 themes from Queen Elizabeth’s life:

“Pivot Well,

Pursue beauty of a steadfast spirit, and

Pave the way to bravery by serving others.”

The end of Lilibet has several pages of a timeline of Queen Elizabeth’s life. Some is touched on in the book, but Katy expounds with more details for us adult readers. It truly is astonishing what Queen Elizabeth completed and accomplished, donated to, advocated for, raised funds for, etc., over seven decades of serving in the Monarchy.

In the Author’s Note, Katy makes an encouraging point for us parents and grandparents:

“Research continues to show that sharing the stories of history with our children increases their
sense of security,
empathy,
compassion,
humility and
bravery.”

She continues, “It’s a delight for me to pass on a few of these gems from the history of Her Majesty the Queen. She was imperfect, like the rest of us…But her sincere efforts to lead with devoted faithfulness and kindness are worth pausing to note—and share.”

My favorite fun fact comes from Elizabeth’s wedding to Philip in 1947. Katy tells us, “Lilibet requested the choir sing Psalm 23 in the old Scottish version, the way her Mother taught her as a child. She knew it by heart, and it undoubtedly bought her comfort through the years.”

Finally, let’s not miss Katy’s closing, the piece de resistance if you will:

Now run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and grab Lilibet for yourself and your children and grandchildren. You’ll be so glad you did!

‘Til next time!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”