Eva Grippa in Forte dei Marmi: Elizabeth II, the Woman Beyond the Crown
At the Bagno Montecristo in Levante, Eva Grippa presented The Queen in Pocket, the book she co-wrote with Ivan Canu, which—on the centennial of Elizabeth II’s birth—offers a surprising portrait of the British monarch. The event was moderated by Simona Bertocchi, a highly acclaimed writer of historical novels.
After joining *Repubblica* two months after graduating in 2004, the journalist explored many different fields and wrote for numerous publications within the Group (*Il Venerdì*, *Le Guide di Repubblica*, the *Casa&Design* website, *RClub*, and *Moda&Beauty*) until she reached her current position as section chief at d.repubblica.it. In 2017, she brought a great passion to her profession by beginning to write about royal families, and since then the oxymoron has continued: “I cover the monarchy for Repubblica, and I do so in many forms, including a weekly newsletter, ‘Royality Show,’ and a video column called ‘The Royal Watcher,’ which goes online every Saturday.”
For seventy years, Elizabeth II has been the Queen. Even before being a woman, in the eyes of the world she was a symbol: the Crown, Buckingham Palace, a certain idea of England, and, above all, that extraordinary continuity capable of spanning eras that seemed destined never to connect with one another.
But who was Elizabeth when, at least in theory, the palace doors closed?
It is around this question that The Queen in Pocket: A Pop, Irreverent, and Definitive Guide to Elizabeth II, 100 Years After Her Birth revolves—the book by Eva Grippa and Ivan Canu, published by DeAgostini, which took center stage on the evening of Thursday, August 13, at the Bagno Montecristo di Levante in Forte dei Marmi.
A sunset presentation, set against the summer landscape of Versilia, was masterfully hosted by Simona Bertocchi, who, with her expert insight and “historical” eye, provided an opportunity to revisit one of the most recognizable figures of the 20th century—and, at the same time, one of the most difficult to truly understand.
For Elizabeth II has been under the spotlight her entire life—photographed, written about, interpreted, and imitated. Yet, paradoxically, she has managed to maintain an almost impenetrable aura around herself.
One Hundred Gates to the Queen’s World
Born on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth II would have turned 100 in 2026. Grippa and Canu’s book takes this anniversary as its starting point but chooses to avoid a celebratory tribute.
The very structure of the volume makes this clear: one hundred entries for one hundred years, a journey that allows readers to enter the sovereign’s world from different perspectives.
Thus, grand history coexists with small daily habits; protocol meets private passions; events that have shaped the United Kingdom and the world alternate with curiosities, daily rituals, horses, dogs, clothes, and objects that have, over time, become elements of a deeply personal iconography.
For Elizabeth, in addition to being the stoic monarch we all know, was also little “Lilibeth,” dreamy yet never naive, an adored wife and formidable “Top Lady,” a skilled mechanic and lifeguard, a passionate photographer and horse rider.
It’s a clever way to approach a figure about whom it seems everything has already been written.
To tell Elizabeth II’s story anew, in fact, it’s not enough to simply reconstruct her biography. We need to shift our perspective.
And that is precisely what Eva Grippa does: she shifts her focus from the Crown to the person, without ever forgetting that, in Elizabeth’s case, completely separating the two dimensions is nearly impossible.
Elizabeth Before *The Queen*
“Before the sovereign, there was Lilibet—a little girl who wasn’t born to become queen and whose destiny was indirectly altered by her uncle Edward VIII’s abdication. A young princess who served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, even learning to drive and maintain vehicles—the writer recounts—Then came her marriage to Philip, the sudden death of her father George VI, and, in 1952, her accession to the throne. She was twenty-five years old.”
From that moment on, her private life and public history would come to overlap almost completely.
Elizabeth II knew Winston Churchill as prime minister and has lived through the world’s evolution all the way to the age of social media. She has witnessed the dissolution of what remained of the British Empire, the transformation of the Commonwealth, the radical change in society, and the shifting relationship between citizens and institutions.
She has weathered political crises, wars, family scandals, and cultural revolutions. She has witnessed the transformation of the monarchy from an institution shrouded in aloofness to a family subject to the relentless scrutiny of the media.
And, through it all, she has remained recognizable.
Elizabeth’s Silent Language
Perhaps this is precisely where the character becomes most interesting.
“For decades, Elizabeth II practiced a form of communication based above all on restraint. She spoke through gestures, her presence, rituals, and even through what she chose not to say,” says Grippa.
Brightly colored dresses, hats, pearls, and her famous handbag: seemingly minor elements that, repeated over time, have come to form an immediately recognizable visual code.
It wasn’t just style.
It was representation.
In a world that increasingly demanded public figures reveal every detail about themselves, the Queen continued to practice the opposite art: being visible without becoming completely accessible.
And it is probably this very distance that has fueled her symbolic longevity.
Eva Grippa and Her Perspective on the Windsors
A journalist and royal expert, Eva Grippa has been observing the British monarchy for years with an approach that blends news reporting, cultural commentary, and communication analysis.
She is a journalist for Repubblica and editor-in-chief of the D la Repubblica website, where she covers the world of the Windsors, edits the Royality Show newsletter, and produces the video column The Royal Watcher. She has dedicated books, podcasts, and numerous in-depth articles to the British monarchy.
It is therefore not a fleeting curiosity about the royals that drives The Queen in Pocket, but rather a body of observation built up over time.
Grippa had previously dedicated Elisabetta e le altre. Dieci donne per raccontare la vera regina to Elizabeth II, choosing at the time a particularly effective narrative device: portraying the sovereign through the women who had crossed her path.
With The Queen in Pocket, the perspective shifts once again.
Now that Elizabeth’s reign has come to an end, it is possible to view it in its entirety. And above all, it is possible to reflect on what remains.
When a Person Becomes an Icon
The graphic and illustrative work of Ivan Canu contributes significantly to the book’s identity. The pop style, evident from the title itself, allows Elizabeth II to be freed from the solemnity of official biographies without depriving her of her historical complexity.
The image of the Queen wearing large red glasses chosen for the cover is, in this sense, already a statement of intent.
The sovereign whom we have known for decades through the almost ritualistic stillness of official portraits is presented to the reader through a contemporary, ironic, and immediate language.
But behind this lightheartedness lies a much deeper question.
How is an icon born?
And above all: what allows a public image to outlive the person who embodied it?
Elizabeth II presents an almost unique case. Her reign has lasted long enough to become part of the collective memory of vastly different generations. For millions of people, she was not simply a queen: she was the Queen.
From Forte dei Marmi, a Look at the Twentieth Century
Presenting this book in Forte dei Marmi means bringing a story that seems distant yet is surprisingly close to the heart of Versilia.
“Because talking about Elizabeth II inevitably means talking about us as well—says Simona Bertocchi, during the presentation—About our relationship with images and with power. About the fascination that dynasties hold. About the transformation of information into spectacle. About the increasingly fragile boundary between public life and the private sphere.”
And it also means reflecting on an era in which a woman managed to become world-famous without completely surrendering herself to the public’s curiosity.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, four years after her death, we are still searching for Elizabeth behind the Queen.
“The Queen in Pocket” does so by taking the smartest approach: it doesn’t claim to find a definitive answer, despite the ironic promise of the subtitle. Instead, it scatters clues, details, anecdotes, and contradictions.
Because sometimes the big picture of history is understood precisely through the smallest things.
A handbag. A horse. A hat. A restrained gesture. A phrase spoken at just the right moment. Or a silence.
And at the end of these one hundred voices, perhaps the most fascinating question remains: how well did we really know the woman whom, for seventy years, we all felt we knew?
