It is an amazing feat in the 21st century that Queen Elizabeth II, a small woman in her late-eighties, should be one of the most recognisable people on the planet. Her voice is redolent of another era, her interests are esoteric to many of her people, her opinions on anything from the weather to politics are almost entirely unknown, and her whole life has been lived without ever mingling on equal terms with anybody, except for one heady evening in...