GYLES BRANDRETH: Because I have met her, because, at close quarters, I have observed her as she carried out a range of her official duties, people often ask me What was the Queen really like?
In today’s newsletter: The longest-reigning monarch in British history died yesterday afternoon. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer guide you through the best of the Guardian’s coverage of her life and death
No one could have imagined - at that magical moment at Caernarvon Castle marking the Prince s 21st birthday in 1969 - that 25 years later he would be describing his mother as cold and distant