Patricia Treble

Royalty sells. Throw a dart at the entertainment industry and it will hit a royal tale in production. Our obsession with all things purple-­tinged is so voracious that creators are plumbing dynastic genealogies and historical records for the next big thing. No topic or character is too esoteric. This fascination is easy to understand: in a celebrity-­obsessed…

Virtually all Canadians have known no other monarch than Queen Elizabeth II. Yet when the young, glamorous royal came to the throne in 1952, it seemed a fusty relic in a world clamouring for change, especially the colonies of the once–invincible British Empire. Today, the House of Windsor is the epitome of a solid, successful…