Review

All the Queen’s Gossips

Two new books explore the tangled world of royal gossip and real crimes. September 12, 2025, 3:15 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

A photographer takes a photo of a pop art panting of Queen Elizabeth hangin on a wall with an exhibit card displayed next to it.

One night, the queen of England came to Johnny Cash in a dream. “Johnny Cash! You’re like a thorn tree in a whirlwind,” she remarked . When he awoke, the phrase stuck with him, and over the next seven years, he turned it into his apocalyptic song , “The Man Comes Around.”

Despite his fame, Cash and Queen Elizabeth II had never met . But she occupied a powerful place in his oneiric landscape, just as she did for countless others worldwide. Craig Brown’s book, Q: A Voyage Around th

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