“She has always had this historical perspective about life, and now she embodies history,” her biographer Robert Lacey tells PEOPLE.
During her record-breaking 68 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth has prevailed throughout some of history’s must tumultuous times — and she is now drawing upon that experience amid the current pandemic crisis.
In her recent addresses to the public in the U.K. and beyond, the 94-year-old monarch carefully captured the mood of the world, those who know her tell PEOPLE.
“She always hits the right mark. She has impeccable judgment,” one close royal source says in this week’s cover story.
In several video addresses from Windsor Castle, where she has been isolating with Prince Philip, 98, since March 19, the Queen recalled her wartime life alongside her younger sister Princess Margaret.
She has always had this historical perspective about life, and now she embodies history,” says her biographer Robert Lacey, author of the books Monarch and Majesty.