Books: Secrets of a Pheasant Strangler ; THE QUEEN: GOLDEN JUBILEE EDITION Ben Pimlott HarperCollins, Pounds 24.99, 780pp; Her Majesty Retains Her Mystery. So What Can a Biography, However Expert, Tell Us? Piers Brendon Deplores Our Hidden History

Beginning of article

More has been written about Queen Elizabeth II than about anyone in the kingdom, but in important respects we still know very little about her. Her Majesty is enthroned at the heart of a democracy supposedly dedicated to open government and freedom of information, yet the political role she has played is one of the most closely guarded state secrets.

Nothing is revealed about the advice, encouragement and warning which the Queen vouchsafes to her prime ministers. This means that we remain almost as ignorant about the monarch's influence on Winston Churchill as about her influence on Tony Blair. The Crown not only limits "transparency" now; it restricts the bounds …