Elizabeth: Her Life, Our Times by Alan Titchmarsh BBC Books, £18.99

Alan Titchmarsh was two when the Queen took the throne. The Ilkley-born TV gardener, presenter and author has since met the Queen on numerous occasions and interviewed many of the royals, including the Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Philip and the Princess Royal.

A self-confessed monarchist, Alan has charted the Queen’s 60-year reign in this commemorative book.

It looks back with fondness at the Queen’s 60 years on the throne, offering a portrait of the Royal family and exploring their evolving roles against a backdrop of social change.

Alan says the changing nature of society is among the biggest challenges facing the monarchy.

“Monarchy is basically about mystery and magic and being special. When you go somewhere, it’s the very fact that you are a member of the Royal Family that makes that occasion,” he says.

“You are bringing a bit of sparkle, you are a spreader of happiness. That can seem very vacuous but you have to maintain that role and at the same time endeavour to move with the times but not too fast.

“You have to cut a middle path, showing you’re not a stick-in-the-mud but, at the same time, maintain a consistency and a dignity which avoids the fickle. Any of us would find that hard to manage.”

Is the monarchy as important as it was 60 years ago?

“Probably not to the chattering classes, but to the man and woman on the street it is,” he insists. “You only have to turn out to a Jubilee celebration or a royal wedding to see how the vast majority of the population revere the Royal Family and see through a lot of the negativity they read in the press.”

The Queen’s grandchildren have made a huge difference in bringing the monarchy into the 21st century, he agrees.

“I know that they consider that the Queen is a very hard act to follow and have told me so in as many words. ‘She’s set the bar high’ is the phrase that Prince William uses,” he says.

“She’s had a lot of difficult times politically. She’s lived through Suez, through the Cuban missile crisis and all kinds of constitutional difficulties as well as family difficulties. Her ‘annus horribilis’ in 1992 was grim, and then in 2002 she lost her mother and her sister.”

The Queen has never been interviewed, but if Alan ever had the opportunity, what would he ask her?

“I would ask her about misconceptions, what most annoys her about people’s perception of her role and where we got it wrong,” he says.

Alan believes the monarchy has never been as strong as it is now.

“Even for the most ardent cynic, the bottom line is it’s better than the alternative,” he says. “I’d rather have a family through whom we can trace our own ancestry, who are there out of a sense of duty and devotion to the country, rather than out of a sense of personal aggrandisement.”