Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalls Vladimir Putin’s “power games” over the years, remembers contrasting meetings with Barack Obama and Donald Trump and says she asked herself whether she could have done more to prevent Brexit.

Few world leaders have left office as lauded as Angela Merkel. When she stepped down as chancellor in 2021, after 16 years, Germany’s economy was the envy of Europe. Mrs Merkel had saved the euro and guided her nation through the pandemic.