The Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, daughter of Lord Glamis, later earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was born in London on 4 August 1900. She spent much of her youth at Glamis Castle, the Scottish family seat, where she was also mainly educated.
During World War I, she became actively involved in the nursing of injured soldiers when the castle was turned into a military hospital. The war affected her personally in other ways: one brother was killed in action in 1915, and another was reported missing in May 1917, but was later found to have been wounded and held prisoner.
She met Prince Albert (the future George VI, known to family and friends as 'Bertie') in 1920, and within a year he proposed to her. However, she refused, saying that she would be 'afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to'. Despite her misgivings, she finally gave in to the persistent prince (whom, it is rumoured, proposed three times in all).
She was the perfect choice for a son of George V: although a commoner (albeit an extremely well-connected one), her family tree included both the 3rd duke of Portland and the duke of Wellington's older brother, the 1st Marquess Wellesley. Queen Mary, Bertie?s mother, liked her, too, saying of her: ?She?s not one of those modern girls, thank heaven!?
Three months later, on 26 April 1923, the couple were married at Westminster Abbey and Elizabeth became duchess of York (her husband having been created duke in 1920). Almost exactly three years later, she gave birth to her first daughter, also called Elizabeth; Margaret Rose followed after another four years.
Throughout the late 1920s and 30s, the Yorks carried out their public duties very conscientiously, and although Bertie did not receive as much press attention as his glamorous older brother David – the future Edward VIII – his wife and young daughters were regularly featured. However, after giving one interview to the press, Elizabeth refused ever to speak to them again, a pledge she kept for the rest of her long life. This may account for her status as one of the most popular members of the royal family.
Because of this public reticence, there is little actual evidence of her feelings towards her brother-in-law David as he flung himself headlong into the scandal that eventually led to the abdication crisis. What does appear abundantly clear is her fierce anger at her husband – a shy man with low self-esteem and a terrible stammer – being forced to become king. She made it quite plain that she never again wanted to see David or the American divorcée who would soon become his wife, referring to her dismissively as 'that woman'. (Wallis Simpson called Elizabeth 'Cookie'.) But regardless of their personal feelings, Bertie and Elizabeth stoically took on the job, being crowned King George V and Queen Elizabeth on 12 May 1937.
After only two years on the throne, they were plunged into war with Germany. Unshakably committed to the war effort, they refused to allow their children to leave not only the UK but also London during the Blitz, although they spent most nights in the relative safety of Windsor Castle. While they were at Buckingham Palace, it took a direct hit when a German bomber, on a daring day-time raid, dropped a cluster of bombs that narrowly missed the king. 'Now we can look the East End in the face,' commented the queen.
She was indefatigable in visiting bomb sites and comforting the survivors, although initially crowds had jeered at her and her fashionable, expensive clothes. Eventually, her effect on the country's morale was such that Hitler commented that she was 'the most dangerous woman in Europe'.
The king's untimely death at the age of only 52 was a devastating blow. For a while, his queen understandably wanted to retreat from the spotlight, but with prime minister Winston Churchill's encouragement, she returned to public life. The king's untimely death in 1952 at the age of only 56 was a devastating blow.
During the half century that followed, the queen mother travelled widely on behalf of the crown both in the UK and overseas. Even into her 80s, she was undertaking some 150 engagements annually, with the attendant 'homework' beforehand, and in her 90s was still actively involved in at least one engagement a week. Amazingly, in November 2001, the 101-year-old went to Portsmouth for the re-commissioning of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and was greeted enthusiastically by the entire ship's company.
Four months later, on 30 March 2002, she died in her sleep at Windsor. More than a million people lined her funeral procession – a statistic that surprised many commentators, for it had been assumed that interest in the royal family had hit an all-time low following the death of Princess Diana.
|
|
 Weblog special: The Queen Mother
www.guardian.co.uk/weblog/special/0,,547
770,00.html
The Guardian's selection of internet articles on the day of the queen mother's funeral.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Memorial Project
www.qmmemorial.gov.uk/output/Page4536.as
p
Website devoted to the construction of a permanent national monument to the queen mother to be sited near The Mall in London, next to that of her husband George VI.
 |
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother by Hugo Vickers (Arrow, new ed. 2006)
Vickers spent 17 years researching this book, having observed the queen mother in public and private over a period of 40 years.
Get this book
|
 Castle of Mey
Thurso
Caithness KW14 8XH
Tel: 01847 851 473
Fax: 01847 851 475
E-mail: castleofmey@totalise.co.uk
Website: www.castleofmey.org.uk/index.html
On the north coast of Caithness, about 15 miles east of Thurso and 6 miles west of John O'Groats on the A836
Having acquired Barrogill Castle in 1952, while in mourning for her husband George VI, the queen mother renovated and restored it, created the gardens and returned it to its original name. For almost half a century, she spent many summers at this, the most northerly castle on the British mainland.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
|
