Hugo Vickers - Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Contents

About the Book

Harold Nicolson called her one of the most amazing Queens since Cleopatra, while Cecil Beaton called her a marshmallow made on a welding machine. Stephen Tennant said: She looked everything that she was not: gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, cool, well-bred, remote. Behind this veil she schemed and vacillated, hard as nails. Who was she?

The Queen Mothers story has not yet been properly told. This was partly due to her long life, and the difficulty that always exists when a biography of a living person is attempted, partly because she was a Queen and the real person gets hidden behind the perceived image and partly because she is hard to pin down.

From her privileged aristocratic childhood, to the Abdication and the problems with Diana this book questions how she faced her challenges and crises, assesses her role, how powerful she was, and how she coped. This is a candid, personal portrait of one of Britains most loved national treasures.

Hugo Vickers, an acknowledged expert on the House of Windsor, has spent seventeen years researching this book, and observed the Queen Mother in public and private over a period of forty years.

About the Author

Hugo Vickers was born in 1951 and educated at Eton and Strasbourg University. His books include Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece; Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough; Cecil Beaton; Vivien Leigh; Loving Garbo; Royal Orders; The Private World of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; and The Kiss, which won the 1996 Stern Silver Pen for Non-fiction. He is an acknowledged expert on the royal family, appears regularly on television and has lectured all over the world. Hugo Vickers is married and has two sons and a daughter.

Also by Hugo Vickers

GLADYS, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH

COCKTAILS AND LAUGHTER (Editor)

CECIL BEATON

VIVIEN LEIGH

LOVING GARBO

ROYAL ORDERS

THE PRIVATE WORLD OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR

THE KISS

ALICE, PRINCESS ANDREW OF GREECE

THE UNEXPURGATED BEATON (Editor)

BEATON IN THE SIXTIES (Editor)

ALEXIS THE MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE RED (Editor)

FOR

HUGH MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD

Friend and Counsellor

Illustrations

Section One

. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1904

. The Earl of Strathmore by Philip de Lszl (Courtesy of the de Lszl Foundation/ Reproduced by permission of The Trustees of the Strathmore Estates)

. The Countess of Strathmore by Philip de Lszl (Courtesy of the de Lszl Foundation/Reproduced by permission of The Trustees of the Strathmore Estates)

. Glamis Castle

. Elizabeth in the woods, aged 7

. Elizabeth, aged 9, with her younger brother David

. Elizabeth, aged 2, at St Pauls, Walden Bury (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Prince Albert of Wales

. Elizabeth and David acting at Glamis

. Elizabeth growing up

. Elizabeth with her parents

. Elizabeth with Elphinstone nieces and nephew

. The Strathmore family

. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon with her sister (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Hon. James Stuart

. Elizabeth as debutante

. St Pauls, Walden Bury

. The balcony scene after the wedding, 1923 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The Bridal Group (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Helen Hardinge (The Hon. Lady Murray)

. The young Duchess of York

. Prince George, Queen Mary and the Duke and Duchess of York at Balmoral (Tim ODonovan Collection)

Section Two

. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on the eve of her wedding, 1923

. The Duchess of York with the Duke of York in East Africa, 1925 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The Duchess of York with her mother, 1925 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The Duke and Duchess of York with Princess Elizabeth, 1926

. The Duchess of York on her way to New Zealand and Australia, 1927

. The Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Elizabeth, with King George V and Queen Mary on the balcony of Buckingham Palace (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Princess Elizabeth, aged six

. The King and Queen with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, 1931

. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at Royal Lodge, Windsor

. Queen Mary (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. King George V riding

. The Duke and Duchess at the Brussels International Exhibition, 1935 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. King Edward VIII

. Wallis Simpson by Cecil Beaton

. Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Philip de Lszl (Courtesy of the de Lszl Foundation/Reproduced by permission of The Corporation of The Church House, Westminster)

. The new Queen and Queen Mary, 1936 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The Coronation Procession, 1937

. Elizabeth is crowned

. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their thrones

. The King and Queen prepare to leave the Abbey

. The Royal Family after the Coronation

Section Three

. King George VI (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. The Royal Family at Royal Lodge, 1937

. The King and Queen arriving for the Order of the Knights of the Thistle service, 1932 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The Royal Procession, Paris, 1938 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth in Paris (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth with Mrs Roosevelt, 1939 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The King and Queen with Mackenzie King in Canada (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth photographed by Cecil Beaton, 1939 (Camera Press, London)

. Mr & Mrs Neville Chamberlain with the King and Queen, 1938 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The King and Queen during their tour of the North, 1940 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The King and Queen visiting a bombed area in London, 1940 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth with the Duchess of Kent, 1944 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth inspecting the one thousandth tea car (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth broadcasting from Buckingham Palace, 1939

. Queen Elizabeth at the wedding of King Peter of Yugoslavia and Princess Alexandra of Greece, photographed by Sir Charles Johnston, 1944

. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with the bride, photographed by Sir Charles Johnston

. The King and Queen, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, VE Day, 1945

. The Royal Family in South Africa in 1947 (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth photographing in Kruger National Park (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth accepting an honorary doctorate at the University (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. Queen Elizabeth with the King and others at Tafelberg (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. The King at the end of the South Africa trip (Ian Shapiro Collection)

. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in Paris, 1948

. Three Queens (Getty Images)

. The Kings funeral procession, 1952 (Tim ODonovan Collection)

. The new Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret photographed by Cecil Beaton (Camera Press, London)

Section Four

. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at Buckingham Palace for the State Banquet for President de Gaulle, 1960 (The Illustrated London News)

. The Queen Mother with Commander Clare Vyner and Lady Doris Vyner (