The Prince wrote back at once and on 11 October Elizabeth was able to tell him that her mother was better. ‘The relief is so intense that I don’t know what to do! … It was nice of you to take so much interest.’ Under her signature, she wrote: ‘Don’t lead too fast a life in London, & above all don’t have anything to do with “FASTY”: she’s dangerous.’114 (Fasty was a nickname for Doris Gordon-Lennox.) To this the Prince replied that he was ‘so happy that all anxiety and worry for you are over’ and assured her that London life was dull ‘with no fast little parties as you call them … I heard from “Fasty” yesterday who sent me her photos which she took at Glamis, & they are so good. She is not in London now, but I will keep your warning about her in mind!!!!’115
At the end of October, however, Lady Strathmore had a relapse and developed pleurisy. Once again, the burden of looking after both her mother and the household fell upon Elizabeth. She shouldered it. Lady Strathmore wrote to a friend after she had recovered, ‘I can’t tell you how wonderful my little Elizabeth has been all this time, looking after everybody & everything, in fact I have hardly been missed at all.’116
Inevitably it was a strain upon Elizabeth. ‘My brain is a blank,’ she wrote in one letter to the Prince.117 On the advice of her mother’s doctor she decided to take a break, and went to London. Prince Albert visited her after consulting a French therapist who claimed to be able to cure stammering by the use of will power and imagination.118 She wrote to him afterwards, ‘I was so interested to hear about the Frenchman – is your will power becoming intense? Next time I see you, you will probably have your will under such marvellous control, that having said to yourself “I don’t know Elizabeth” – I shall receive a stony stare.’119
There was someone else she saw in London. ‘I got off quite alright the other evening,’ she wrote to Beryl after her return to Glamis, ‘as James Stuart turned up and insisted on taking me to Euston, where he placed me in the train & stalked off! Rather funny.’120 Elizabeth’s comment suggests that all was not well between them. Stuart had just left Prince Albert’s service; by his own account the job was neither well paid nor congenial enough for him to want to remain.121
Queen Mary had taken a kindly interest in Elizabeth and her family; Lord Strathmore sent her telegrams recounting his wife’s progress and Elizabeth wrote to her. The Queen replied that she ‘felt so deeply for you all during your time of anxiety, & shared your feelings to the full, for I have become much attached to your dearest Mother, especially since my delightful afternoon at Glamis’.122 Now, in late November, although Lady Strathmore was improving, she was still too weak to leave her bed, and the Queen sent her a present of a basket for her letters.123
Elizabeth returned to her duties at Glamis, with little prospect of travelling south again before January when, she told the Prince, she would have to buy some clothes. ‘What colours do you like? Most men like blue or black for ladies’ dresses, both of which I look like nothing on earth in!’124 In mid-December she was cross with herself because she had missed his birthday; she wrote to apologize and to wish him ‘a very happy and successful 26th year’. It was impossible to buy presents in Glamis, she said, ‘otherwise I should have bought a large and magnificent offering. The only thing one can buy are bull’s eyes – very sticky and they won’t travel!’125
Christmas at Glamis that year was muted. Lady Strathmore was still unwell and Elizabeth also spent much of the time in bed with flu. The Prince was, as usual, with his parents at York Cottage at Sandringham, and she wrote to him in pencil to thank him for ‘the most darling little clock’, a present perhaps inspired by her habitual tardiness. ‘It really is too pretty for words, and besides being pretty is useful too. I am enchanted with it. Also that is an excellent photograph of you – I wish I had got something to send you too.’126
There was just one guest at Glamis over the New Year holiday – James Stuart.127 He was saying goodbye. Early in 1922 he left for the United States, where he had been offered a job in the oil business through Sir Sidney Greville, a long-serving courtier whose sister was one of Queen Mary’s ladies in waiting. Much later Stuart claimed that he and Elizabeth had been in love, and that Queen Mary had intervened to remove him as a rival to her son.128 If Queen Mary was indeed involved in his departure, no evidence has been found in the Royal Archives. However, many years later King George VI told Princess Margaret that her mother had almost married James Stuart, but that he had gone abroad.129 Later still, Queen Elizabeth herself acknowledged that her ‘very serious’ suitor had gone away to America.130
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MEANWHILE PRINCESS MARY had become engaged to Viscount Lascelles;* Prince Albert had written to tell Elizabeth that they had ‘fixed it up themselves, and are frightfully happy’.131 The Princess invited Elizabeth to be one of her bridesmaids at the wedding in February 1922. She added, ‘Bertie tells me you are coming south shortly and he is so looking forward to seeing you.’132
Elizabeth and the Prince saw each other on the weekend of 13–15 January at her godmother Mrs James’s house, Coton, near Rugby, where they had both been invited to stay for the Atherstone Hunt Ball. Prince Albert drove her and Katie Hamilton to the ball. The party at Coton was ‘quite good fun’, he told his mother afterwards, without elaborating.133 Queen Mary replied at once from York Cottage, ‘I was longing to hear how Elizabeth had behaved & whether she is beginning to thaw or not! Your letter does not enlighten me on this point so I must have patience till we next meet.’ She reminded her son that Lady Airlie was ready to assist in any way.134
In fact, as the Prince revealed to the Queen, he was ‘rather depressed’ about the weekend at Coton. The weather had been bad and everyone was cooped up in the house. He did not think Elizabeth was very well, as she had ‘lost her good spirits after the first evening’. He had danced with her both nights ‘and I think things were going better, but I would like to have a talk with you some time on your return on this subject. I am sure Lady Airlie could help a lot now.’135 In a letter to the Prince of Wales, away on tour in India, he said he was making only very slow progress towards the engagement he hoped for.136
In early February Elizabeth’s paternal grandmother† died, and the Prince sent his commiserations, hoping that this bereavement would not prevent her being a bridesmaid to his sister. She replied that, while Glamis would be filled with relations and the burial in the family cemetery would be sad, her death had been long expected.137
On 28 February there were large, enthusiastic crowds outside Westminster Abbey* for Princess Mary’s wedding. Elizabeth thought her bridesmaid’s dress – white satin and silver lace – was very pretty.138 At the rehearsal she found it quite difficult to walk slowly and steadily in the high heels she had to wear. ‘I am so afraid I shall appear intoxicated, which would be awful,’ she wrote to the Prince.139 In the event she managed her heels perfectly well, and afterwards she and the other bridesmaids lunched with members of the Royal Household and wedding guests at Buckingham Palace.† Years later her biographer Elizabeth Longford pointed out that this occasion gave her ‘her first glimpse of what it was to participate in a royal public event. With her flair for happiness, she could not but find it enjoyable.’140
But this brief experience did not at once persuade her to change her mind about marrying into the Royal Family. On 7 March 1922 Prince Albert provoked another crisis in their relationship: he proposed to her again. She was apparently taken by surprise and once more she said no. She wrote to him next day from Bruton Street:
Dear Prince Bertie,
I am so terribly sorry about what happened yesterday, & feel it is all my fault, as I ought to have known. Will you please forgive me? You are one of my best & most faithful friends, & have always been so nice to me – that makes it doubly worse. I am too miserable about it, and blame myself more than I can say. If you ever feel you want a talk about things in general – I hope you will come and see me, as I understand you know. I do wish this hadn’t happened. Yours Elizabeth141
The same afternoon he replied that her letter had somewhat depressed him:
I have been thinking over what happened yesterday all today & I feel that you must think so badly of me. For my sake please do not make yourself miserable or worried about it, as I should never forgive myself. I was entirely in the wrong to bring up the question in the way I did without giving you any warning as to my intentions. Ever since last year I have always been hoping to get to know you better & to let you know my thoughts, but I see that I failed to enlighten you. How were you to guess what they were when we never really had any good talks like we did yesterday? I see it all now and blame myself entirely for what happened.
He took comfort in the fact that she said they could talk more about it. He seems to have felt that her refusal might not be final.
I thank you with all my heart for having said it. I am so so sorry for making you miserable, & it is far more to the point when I ask you to forgive me. Will you? Do please think over what I have told you in this letter & I think you will see how it is all my fault. When shall I have a hope of seeing you again as I feel we cannot leave things in this uncertain state. It is so bad & unsettling for us both, & whatever you decide will I know be best for both.142
A few days later she thanked him ‘for your very nice letter – it relieved my mind tremendously in a way, and I do hope you are not worrying about it all any more’. She was off to Scotland, ‘so we shall not meet for several weeks I expect. Please do try & forget about this, as I hate to think that you worry over it – things are hard for you anyway, and I can’t bear to think that they are any harder through me … Au revoir – till I don’t know when.’143
His immediate fear was that he was the reason for her sudden departure to Glamis. ‘I do hope I was not the cause as that would be too sad for me.’ He felt she did not want him to discuss matters any more, ‘but I feel I must tell you that I have always cared for you & had the hope that you would one day care for me. Things were difficult for both of us weren’t they from the start, & I understand from your letter that you want me to forget it. I have no other alternative I am afraid so I will try.’ He thought that her mother had a right to be told what had happened. ‘But I know you will keep it a secret from everyone else in this world as I shall.’ He was unable to disguise his pain. ‘This letter as you may imagine is one which I have found very difficult to write & I only hope that you will always look upon me as more than an ordinary friend. If you will do this I shall feel much happier after what has happened. Ever, Yours very sincerely, Albert.’144
As usual, Elizabeth replied as kindly as she could, telling the Prince that he wrote ‘the nicest letters of anyone I know’. She agreed that it had been difficult for both of them,
but especially for you, and thank you so much for being so nice about it. I do hope we can go on being friends, as it would be too sad if a happening like this should come between our friendship, and I don’t see why it should, do you?
I shall always be glad to see you if you ever feel like dropping in to tea, & having a talk. As I do understand you know, and when people are as good friends as you & I are – there is always a lot to talk about. I wish I could put into words what I feel about it all, & I think it is wonderful of you to have gone on caring – oh why didn’t I guess. How silly I’ve been, and, as you say in your letter, of course I shall look on you as more than an ordinary friend.
She said that she had already told her mother of what had happened ‘but nobody else in the world and never shall’.145
Her letter cheered him: ‘You wrote too nicely to me, & I do feel now that you are not angry with me for what happened. So long as we can still be great friends that is all I was worrying about, & you say you hope we shall always be that & so do I. Your mother very kindly wrote to me about it all after what you had told her. I do hope she was not very upset.’ With that, he changed the subject and talked of his beloved hunting, and of how sad it was that the season was nearly over.146 He did not write again for three weeks.
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IN THE AFTERMATH of the Prince’s unexpected proposal, Elizabeth exchanged letters with James Stuart in New York. He was lonely and unhappy there – and he was jealous. He was particularly troubled by one remark in her letter to him. ‘You say in it that you are returning to Glamis and that “The most extraordinary things have happened to me the last 3 weeks, so perhaps it’s just as well that I should be.” ’ He had spent most of the day worrying about what this meant; then, that evening, he had received a letter which told him ‘that you and Glenconner are seldom apart, so I suppose that it’s that: or is it Michael? Not that it’s any of my business but you know what a fool I am – I hope he’s very nice. Well, well – It’s a curious world. I am just about to destroy your letter as that paragraph upsets me too much, if I should read it again. Jealousy is a very bad trait, and I have always tried to get rid of it.’ Here he broke off. ‘Interval of ten minutes,’ he wrote. ‘I have just been controlling myself with a cigarette and feel better. After all, I want to do what I am doing and I am a dashed bit luckier than most people … In fact, “it’s fair enough by me” as they say here – or I’m going to think so anyway … I am afraid this is rather a waily letter – but I hope not very unpleasant. Yours James.’147 There is no reference to Prince Albert in the letter. Nor are its sentiments those of a man sent away against his will. But he makes no effort to conceal his feelings for Elizabeth.
The identity of ‘Michael’ is not clear; possibly it was Michael Biddulph, brother of Elizabeth’s friend Adèle; but her letters at this time do not mention him. Christopher Glenconner,* however, was indeed a new recruit to the ranks of Elizabeth’s suitors. A year older than Elizabeth and described as ‘the most straightforward and sensible member of a wildly eccentric family’,148 he lived at Glen in Peebleshire and Wilsford in Wiltshire. There his mother Lady Glenconner, formerly Pamela Wyndham, one of the poetic and literary circle known as the Souls, created an aura of romance and mysticism which Elizabeth later recalled with pleasure. Lord Glenconner’s friendship with Elizabeth probably began in early 1922. That they were ‘seldom apart’ was certainly an exaggeration, for she was at Glamis from early March until late May. But they exchanged letters. ‘I have been having a wonderful soulful correspondence with Lord Glenconner!’ Elizabeth reported to Beryl from Glamis in May. ‘He does write most excellent letters, & most high brow – so funny.’149 And perhaps filled with more longing than he revealed. But the letters do not survive.
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THE PRINCE KEPT his second proposal secret from his parents to begin with. But in early May 1922 Queen Mary wrote to tell Lady Strathmore that she and the King were ‘much disappointed that the little “romance” has come to an end as we should so much have liked the connection with your family. My son feels very sad about it but he is quite good and sensible and they are to remain friends. I hope you and E. will not reproach yourselves in any way, no one can help their feelings & it was far better to be honest. I am so sorry to hear that you are still so far from well … With my love to you and E. and many regrets.’150
Both Elizabeth and her mother, still at Glamis, were ill again. Lady Strathmore had another operation on 7 May, when the surgeon discovered that an abscess had been causing her chronic raised temperature and poor health. After it was drained she made a good recovery. Meanwhile Elizabeth took to her bed with tonsillitis and a high temperature. She looked like ‘a ghost, so white & thin’, her mother wrote to May Elphinstone on 16 May;151 and there was no prospect of her returning to London yet. A letter from Prince Albert in mid-April, saying he hoped she would come back south soon, remained unanswered for a month.
When she did reply, telling him that she was better and hoped to be ‘hopping around in London Town very shortly’, she kept to light-hearted talk of dinners and dances, slipping in almost casually the briefest of references to what had happened between them: ‘Do you know the Queen wrote Mother a most charming letter, which was very nice of her inde
ed. I thought it was so kind of her.’152 As far as she was concerned, there seems to have been no more question of a romance. Writing to her sister May she said, ‘Yes, I did put an end to that affair you mentioned, last Feb: but did not tell anyone except Mother.’153
James Stuart wrote from the oilfields of Texas; she told Beryl, ‘he says it’s exactly like books there. Everybody packs a gun, & the Sheriff has got nine nicks in his for the 9 men he’s killed. It must be very uncomfortable!’154 At the end of May she received an injured letter from another admirer, George Gage, who seems to have understood that the intensity of his feelings for her was not reciprocated. ‘My dear Elizabeth, You are awful & don’t care how much you hurt the feelings of your friends if they don’t amuse you for half a minute. You did hurt mine the other night & I don’t pretend that I didn’t mind.’ But he went on to issue a humorous invitation to Firle in June, promising that ‘the chaperonage system will be perfect & everything will be conducted (as it always is here) on the best Victorian lines.’155
In late May Elizabeth returned to London en route to Paris to stay with Diamond Hardinge again. This time she was reluctant to go, for there were friends to see and balls to attend in London after her long absence in Scotland. But Diamond had been ill, and Elizabeth did not want to disappoint her. Of this trip no account by Elizabeth herself survives; but her visit coincided with Christopher Glenconner’s arrival in Paris. They had lunch together, and spent the afternoon at Versailles, where it rained heavily, as he recollected. He told her nine years later that he remembered every moment vividly, and that he had been deeply in love with her.156
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