The Queen Mother

by William Shawcross

  Queen Mary was indeed shattered – her daughter-in-law wrote to Victor Cazalet* that the abdication ‘very nearly killed poor Queen Mary, there is indeed such a thing as a broken heart and hers very nearly collapsed’.135 Widowed and, as she saw it, abandoned by her firstborn, she wanted to gather the rest of her family around her to try and recreate as much as possible the atmosphere that she and King George V had created for both family and Household. On 22 December the family left for their traditional Christmas at Sandringham and, but for a short break, remained there until the end of January. Not surprisingly, after the stress of recent months Queen Mary spent most of Christmas week in her own set of rooms.

  She was greatly relieved that the new King was able to act just in time to stop the sale, arranged by Edward VIII, of thousands of acres belonging to Anmer and Flitcham farms, part of the Sandringham estate. Unlike his brother, the King loved the place. To the relief of retainers and Household alike, he immediately reversed many of the other changes proposed by Edward VIII at both Sandringham and Balmoral.

  Owen Morshead was invited to Royal Lodge the weekend after the accession, and then to Sandringham, and recorded that he found both King and Queen ‘exceedingly kind and frank’. Understandably, there was only one topic of discussion: Edward VIII’s almost casual manner of handing the reins to his brother. ‘Here you are; I can’t do it; you take it on.’ The King and Queen dwelt upon his extraordinary personality – ‘his amazing power of charming people, his flair for making any party go’. The Queen praised his ‘unique talents’ but was concerned that if he parted from Mrs Simpson ‘it would be dangerous to have such a powerful personality, so magnetic, hanging about doing nothing.’136

  There was no Christmas Broadcast this year, but the King released a New Year message dedicating himself to the peoples of the British Empire. ‘I realize to the full the responsibilities of my noble heritage. I shoulder them with all the more confidence in the knowledge that the Queen and my mother Queen Mary are at my side … To repeat the words used by my dear father at the time of his Silver Jubilee, my wife and I dedicate ourselves for all time to your service, and we pray that God may give us guidance and strength to follow the path that lies before us.’137

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  THE TWO QUEENS agreed on their principal shared duty – sustaining the King. In their letters they were solicitous of each other. The new Queen thanked her mother-in-law for ‘your unfailing sympathy & understanding through those first bewildering days when we were still stunned by the shock of David’s going … It was so wonderful having the old family atmosphere again. I feel sure that it is our great strength in these difficult days.’138

  She was receiving support from the wider Royal Family as well. The King’s great-aunt Princess Beatrice tried to reassure her: ‘You are so sweet & good & have always adorned your position so well, that I am [sure] you need have no diffidence about becoming Queen.’139 Queen Mary’s niece Mary, Duchess of Beaufort, recalled how long ago they had danced about together – Elizabeth in a blue dress covered in red cherries. ‘What ages ago it seems and what things have happened through the years that have gone. There is one thing that has never changed – and that is yourself. What a relief it is to find that!’ The feelings of disquiet she had had during the previous ten months were gone now.140 Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, sent a long affectionate letter full of sympathy for the loss of freedom and ‘untrammelled family life’ that lay ahead.141

  Queen Mary wrote to thank Cecilia Strathmore for her sympathy over the ordeal she had suffered. But in the end, she thought, all was for the best and ‘dear Bertie and Elizabeth will carry out things in the same way that King George V did … Elizabeth is such a darling and is such a help to Bertie.’142 Lady Strathmore agreed. She had been horrified by the events of the last few months. ‘I still can hardly believe that my darling little daughter is the Queen of this great Empire,’ she wrote to Sir John Weir, who was treating the Queen’s influenza, but she was sure that she and the new King ‘will be great examples of all that is good & best in this world’.143

  The Queen told Queen Mary that she felt very emotional at this time, and set enormous value on friendship – particularly from those whom she felt liked her and the King for their own sakes. One evening at dinner Owen Morshead told her that Eric Savill, the presiding genius of Windsor Great Park who had helped them create their garden at Royal Lodge, was perfectly devoted to them both. At this she seemed on the verge of tears.144 She and her husband were genuinely worried that people would not like them, and that King George VI would be seen as a poor substitute for King Edward. Friends and family advised them to take things quietly and allow the public to get to know them in their new role.

  It was a role the King at first thought he could never properly play. Suddenly he had all the burdens of a constitutional monarch with, in Walter Bagehot’s famous formulation, the right to be consulted by his ministers, the right to advise them and the right to warn them. These rights were in effect duties, and were only part of his myriad new obligations. His brother the Duke of Windsor later explained well the drudgery of much of the work. ‘From long observation of my father’s activities, I knew only too well what I was in for. The picture of him “doing his boxes”, to use his own phrase, had long represented to me the relentless grind of the King’s daily routine.’145 Never had the new King more depended on his wife’s reassurance and her ability to calm his ‘gnashes’.

  As well as calming and bolstering her husband and reassuring her daughters about the future, the Queen was kept busy replying to the flood of letters which now landed every day on her desk. Many, from both friends and strangers, expressed relief that the uncertainty was over and some reflected confidence that she and her husband would, much more than Edward VIII, embody the solid values of King George V and Queen Mary. Jasper Ridley was sure that the frightening task they were taking on ‘must be lightened by the conviction you will have of goodwill around you. You see, we do want the Monarchy, and we must have it in hands like yours.’146

  From the Embassy in Baghdad came a letter from her old suitor Archie Clark Kerr rejoicing in the fact that there was now a Scottish queen on the throne.147 Osbert Sitwell wrote to her: ‘I think the country is very fortunate in finding you both at such a time.’148 She replied with characteristic brio: ‘One can hardly believe that we could have survived such drama & tragedy, & yet, here we are, back at the old business – Buckling to, doing our best, keeping the old Flag flying hoorah, and of course it is the only thing that is worth doing now. I believe now, more than ever before, that this country is worth sacrificing a good deal for. In fact, if I was exiled, I should die, anyway in the spirit.’149 She was aware that she and the King would probably be ‘moderately unpopular’ for some time, ‘but as long as our friends stick to us, one can shoulder any amount of trouble. Certainly what is called the burden of Kingship is truly said. The whole thing is a burden – when you are youngish and an Aunt Sally for verbal skittles, especially; & yet, the more difficult it all is, the more worth while.’150

  She thanked D’Arcy Osborne for his ‘dear, understanding letter. I do wish that you had been here during these days of drama & tragedy and disappointment … – everything seems like a bad dream. But the curious thing is, that I am not afraid. Inadequate, but un-frightened.’151

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  AT THE BEGINNING of 1937 there was a malicious campaign of gossip against the King. He had decided, with great reluctance, to postpone an Accession Durbar in India that his brother had agreed for the winter of 1937–8. The announcement that the new King would not now undertake such an important trip and ceremony was taken by some to show that he was weak and frail. Concern on this score had been inadvertently augmented by Cosmo Lang. In his controversial post-abdication broadcast, he had not only criticized the Duke of Windsor’s behaviour, he had also drawn attention to the new King’s speech defect. He claimed, ‘he has brought it into full control, and to those who hear it it need cause no sort of emba
rrassment, for it causes none to him who speaks.’152 The Archbishop’s remarks were unfortunate; they led the public to expect serious problems with the new King’s diction and this in turn increased the King’s nervousness. It was soon whispered that, although his appearance was tolerable, he was in fact quite unfit to be king. Supporters of the Duke of Windsor claimed that King George VI might not even be able to survive the Coronation, let alone all the subsequent duties of kingship.

  The Duke of Windsor’s own behaviour did not help. Queen Elizabeth was subsequently blamed, by some at least, for the fact that the relationship between the brothers, once so close, deteriorated further and further during 1937. But it is hard, in face of the evidence, to hold her responsible – her overriding concern was to sustain and encourage her husband, to give him the confidence to try and rebuild the monarchy in which they believed so strongly. The bad blood that arose between the brothers was sad but perhaps inevitable.

  The Queen was convinced that her husband needed all possible help to resist the real but, she thought, improper demands of his brother. Almost alone in Austria, separated from Mrs Simpson until her decree absolute came through at the end of April, the Duke of Windsor spent a great deal of time on the telephone. He constantly called his brother, the King, and took easily to advising him on what he should do. George VI found these telephone calls difficult, as Walter Monckton recorded with sympathy. It was not just that he had always admired his brother. ‘The Duke of Windsor was particularly quick in understanding and decision and good on the telephone whereas King George VI had not the same quickness and was troubled by the impediment in his speech.’153

  Sometimes the Duke’s unsought political advice ran counter to that which the new King was receiving from his government. More difficult were the personal matters. Even before the end of January 1937 the Duke was constantly telephoning about money, about returning to Fort Belvedere, about his attendance at the Coronation, about members of his family coming to his eventual wedding, and above all about Mrs Simpson’s title when they married. Arguments over these issues were painful for all concerned throughout the early months of 1937 – and thereafter.

  The King’s brother-in-law Lord Harewood understood the threat that the Duke represented to the King, on a personal and a political level, and believed that it was absolutely essential to keep him out of the country for five, or even ten, years. He thought that the King should treat his brother’s return as a matter for the Cabinet to decide.154

  The King and Queen were aware that opinion at all levels of the country was still divided. Malicious rumours about both Kings continued to swirl around the smart houses of London as alliances changed and those who had been friendly with the former King or, worse, with Mrs Simpson found that they were now out of fashion. In fact, given the way in which the country and society had been riven by Edward VIII’s priorities and his abdication, the new King and Queen were quite indulgent of those who had taken the side of the former King. Lord Brownlow, who had accompanied Mrs Simpson to the south of France in December, lost his position as lord in waiting, but no other major figures suffered for their involvement with King Edward and his set. Indeed, the new King embraced his brother’s most trusted confidant, Walter Monckton. It was a tribute both to Monckton’s extraordinary integrity and to the King’s judgement that the King conferred on him the first knighthood of the new reign. He remained ever after a diligent and extraordinary servant of his country and his King and the only channel of communication who was also trusted by the exiled Duke of Windsor.

  Others enjoyed mocking the former King’s friends. Soon after the abdication Osbert Sitwell wrote a poem, ‘Rat Week’, in which he denounced all those who had sought the favour of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson and then jumped ship.

  Where are the friends of yesterday

  That fawned on Him,

  That flattered Her;

  Where are the friends of yesterday,

  Submitting to His every whim,

  Offering praise of her as myrrh

  To him?

  What do they say, that jolly crew,

  So new, and brave, and free and easy,

  What do they say, that jolly crew,

  Who must make even Judas queasy?

  Sitwell was concerned that, despite their long friendship, the new Queen might not like his poem and he did not send it to her himself, telling her later that he thought it would be ‘an impertinence’.155 He had no reason to worry. She loved it, writing to him, ‘I must tell you first of all, that we all thought your satire absolutely brilliant. It really is perfect – it hits hard (and never too hard for me) and is wickedly amusing.’

  In this unusually acerbic letter, which perhaps betrayed the strain she was under at the time, she told him what a relief it was to have his amusing and friendly letter ‘amongst the vast amount of begging letters, complaints, appeals, warnings, lunatic ramblings etc which go to make up one’s daily postbag. Not forgetting bad poetry, bad drawings & paintings, bad music & other bad things sent by the mad & bad who seem to people the world. So you can imagine how one falls greedily on the few friendly letters that come, and yours was very welcome!’156

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  AFTER THE RELAXING sojourn at Sandringham, the family had the unwelcome prospect of beginning life at Buckingham Palace. None of them wished to leave the happy home at 145 Piccadilly for the rather grim ‘office’ of the Palace. Queen Elizabeth later described this as the worst house move of her life.157

  The date chosen was 15 February. The King drove up from Royal Lodge and the Queen went first to an engagement at the British Industries Fair at White City in west London. The Times reported, ‘The whole move was accomplished without ceremony, and no change in the exterior appearance of the Palace will be visible to the casual passer-by. The Royal Standard flew while Their Majesties were still living in Piccadilly, and no increase in the number of sentries at the gates is made. It is understood that the King and Queen will use the rooms on the first floor formerly occupied by King George and Queen Mary.’ The rooms were not yet ready for them, and they lived temporarily on the ground floor. It was not very comfortable, but at least the young Princesses enjoyed playing in the broad corridors. With her mother-in-law’s diligent advice – this time welcome – the Queen set about acquiring some new furnishings. At the suggestion of Queen Mary, Mrs Charles Rothschild gave her several sets of silk curtains from her family’s house in Piccadilly. ‘Hooray!’ wrote the Queen, ‘what splendid news about the curtains, and how wonderful a success your letter had! It really is a triumph, and most kind of Mrs Rothschild to offer us that lovely silk. One can get nothing to touch it nowadays.’ Major Williams, the official responsible for the furnishings at Buckingham Palace, ‘turned quite pale with excitement when I told him!’ Queen Mary also tracked down a chandelier and wall lights for her.158

  The Queen had started making appointments to her own Household. She was able to surround herself with people she knew well, liked and trusted. As duchess of York she had had just two ladies in waiting, Helen Graham and Lettice Bowlby (with her great friends Lavinia Annaly and Tortor Gilmour as temporary additions); now she had a hierarchy of nine ladies. Her most senior lady, the Mistress of the Robes, by tradition had to be a duchess, and she chose Doris Vyner’s aunt, Helen, Duchess of Northumberland. Below the Mistress of the Robes came three Ladies of the Bedchamber: Countess Spencer (Cynthia, sister of the Queen’s girlhood friend Katie Hamilton and future grandmother of Lady Diana Spencer), Viscountess Halifax (Dorothy, wife of the Lord Privy Seal and future Foreign Secretary), Viscountess Hambleden and Lady Nunburnholme (both friends of her debutante years, and the latter a bridesmaid at her wedding). Then there were four Women of the Bedchamber: Helen Graham and Lettice Bowlby stayed on in this role, and Queen Elizabeth also appointed Katie Seymour (née Hamilton) and Marion Hyde,* with Lady Victoria Wemyss, a cousin on her mother’s side, as Extra Woman of the Bedchamber. The Earl of Airlie – Joe, friend and neighbour at Glamis since the Queen’s ch
ildhood – became her Lord Chamberlain, while Basil Brooke, the Duke of York’s Comptroller since 1924, became her Treasurer. A little later she took on a private secretary of her own, Captain Richard Streatfeild.

  Their first official engagement as monarchs was a visit to the East End of London on 13 February. Originally this visit was to have been made by King Edward VIII on 12 December – in the event the day after the abdication. The invitation had come from the mayors of five boroughs and it was then extended to King George VI, with the request that the Queen came too ‘as she is so very popular in our district’.159 Lord Cromer, Lord Chamberlain and head of the King’s Household, thought it was important to accept, for ‘there is a growing impression in the minds of the ignorant that the last King was “pushed out” largely because of the interest he took in the poor, which did not find favour in the eyes of the rich, nor of the Government people who are supposed to have disapproved of the interest taken in the Distressed Areas in Wales, and elsewhere … These ideas are, of course, fantastic but at the same time they appear to be rooted and to be spreading in the minds of the ignorant.’ He recommended therefore that the King and Queen should visit the East End as soon as might be possible.160 They agreed and the visit was a great success; the streets were filled with flags, bunting and cheering crowds.

  In March the first official parties of the new reign were given – a tea party at Buckingham Palace for the Diplomatic Corps on 11 March was followed by an afternoon reception five days later, at which Countess Spencer took a select number of the 500 guests to talk to the Queen. The Queen, she wrote, ‘did it beautifully, & appeared to wish to talk to each guest – a great gift’. Queen Mary was also there, ‘looking wonderful in dead black lace & miles of pearls – also the two little Princesses – most pleasing to the eye in the sombre atmosphere of the Palace’.161