The Queen Mother

by William Shawcross

  ‘England Expects’ was the watchword of the Age of Empire into which she was born. She was of the last generation of aristocrats who felt able to accept their superior social position with no feeling of guilt but rather a sense of duty and of obligation. Her own Christian principles, instilled by her parents, gave her grace and an inner strength throughout her life. Allied to that was her sense of joy. The happy, mischievous spirit in her letters to Beryl Poignand was still there more than eight decades later.

  It would not be quite correct to say that she had a common touch – rather that she had an innate ability, inherited and learned, to mix with everyone. This was first apparent in her friendships with the wounded soldiers at Glamis during the First World War. Throughout her life she dealt without condescension to those less fortunate or less prominent than herself, and treated those in higher positions, like King George V and Queen Mary, with respect.

  After she married the Duke of York she immediately transformed his life, bringing him the love, understanding, sympathy and support for which he had always craved. She inspired him, she calmed him and she enabled him for the first time in his life to believe in himself. Her sense of humour awoke his own, her natural gaiety lightened him. Their marriage was a rare union in which each complemented and enhanced the other. Their joy in each other and in their children fulfilled public expectations in an age when the Royal Family was seen as a model and an ideal.

  In 1936, without the added confidence which his wife had imparted to him, and the loyal and loving support which she and their children continued to give him, the Duke of York might never have been able to make a success of his unwanted kingship after his brother’s abrupt departure. Even before her coronation the unexpected Queen adapted to the new demands and responsibilities that were upon her. ‘We are not afraid. I feel that God has enabled us to face the situation calmly,’ she wrote at the time.2 Thereafter she discovered how well her vivid and open personality was suited to the role.

  In the thirty-two months they had before the war broke out, the King and Queen came to embody the cause of the democracies both at home and abroad, in their visits to France, Canada and the United States. The Queen was a triumph wherever she went, though the affection she and the King won in America did not quickly translate into wartime support. On their return from Canada in summer 1939, the nation cheered them home. Harold Nicolson expressed a widely shared belief when he wrote, ‘She is in truth one of the most amazing Queens since Cleopatra.’3

  Her horror at the prospect of another war so soon after 1918 led her, like the King, to support Chamberlain’s efforts to avoid it, but once war was declared she committed herself totally to victory. ‘Humanity must fight against bad things if we are to survive, and the spiritual things are stronger than anything else, and cannot be destroyed, thank God.’4 No one can measure the importance of the Queen’s presence alongside the King in London throughout the war. During the brutal days of the Blitz their unannounced appearances among the rubble of bombed homes brought immense comfort. There could perhaps never be a better symbol of the difference between constitutional monarchy and dictatorship than the way in which the King and Queen endured the war alongside their people until victory was achieved. ‘For him we had admiration, for her adoration’ summed up the views of many.5 And for her part she never faltered in her belief in the British people.

  Peace in 1945 brought new anxieties, particularly for the King, as Britain’s Labour government embarked upon not only reconstruction but also radical reform. The Queen was not naturally predisposed to such changes, but she never lost her optimism; she and the King looked forward eagerly to the future and when he fell ill she always believed that he would recover.

  When the King died in February 1952, grief overwhelmed her. Perhaps only her family and a few close friends knew how much she had depended on her husband and how much his loss undermined her. Her anguish was profound. Her spontaneous purchase of the Castle of Mey was a symptom of her grief, but it was a happy decision. Though impractical and expensive to run, the only home she ever owned gave her and her friends much pleasure for the rest of her life.

  Once she had recovered her equilibrium, she brought to her new role a distinctive combination of wisdom, sympathy and vivacity, underpinned by a sturdy determination. She sometimes said to friends, ‘I am not as nice as I seem,’ and as a young woman she had written, ‘What a lot of our life we spend in acting.’6 But that’s true enough of most of humanity, after all; what matters is the use to which the ‘seeming niceness’ and the acting are put. Queen Elizabeth’s natural charm and inbred good manners undoubtedly helped her achieve what she wanted, both personally and in her public role. But it would be wrong to dismiss those qualities as a façade. In personal terms, the devotion of her family, friends and, perhaps above all, employees speaks for itself. In public the enduring, unflagging interest and sympathy she showed for others over so many decades – no doubt with occasional bouts of acting – surely reveals a genuine engagement, answered by the genuine popularity she earned. Her unaffected enjoyment of the good things of life, especially dry martinis and champagne, and her indulgence in horseracing, both the most aristocratic of sports and the most popular form of gambling, won her great affection. Her joie de vivre was such that all of her life she lit up not only rooms that she entered but every occasion in which she took part. The name which she took, Queen Mother, she did not at first like but the title came quickly to symbolize the role she played in both her family and the nation.

  She loved to preserve. The England in which she grew up was a home, filled with familiar and well-loved rituals. Many of these became unfashionable in the second half of her life. But she still treasured them – in her regiments, her ships, her universities and her 300 or so charities and other organizations. By celebrating traditions, she both enriched and prolonged them in a more impatient age. The remarkable breadth of her patronages gave her a public presence and, indeed, influence in many areas of national life. This could have been difficult for the Queen but her mother never usurped her daughter’s position. Deeply conscious of the monarch’s role, Queen Elizabeth always remained in the picture but never placed herself in the centre of the frame. She was always aware that it is a principal task of a hereditary monarch to pass the crown to someone well prepared for this unique responsibility, and she rejoiced in the success of her daughter. Indeed, during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, which was celebrated only weeks after her mother’s death, millions of people across the country displayed their enthusiasm for Elizabeth II, providing remarkable proof of the affection which the monarch and the institution still enjoyed. They sensed that both Queens embodied the Shakespearean royal ideal of ‘Christian service and true chivalry’.

  Queen Elizabeth’s dislike of change may have slowed down the pace of royal reform which is always necessary to retain consent. There were changes which the Queen and her advisers might have chosen to make earlier, had there been no concern about upsetting Queen Elizabeth. Against this must be weighed the fact that her remarkable popularity helped soften criticism of the monarchy, particularly in the miseries of the 1990s. The press had become unforgiving of almost everyone else in the family, but she remained largely above criticism. Even her extravagance was accepted, and usually with a smile – because of who she was. In those family crises, she was sometimes criticized for not intervening directly in the lives of her grandchildren. But that is never easy in any family; she saw her task rather to support and sustain the Queen in any way she could throughout not only the annus horribilis but the rest of that painful decade.

  The core of her popularity and the major feature of the second half of her life was surely her permanence, both in her principles and in the pattern of her life. As she grew older, she showed great courage in not allowing the infirmities of the years to compel her into retirement. There was something immensely reassuring in her insistence on carrying out her commitments year after year, and the stamina which enabled her to do so. Brita
in changed enormously but she remained constant. This had particular resonance for all those who were feeling rudderless in the wake of the immense social upheavals of the late twentieth century. Her high spirits and her love of the traditions and the quirkiness of Britain were an inspiration to millions.

  In closing, one could recall that at the beginning of the Second World War, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to her, ‘I feel inclined to say to Your Majesty what was said in the Bible story to Queen Esther – “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.” ’7 That was true in 1939 and it remained so to the end of her life.

  * See above, this page.

  Queen Elizabeth’s Patronages

  Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society

  1937–2002

  Patroness 1937–1958; Patron 1958–2002

  R. Academy of Arts American Associates (Sir Hugh and Lady Casson Fund)

  1996

  R. Academy of Dramatic Art

  1931–2002

  R. Academy of Music

  1937–2002

  Adelaide Festival of Arts

  1960–1999

  Aged Christian Friend Society

  1937–2002

  As Duchess of York, Countess of Inverness – Patron of Inverness Branch 1936–1937

  Albany, The

  1937–2002

  Formerly the Deptford Fund and the Princess Alice New Albany Foundation

  Aldeburgh Festival

  1974–2002

  Ancoats Hospital

  1926–2002

  Archer House Convalescent Fund

  1931–1965

  1965–1968

  Formerly Archer House Home for Nurses. Subsequently administered by National Fund for Nurses

  R. Agricultural Society of England

  1959

  Trustee

  1960

  President

  1998

  Hon. Trustee

  Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

  1953–2002

  President

  R. Association for Disability & Rehabilitation

  1976–2002

  Formerly Central Council for the Care of Cripples, then Central Council for the Disabled (1929–1976), amalgamated with the British Council for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled

  Australian Red Cross Society

  1941–2002

  Bar Musical Society

  1957–2002

  Barnardo’s

  1936–2002

  Formerly Dr Barnardo’s

  Barrowmore Village Settlement

  1953–2002

  Bath Club, Ladies’ Section

  1937–1958?

  Hon. Member 1936

  Patroness 1937 until the Club closed

  Battle of Britain Fighter Association

  1977–2002

  Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Historic Churches Trust

  1992–2002

  Benenden Healthcare Society

  1952–2002

  Formerly (Post Office and) Civil Service Sanatorium Society

  Benevolent Society of St Patrick

  1955–2002

  Bible Reading Fellowship

  1952–2002

  Bible Society

  1943–2002

  Formerly British and Foreign Bible Society

  Birkbeck College

  1937–2002

  Birmingham Royal Institution for the Blind

  1937–2002

  R. Blind Asylum and School, Edinburgh

  1937–2002

  Bomber Command Association

  1987–2002

  Botanical Society of the British Isles

  1965–2002

  Botanical Society of Scotland

  1950–2002

  Brendoncare Foundation

  1983–2002

  Bridewell Royal Hospital (King Edward’s School, Witley)

  1953–2002

  President

  Britain in Bloom Competitions

  1976–1989

  British-American Benevolent Association

  1937–1977

  Formerly Queen Victoria Hospital, Nice

  British & International Sailors’ Society

  1937–2002

  Formerly British Sailors Society

  British Commonwealth Ex-Services League (Women’s Auxiliaries)

  1949–2002

  British Commonwealth Nurses War Memorial Fund

  1946–1995

  Formerly British Empire Nurses War Memorial Fund

  British Dental Hospital

  1926–1948

  British Equine Veterinary Association

  1968–2002

  British Home and Hospital for Incurables, Streatham

  1925–2002

  British Homeopathic Association

  1982–2002

  British Hospital for Mothers and Babies, Woolwich

  1953–1984

  Hospital closed

  R. British Legion Women’s Section

  1924–2002

  President

  R. British Legion Scotland (Women’s Section)

  1936–2002

  Grand President

  British Orthopaedic Association

  1959–2002

  British Records Association

  1952–2002

  British Red Cross Society

  1937–2002

  President 1937–1952

  Vice/Deputy President 1952–1998

  President 1998–2002

  British Sporting Art Trust

  1977–2002

  British Theatre Association

  1952–1990

  Formerly British Drama League

  R. Brompton National Heart & Lung Hospital

  1937–2002

  Formerly Brompton Hospital for Diseases of the Chest

  Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund

  1982–2002

  Caithness Agricultural Society

  1970–2002

  Caithness Heritage Trust

  1991–2002

  R. Caledonian Horticultural Society

  1937–2002

  R. Caledonian Schools Trust

  1937–2002

  Patroness

  R. Cambrian Academy of Art

  1937–2002

  Cambridge Arts Theatre Trust

  1981–2002

  Canada Memorial Foundation

  1989–1994

  Patron-in-Chief

  Canadian Merchant Navy Prisoner of War Association

  1994–2002

  Canadian Mothercraft Society

  1931–2002

  Canadian Red Cross Society

  1939–2002

  Careers for Women

  1939–1993

  Formerly Women’s Employment Federation (–1972) then National Advisory Centre on Careers for Women (–1990)

  Cassel Hospital

  1954–2002

  Formerly Cassel Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders

  Cavalry & Guards Club (Ladies Side)

  1976–2002

  Formerly Guards’ Club (Ladies’ Annexe) 1937–1972

  Centre for Policy on Ageing

  1950–2002

  Formerly National Corporation for the Care of Old People

  Charing Cross Hospital

  1937–2002

  Chelsea Physic Garden

  1984–2002

  First Patron

  Children’s Country Holidays Fund

  1925–2002

  Children’s Hospital at Westmead, The

  1927–2002

  Formerly Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney

  Children’s Society, The

  1924–2002

  Formerly the Church of England Children’s Society

  Church Army

  1943–2002

  Church of England Soldiers’, Sailors and Airmen’s Clubs

  1937–2002

  Church of England Temperance Society

  1937–1967 />
  Cinque Ports Mayors Association

  1980–2002

  First Patron

  R. Cinque Ports Yacht Club

  1978–2002

  President

  City & Metropolitan Welfare Charity

  1937–1972

  Formerly Metropolitan Convalescent Institution

  Civil Defence Welfare Fund

  1940–1950s?

  Formerly Civil Defence (Services) Comforts Fund

  Civil Service Retirement Fellowship

  1977–2002