The Queen Mother - Douglas Liversidge

Of all the members of Britain’s Royal Family, no-one has captured the hearts of the people to the same extent as the Queen Mother. Coming from outside the usual royal circles – from the Scottish aristocracy, not European royalty – Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon never expected, or wanted, to be Queen Consort when she married the Duke of York in 1923.

Yet, when her husband acceded to the throne with the abdication crisis of 1938, she was thrust to the very peak of royal life, and since then she has cheerfully devoted her life to the service of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. Throughout the difficult years of George VI’s reign, and particularly during the war, she held the monarchy together, strengthened it and revitalized it, while other European royal houses crumbled.

The Queen Mother, then, has left to her daughter a stronger throne than she herself inherited. But she has also left much more. The popularity, and the natural, good-natured attitude of Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family are due in large part to the influence of the Queen Mother with her joyous zest for life, her gift of putting people at their ease, and her warm and fascinating personality.

Forced by history into a role she would never have chosen, the Queen Mother has guided the development of the modern British monarchy, and is undoubtedly one of its towers of strength, as well as’a much-loved Queen and Mother.