Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) as Queen Elizabeth was the Queen consort of George VI of the United Kingdom from 1936 to 1952 and the mother of his successor, Queen Elizabeth II, the current British monarch. From 1952 to her death in 2002 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was known as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother LG, LT, CI, GCVO, GBE, ONZ, CC, RRC, CD, or, more popularly, the Queen Mum.

Queen Mother (1952–2002)

Shortly after King George VI died of lung cancer, on February 6, 1952, Elizabeth began to be styled "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother". This style was adopted because the normal style for the widow of a king, "Queen Elizabeth", would have been too similar to the style of her elder daughter, now Queen Elizabeth II. The alternative style "The Queen Dowager" could not be used because a senior widowed queen, Queen Mary, the widow of King George V, was still alive. Popularly, she was simply "the Queen Mother" or "the Queen Mum".

Related Topics:
February 6 - 1952 - Elizabeth II - Queen Mary - George V

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To keep occupied, the widowed queen oversaw the restoration of the remote Castle of Mey on the Caithness coast of Scotland, which later became her favourite home. She also developed an interest in horse racing that continued for the rest of her life. However, Winston Churchill became concerned for her mental state, after learning that she had held a seance to try to contact her dead husband, and urged her to end her retirement. So she resumed her public duties, and eventually became as busy as Queen Mother as she had been as Queen.

Related Topics:
Castle of Mey - Caithness - Scotland - Winston Churchill

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Before the advent of Diana, Princess of Wales, and after her death, the Queen Mother was by far the most popular member of the British Royal Family, with a charm and theatrical flair that marked her apart. Her signature dress of large upturned hat with netting and dresses with draped panels of fabric created a most distinctive royal wardrobe.

Related Topics:
Diana - Princess of Wales - British Royal Family

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Behind the soft charm, however, lay a canny intelligence and iron will, as demonstrated by the shrewd support she gave George VI, her thwarting of the ambitions of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and also by her sheer endurance. Like many of her generation, the Queen Mother held a "never complain, never explain" attitude to life, which saw her through many private sorrows and difficulties.

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The Queen Mother had a love of the arts which included purchasing works by Claude Monet, Augustus John and Peter Carl Fabergé, among others. These were transferred to the Royal Collection after her death.

Related Topics:
Claude Monet - Augustus John - Peter Carl Fabergé - Royal Collection

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In her later years, she became known for her longevity. Her birthdays became times of celebration and, as a popular figure, she helped to increase the popularity of the monarchy as a whole.

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Though she had deliberately declined to give public interviews, the media regularly quoted some of her 'one-liners' revealing a dry and often sardonic wit. Coming across a group of teenagers throwing stones at cars, she wound down the window of her passing Daimler and asked them to stop, with the riposte: "Whatever would American tourists think?" On one occasion, when in her nineties, she asked a group of pensioners "is it just me or are pensioners getting younger these days?" On another occasion, she was rumoured to have urged her daughter the queen not to have a second glass of wine at lunch, with the admonition, "Is that wise, darling? Remember you have to reign all afternoon."

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On another occasion, accompanied by the writer and wit Sir Noel Coward, who was homosexual, to a gala function, the two mounted a staircase lined with guardsmen. Noticing Coward's eyes flicker momentarily across the soldiers, Her Majesty murmured to him without missing a beat: "I wouldn't if I were you, Noel; they count them before they put them out."

Related Topics:
Noel Coward - Homosexual

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After her death, her great-grandsons, Princes William and Harry told the media of another amusing incident. The one hundred-year-old lady had walked in on them during Christmas at Sandringham while they were watching a video of the controversial English comedian Ali G. The princes showed her how to click her fingers while enunciating Ali's signature catchphrase which she wasted no time in using. Rising from her seat after Christmas dinner, she reportedly looked the queen in the eye, clicked her fingers, and like Ali G, quipped: "Respec'!" (Private Eye claimed that royal commentators privately believed this story to have been an invention.)

Related Topics:
William - Harry - Christmas - Sandringham - Comedian - Ali G - Private Eye

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She also employed a largely homosexual personal staff and once said, after her gin and tonic was continuously delayed by backstairs bickering, "When one of you young queens has finished, can you bring this old queen a drink?" According to an article in The Observer (November 10, 2002), after being advised by a Tory Minister in the 1970s not to employ homosexuals, the Queen Mother observed that without them, "we'd have to go self-service."

Related Topics:
The Observer - November 10 - 2002 - Tory - 1970s

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The Queen Mother's hundredth birthday was celebrated in a number of ways, including a parade that celebrated the highlights of her life. Though 100 years old she insisted on standing for over an hour while the parade passed by, brushing away aides who sought to get her to sit on a chair kept in readiness. The last function the Queen Mother attended was the funeral of her second daughter Princess Margaret.

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The Queen Mother survived her younger daughter, and two nephews — Gerald Lascelles and Prince William of Gloucester. Also she was one of two surviving daughters-in-law of King George V and Queen Mary; the other being HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. The sisters-in-law were HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who died in 1968, and the Duchess of Windsor, who died in 1986.

Related Topics:
Gerald Lascelles - Prince William of Gloucester - King George V - Queen Mary - Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester - HRH - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent - 1968 - The Duchess of Windsor - 1986

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