Posted by JSR
on 25/9/2009, 17:38:28, in reply to "A different view on "eveyone's favourite granny""
84.68.250.80
I am currently wading through William Shawcross's official biography of the Queen Mother. This is the version sanctioned by the Queen and palace so does present the Queen Mother in a very positive light to the point where one thinks "no-one could be SO nice"!! George V, a stickler for punctuality, forgave Elizabeth for her tardiness at mealtimes and stated that if she wasn't late she would be perfect and that would be awful (I paraphrase).
Some of the descriptions of events are a little dry. in my opinion, but the Chapter on the abdication crisis is excellent. What strikes me from the Queen Mother's letters at the time is just how much she and her husband adored Edward VIII. And before 1936 the then Duke and Duchess of York spent an awful lot of time with the then Prince of Wales and the letters between all 3 are very affectionate. The Queen Mother was very reluctant to join the Royal Family as she knew what a constrained life Royalty led. She was devastated by the Abdication and felt terribly let down by Edward VIII, as did the vast majority of British people. However as a Monarchist I think I owe her a great deal. Her personality and efforts got George VI through a personal ordeal and helped the Monarchy to survive the crisis. In the end I think many people realised we had a lucky escape when Edward VII abdicated.