When Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died in 2002, journalists covering her death highlighted her popularity with the British public. Remembrances from her friends, family, household, and acquaintances also focused on her enduring popularity. Consistent popularity with the public is never a given for members of the royal family, yet Elizabeth retained her darling status from her marriage to the future George VI in 1923, when she was dubbed “the smiling Duchess,” until her death, by which time she was known as “the Queen Mum.” Her successful mix of “dignity with flashes of the common touch”Footnote 1 has even led some to credit her with “saving the monarchy.”Footnote 2 During the abdication crisis in 1936 and later public royal scandals of the 1990s, her image was that of a charming and relatively wholesome maternal figure on whom the public could depend. She maintained this reliable stature until her death.

The Queen Mother’s public image was connected to both the circumstances of her birth and her longevity, which gave the monarchy stability during periods of turmoil. Her marriage was part of a shift within the customs of the royal family when it became expected for the children of the monarch to seek their spouses from among the British upper classes rather than foreign reigning dynasties. She was the first non-royal consort of an English monarch since the sixteenth century. As the daughter of a Scottish earl, Elizabeth moved within a greater variety of social classes than royal princesses of her time and was therefore much more sociable among a wider array of people. As revealed by her selected published correspondence, she regularly communicated with people from diverse backgrounds throughout her life. She had a keen ability for public relations and has even been called “the most successful member of royalty to collaborate with image-makers since she first entered public life.”Footnote 3 She used this skill to simultaneously humanise the institution of the monarchy while still reinforcing its grandeur. The resulting widespread public admiration throughout her life served as a boon to an institution that, throughout the twentieth century, was often seen as out-of-touch, scandal-ridden, and even obsolete.

The Earl’s Daughter

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born on 4 August 1900, the second youngest of Claude Bowes-Lyon and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck’s ten children. In 1904, Elizabeth’s father became the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Elizabeth spent most of her childhood moving between St Paul’s Walden Bury, her parents’ home in London, and Glamis Castle in Scotland. Elizabeth received much of her education at home, like most aristocratic girls of this period, yet her childhood was far from sheltered. The recollections of her contemporaries are filled with anecdotes of visits to the villages and homes of estate-workers, “where all the villagers knew and loved Elizabeth,” as well as the interactions with the guests of her parents and older siblings.Footnote 4

Biographer David Sinclair also attributed her ease with people of all backgrounds to her childhood: because of her father’s responsibility to his tenants, “Elizabeth grew up to appreciate and respect people who lacked the advantages of high birth … having throughout her young life mixed naturally with people below her own class.”Footnote 5 Scottish aristocrat Sir Fitzroy MacLean emphasised that “the Highlands of those days had fewer of the social barriers which were so constraining in England.”Footnote 6 As such, she had an “early experience of mixing with Scottish children from all walks of life.”Footnote 7 Although most of her learning was achieved at home, under the tutelage of multiple governesses, Elizabeth spent time in day schools as well, attending the Pianoforte School and later, Misses Birtwistle’s Academy in London. She prepared for the Oxford Preliminary Examinations, of which, in 1914, she passed in seven subjects.Footnote 8 At sixteen, she sat for the junior exam of the Oxford Local Examinations Board. The Oxford and Cambridge Schools examination boards, established in 1873, allowed those unlikely to proceed to university to receive formal educational and professional qualifications, and set GCSE and GCE advanced level examinations until 1995.Footnote 9 Elizabeth failed to receive a Certificate, frustratedly writing, “To hell with all such people as the Oxford Examiners.”Footnote 10 These exams represented the end of her educational endeavours and she remained generally dismissive of formal education for the rest of her life.

World War I commenced on Elizabeth’s fourteenth birthday and made an indelible mark on her early life. Four of her brothers served in action: Fergus was killed in 1915 at the Battle of the Loos, and Michael was taken prisoner at Roeux in 1917. Additionally, Glamis Castle, where Elizabeth lived for the duration of the war, was converted into a convalescent hospital, receiving soldiers who had been treated at the Dundee Infirmary. During this period, Elizabeth assisted her mother to help improve the spirits of the convalescing soldiers. She sought to make them “feel at home”Footnote 11 by knitting clothes for the local battalion, running errands, collecting the post, playing music, and assisting with nursing. This opportunity to volunteer in her own home also was an early exercise in serving and interacting with people almost exclusively less privileged than she. Elizabeth’s official biographer, William Shawcross, observed that “many of the men had never seen such a place as Glamis.”Footnote 12

Elizabeth was frequently present among these men and endeared herself to them. In 1916, she wrote to her governess, “I go to the Ward every evening now. They are very nice.”Footnote 13 In 1917, she wrote again of her affection for these visitors: “Just back from a nerve racking and terrible experience-bidding good-bye to FOURTEEN men! It really makes me weep & a lump in my throat.”Footnote 14 This nursing adjacent work placed her on common ground with many royal ladies; many European senior royals served in some type of nursing position during World War I, such as Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz, Tsaritsa of Bulgaria, and Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, and Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. British princesses Princess Alexandra of Connaught and Princess Louise of Battenberg served as nurses throughout the war, and George V’s daughter Princess Mary began a nursing course at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1918, working shifts in the Alexandra Ward. Many other aristocratic ladies, like Elizabeth’s mother, organised and patronised convalescent homes, and their daughters who were too young to nurse, like Elizabeth, visited hospitals and engaged with wounded soldiers.Footnote 15

Though the children of the British monarch were traditionally expected to find spouses among the children of royal families within Europe, the devastation and upheaval caused by World War I, and the Russian Revolutions of 1917, undermined this practice. George V, in line with his wider efforts to promote a more ‘democratic’ British state divorced from the norms of ‘totalitarian’ regimes, changed his surname from the Germanic Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English-sounding Windsor. He also encouraged his children to seek spouses among the British aristocracy.Footnote 16 Queen Mary allegedly confided to a courtier that Prime Minister David Lloyd George “had told the King that foreign brides would not be tolerated: they would have to find suitable matches among the British aristocracy.”Footnote 17 As George V recorded in his diary, “May and I had decided some time ago that our children would be allowed to marry into British families.”Footnote 18 His preference was widely known. Indeed, when Princess Mary announced her engagement to Viscount Lascelles in 1921, The Daily News reported: “There is only one other engagement which could give greater pleasure, and that is the announcement of the Prince of Wales’ betrothal to an English woman.”Footnote 19 The New York Times reported, “It is assumed since during the war the King altered the style of the royal house … that the days of marriages with foreign Princes was over.”Footnote 20 This shift in expected marriage partners was extremely rapid. When Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, married John Campbell, Lord Lorne (the heir to the Duke of Argyll) in 1871, it had been a far more surprising announcement, opposed by her brother, the future Edward VII, even though it was well-received by the wider public.Footnote 21 This rapid shift was unique to the British royal family, although George V’s fourth son, Prince George, the Duke of Kent, wed Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark in 1934. For royalty on the continent, it remained usual practice to find one’s spouse within the royal families of Europe until the past few decades.

Elizabeth “came out” into society in 1918 and began attending social events. She was formally presented to the King and Queen on 6 July 1920, the first year that traditional court presentations resumed after the war. Two days later, she attended a Royal Air Force Ball, where she first encountered her future husband, Prince Albert, nicknamed Bertie, then the Duke of York, and the second son of George V and Queen Mary. Elizabeth wrote, “I danced with Prince Albert who I hadn’t known before, he is quite a nice youth.”Footnote 22 When Albert first danced with Elizabeth at the RAF Ball, he appeared to fall for her immediately, requesting an introduction from his equerry, James Stuart, who had also pursued a serious friendship with her. Before long, Albert and Stuart visited Glamis Castle together. Not long after this first visit, Albert proposed to Elizabeth. She refused, but the two continued their correspondence. He paid a second visit the following year and wrote to his mother, “It is delightful here & Elizabeth is very kind to me … The more I see her the more I like her.”Footnote 23 At the same time that Albert was courting Elizabeth, she was developing a friendship with his sister Princess Mary, whom she met through their mutual involvement in the Girl Guides movement. Elizabeth served as a bridesmaid at Princess Mary’s wedding on 28 February 1922.

In March 1922, Albert proposed to Elizabeth once more. Again, she refused, although she did “hope that we can go on being friends.”Footnote 24 Though an aristocrat, Elizabeth did not come from a family of courtiers. Her father generally disliked the idea of life at court and even said, “If there is one thing I have determined for my children, it is that they shall never have any sort of post about the court.” Elizabeth too was nervous about the prospect of life in the spotlight, “afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to.”Footnote 25 Then, following months of further correspondence and socialisation, and encouraged by Queen Mary, in early January 1923, Prince Albert proposed once more. Elizabeth accepted in mid-January and her wedding was scheduled for the following April. It remains an open question as to why Elizabeth finally accepted his proposal after multiple refusals. Some biographers have pointed to the removal of Albert’s primary rival for her affections, his former equerry, James Stuart, who moved to Oklahoma in early 1922.Footnote 26 Others speculate that she was won over by his persistence and kindness.Footnote 27 Still others have suggested that she made the decision largely on impulse, or out of a sense of duty to her country.Footnote 28 Nevertheless, it seems that Elizabeth and Albert had deep and lasting feelings for each other.

The Duchess of York

In their announcement of Elizabeth and Albert’s engagement, The Times noted that there was “but one wedding to which the people look forward with still deeper interest—the wedding [of Albert’s older brother the future Edward VIII] which will give a wife to the Heir to the Throne and the British peoples.”Footnote 29 Nevertheless, “Few Royal Engagements have been as popular than that of the Duke of York to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.”Footnote 30 Not long after her engagement, Elizabeth gave a lengthy personal interview to the press, including the highly circulated Evening News. The relative candour of this future member of the royal family endeared her to the public, in a period where the personal lives of the monarchy were usually kept extremely private. Through her interview, she not only humanised herself but also the family that she was entering, disclosing details about Albert’s proposal (“he proposed in the garden at Welwyn”),Footnote 31 the engagement ring (“It is to be made of sapphires”),Footnote 32 and her state of mind (she was “so very happy”).Footnote 33 Although it is unclear how the royal family regarded her openness with the press and public, especially since she never repeated this type of interview, George V greatly favoured his son’s choice of bride. Even if her decision to speak to the press may not have met with royal approval, the wedding was otherwise a public relations coup for the royal family.

The pair were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey in an event designed to lift public spirits after the First World War. Theirs was the first royal wedding to be partially filmed, and the footage was then broadcast on newsreels.Footnote 34 The film narrative also emphasised their class differences. Though it identifies Elizabeth as “the youngest daughter of the Earl of Strathmore,” it narrates her lower status by comparing the Duke leaving the palace with “Lady Elizabeth leav[ing] her modest home in Bruton St.” Very little of the ceremony actually appeared on film, in favour of footage of cheering crowds as the couple left the church and returned to the palace.Footnote 35 At the wedding ceremony, Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of York, gave the address, again highlighting her connections with people of all classes: “in your Scottish home, [you] have grown up from childhood among country folk and friendship with them has been your native air.”Footnote 36 Elizabeth continued to meet with public approval when she laid her bridal bouquet at the recently built Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honour of her brother Fergus, beginning a tradition for royal brides that continues today.Footnote 37

After their wedding, the Duke and Duchess of York’s popularity with the public continued to grow. Within five years, they had travelled around the world, including Northern Ireland, East Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, acting as public relations ambassadors for the British Empire. The Duke of York, whose combat service at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, disposed him to public approval,Footnote 38 and the Duchess, who had also been deeply touched by the war, drew on her experiences to relate to the public. For example, in her travels, she attempted to meet with men who had stayed at Glamis during the war or otherwise had roots in Scotland.Footnote 39 Throughout her life, she continued to stress her links with the Scottish diaspora, becoming, for example, the Royal Patron of the American-Scottish Foundation and taking opportunities to meet with Scottish emigrants on her visits abroad.Footnote 40

In 1926, the couple welcomed their first child, Princess Elizabeth, followed in 1930 by another daughter, Princess Margaret. Elizabeth was the King’s first granddaughter, and third in line to the throne after her father and uncle. The Duke and Duchess of York were part of a healthy, photogenic young family, giving the royal family an air of wholesomeness and domesticity, in stark contrast to the image presented by the bachelor Prince of Wales. Elizabeth deserves much of the credit for this image. In fact, Elizabeth’s public-facing cheeriness earned her the nickname “the smiling Duchess.” In his abdication speech, Edward VIII even cited his brother’s “one matchless blessing, enjoyed by so many of you, and not bestowed on me—a happy home with his wife and children.”Footnote 41 In the ordinariness of their family, they were, in the words of historian Philip Williamson, “extraordinary, the perfect family with blissful homes lives.”Footnote 42 This family, if not an exact reflection of many similar young families throughout the empire, could be one that young Britons could aspire to for themselves.

Elizabeth also became an active partner in many of her husband’s favourite causes. Shortly after becoming Duke of York, the Prince developed an interest in industrial working conditions and frequently toured mines, railroads, and factories. He even developed an industrial philosophy, predicated on the idea that “the country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of happy people.”Footnote 43 After his wedding, this interest in industrial welfare continued. The Yorkshire Post reported in 1928: “Throughout the country he is fast becoming a leader in something more than name in the ranks of industry … Without show, formality, fuss or bother, he has deliberately and consistently made personal contact with men of all classes connected with productive enterprise.”Footnote 44 He also became well known for establishing a set of camps where wealthy and working-class boys would mix, which were widely praised as “few royal charities made such a visible, and lasting, contribution to working-class welfare.”Footnote 45 These experiences gave him a thorough knowledge of working-class conditions and made him a familiar figure to those who would soon comprise the bulk of soldiers and industrial labourers during World War II.Footnote 46 Elizabeth also had a public history of supporting British industry: for her wedding, “her train was made of machine-made lace, rather than the handmade lace [Queen] Victoria had sponsored, reflecting changed times and attitudes toward industrialization.”Footnote 47 Additionally, she was a formidable patroness herself, focusing on charities for women and children, complementing her husband’s interest in working-class men and boys. The couple both had an interest in and a long experience in promoting the mixing of social classes, giving them some ease and rapport with Britons of varying backgrounds.

After the death of George V in 1936, Elizabeth’s life was thrown into disarray. She had enjoyed a close relationship with her father-in-law. At the same time, with one fewer senior member of the royal family, she had increasing demands on her time. Most consequentially, there was the impact of the new King Edward VIII’s relationship with American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Princess Mary and Prince Albert had made non-traditional choices by marrying within the British aristocracy, but the Church of England forbade divorced persons to re-marry in the church at this time. Edward VIII’s romantic partner was considered entirely unsuitable, particularly for the man who was the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. It soon became clear that his ministers would not permit him to both marry Simpson and remain king. When Edward chose the former, Elizabeth was dismayed. She wrote to her mother-in-law of being “overcome with horror & emotion”Footnote 48 and prayed that “[Edward] see reason, and not abandon his people. I am sure that it would be a … horrible position for us.”Footnote 49 She complained to her sister Mary that she and the Duke of York were “feeling very despairing and the strain is terrific.” Further, in a rare expression of her feelings towards Simpson, she wrote, “Mrs Simpson is not fit to be Queen, she is not fit to be the King’s morganic wife. The Crown must be above all controversy.”Footnote 50 Finally, she wrote to Edward and implored him to “Be kind to Bertie” and wished that he could realise “how hard it has been for him lately … I am terrified for him.”Footnote 51 Her previously warm relationship with her brother-in-law compounded what she saw as a betrayal of her family and of his responsibilities: “It’s a terrible, bitter blow when somebody you love behaves like that.”Footnote 52 The Abdication Crisis would force her husband onto the throne.

The Queen Consort

After Edward VIII signed the Instrument of Abdication on 10 December, the Duke of York became George VI, a name that he assumed to ease the transition and emphasise the continuity of the monarchy from the reign of his father. On 12 December, speaking to his Privy Council, the King committed himself to his new position, mentioning Elizabeth’s new role: “With my wife and helpmeet by My side, I take up the heavy task which lies before me.”Footnote 53 The former king Edward VIII, now the Duke of Windsor, left England that same day. In the souvenir programme for George VI’s coronation, which took place on 12 May 1937, there is no mention of Edward VIII, even in his new capacity as the Duke of Windsor—a stark omission given that the ceremony was originally scheduled to be his own.

After becoming king and queen, the royal couple’s primary task was to create a narrative of continuity and stability for the monarchy, as well as to assure the public that they were not a poor substitute for the charming Duke of Windsor. Queen Elizabeth was at the centre of this campaign, placed in contrast to the Duchess of Windsor.Footnote 54 Another way to reassure the public was an attempt to replicate the success of their travels early in their marriage, by embarking on a public relations tour, beginning with the British Isles. In a symbolic effort to quell Nazi aggression with a show of Anglo-French friendship, in July 1938, they visited France. They next crossed the Atlantic. Their 1939 trip to Canada was vital for showing that after the Statute of Westminster in 1931, which legally recognised the (de facto) independence of dominions in matters of foreign policy and established a separate Canadian Crown, the King and Queen would be received as the reigning monarch and consort of Canada before the outbreak of World War II.Footnote 55

During the well-received trip to Canada, they spent a few days in the United States, meeting with President Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park on Hudson, where they attended a local Anglican church, and visited the British and Canadian Pavilions at the New York World’s Fair. They were also faced with the daunting task of convincing the American press that they deserved their positions. Since the American press had fervently covered the relationship between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, many in the United States were sympathetic to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. For example, in 1936, the New York Journal reported that King Edward was “very deeply and sincerely enamoured of Mrs Simpson” and “his love is a righteous affection.”Footnote 56 Fortunately, the American public embraced the King and Queen, an about-face that many credited to Elizabeth’s charm.Footnote 57 Their visit also had political advantages. In the face of greater political turmoil in Europe, the successful visit of the first reigning British monarch on American soil emphasised Anglo-American friendship and solidarity in the face of potential future threats. In fact, one could credit the Queen with much of the royal family’s success, as her former Woman of the Bedchamber, Lady Jean Rankin, did:

Queen Elizabeth’s support at the time of the abdication showed the world that there was a strength and purpose, and a strong family on the throne, with a new atmosphere. The previous members of the Royal Family didn’t have great charm, though they were nice enough people … She has had an enormous influence on the popularity of the monarchy today.Footnote 58

Elizabeth’s great ability to endear herself and her family to the public proved to be extremely useful for the remainder of her life.

The outbreak of World War II furthered the prestige and strength of the royal family by giving them a clear role in the war effort.Footnote 59 During the war, Elizabeth continued to humanise the monarchy and demonstrate a sense of comradery with the British public. First, reminiscent of Elizabeth’s personal tragedies during World War I, she and the King were touched by loss when his brother George, the Duke of Kent, died in a plane crash in 1942. Second, despite Buckingham Palace being a regular target for air raids, the King and Queen insisted on staying in the United Kingdom and spending time in London. They continued visiting industrial sites and bombed homes, adhered to food rationing policies, ordered the bathtubs at the Palace to be marked for water conservation, and Elizabeth followed the example of Queen Mary’s activities during World War I.Footnote 60 Elizabeth hosted knitting and sewing parties, took shooting lessons, and fundraised for the Red Cross. In these tasks, Sarah Bradford, one of George VI’s biographers, noted that she demonstrated “a talent for public relations that amounted to genius.”Footnote 61

On 13 September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed Buckingham Palace, blowing out several windows, damaging portraits, and piercing the interior of the Royal Chapel. This attack was one of nine successful bombings of the palace. Queen Elizabeth famously declared, “I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.”Footnote 62 She toured bombing damage at East and West Ham later that day. In fact, “Often the King and Queen would appear unannounced in some heavily bombed district within a few hours of the end of a raid.”Footnote 63 Their visits to bombed regions, wounded servicemen, and munitions factories were filmed by newsreels, which captured footage of cheering crowds greeting them wherever they went.Footnote 64 Elizabeth always wore elegant clothing during these visits, reasoning that anyone visiting her would wear their nicest clothes and she wished to match their respect.Footnote 65 It is possible, however, that some recordings of delight were staged for popular consumption, as historians have noted that in a visit to Southampton in 1940, “much of the route had been unlined, and the royal party passed almost unnoticed.”Footnote 66 Yet despite possible exaggerations of her popularity, she was remembered as a popular figure during this time.

The Queen was admired for her refusal to leave Britain, despite the danger: “I wouldn’t leave without the king, and the king will never leave.”Footnote 67 She saw the importance of demonstrating solidarity with the British people in this time of hardship and danger, writing sardonically to Prince Paul of Yugoslavia in early December 1939 that “I am living here alone & am the only member of the family in London!! Keep the old flag flying. Hooray!”Footnote 68 In a 1939 broadcast, she again drew on her own experience of privations due to the war, specifically citing her daughters’ move from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle for the war’s duration, to build solidarity with her listeners. She said, “The King and I know what it means to be parted from our children and we can sympathize.”Footnote 69 The King too used this rhetoric of unity and solidarity between his family and those of his subjects in his VE-Day broadcast: “The Queen and I know the ordeals which you have endured throughout the Commonwealth and Empire. We are proud to have shared some of these ordeals with you.”Footnote 70 And beyond their words, the public could see not only the humanitarian efforts of the King and Queen but also Princess Elizabeth’s service in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service towards the end of the war in 1945. The idea that the royal family experienced some of the same privations and perils as the people also aided in entrenching the institution of the monarchy in the affections of the people.Footnote 71

After the war, the royal family embarked on a tour of Southern Africa, where, as Queen Elizabeth wrote to one of her sisters, “even the old Nationalist Boers, reared to hate England, gave us a very hearty welcome,”Footnote 72 despite the “many serious racial problems.”Footnote 73 When they returned, in July 1947, the King and Queen announced the engagement of their daughter, Princess Elizabeth, to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and the couple were married in November of that year. The following year, Queen Elizabeth became a grandmother, when Princess Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, in November 1948. Queen Elizabeth was an important influence on Charles’ early life and the two remained close for all of her life. In the days following her death in 2002, Charles, Prince of Wales, recalled, “She seemed gloriously unstoppable, and ever since I was a child I adored her … She was quite simply the most magical grandmother you could possibly have and I was utterly devoted to her.”Footnote 74 In the meantime, the King’s health was beginning to fail due to lung cancer. This decline meant that Queen Elizabeth had more public duties than ever as she kept some engagements that normally would have been fulfilled by the King.Footnote 75 At the end of January 1952, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip set out on a Commonwealth tour. They were in Kenya when they heard the news of George VI’s death in his sleep on 6 February 1952, aged 56.

The Queen Mother

Although George VI had been ill for years, Queen Elizabeth’s widowhood at the age of just 51 still came as somewhat of a shock, particularly for someone whose role was largely determined by her position as the spouse of the monarch. She withdrew to Scotland briefly, where she purchased the Castle of Mey. She began to resume some official duties during the summer of 1952, and by autumn, she was frequently taking part in official engagements, often in the company of Princess Margaret. Elizabeth II’s coronation was scheduled for 2 June 1953. It was the first British coronation to be televised, continuing the trend of revealing more aspects of royal life and traditions to the public. Queen Elizabeth’s official biographer, William Shawcross, argued that this event brought “pride that she and the King managed to take an institution in crisis and restore it to its place at the centre of popular imagination and esteem.”Footnote 76 It was perhaps suitable that she emphasised her status as an integral part of Elizabeth II’s life when she chose the title “The Queen Mother”—a choice that also discouraged confusion between herself and her daughter, who otherwise both would have been called “Queen Elizabeth.”

The Queen Mother believed in the virtues of the British Empire, but in the 1950s, Britain was transitioning away from its historic imperial function. The United Nations, as well as the colonies themselves, pushed for either independence or for more power to be given to the countries. India had already gained independence in 1947, and the Queen Mother was the last British queen consort to hold the title of Empress (consort) of India. In 1949, the Commonwealth of Nations was born, comprised of former colonies that wanted to maintain ties to the British monarchy. In 1953, the British government, working to find alternatives to full independence, created a federation out of their colonies in Southern and Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, with the idea that it would eventually become a self-governing dominion. Though the federation ultimately failed, in June 1953, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother embarked on a tour of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, her first of many overseas tours as a widow. In 1959, she visited Kenya, where she had previously visited with her husband as Duchess of York, and had a generally warm reception personally, despite an increasingly tense and violent political situation in the region at the latter end of the Mau-Mau Revolution (1952–1960).

Through the social upheaval of the 1960s, the Queen Mother’s constant royal duties meant that she had become a symbol of stability and continuity for the monarchy. Her wide range of interests and patronages, especially of women’s causes, contributed to the “extent to which the monarchy had been woven into British life.”Footnote 77 Now in her sixties, she began travelling abroad more than ever, both privately (France was a favourite destination) and in her official capacity. One thing remained constant: just like when she was younger, many marvelled at her ability to engage with persons from diverse backgrounds. For example, the Duchess of Grafton, a frequent travelling companion, recalled, “She always gets to know the people on either side of her … Occasionally, before the meal starts, she would be told by the host, ‘So and so is a communist,’ and she always said, ‘But I love communists,’ and would proceed to get on particularly well with them.”Footnote 78 Indeed, on her 85th birthday, one biographer remarked, “Most of the population of Britain lives in the permanent illusion that they have met her personally.”Footnote 79 According to a long-time member of her household, “It was impossible to feel shy in her presence.”Footnote 80 British writer Harold Nicolson even remarked on her “astonishing gift for being sincerely interested in dull people and dull occasions.”Footnote 81 Her apparent sociability with people of all backgrounds continued to be one of her greatest strengths in terms of her long-lasting popularity.

In the late 1960s, the royal family came under closer public scrutiny.Footnote 82 This attention was not only due to the increasing social and political turmoil in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth but also due to the growing public access to the private lives of the royal family. In 1969, the BBC aired a documentary, Royal Family, which had been commissioned by the Queen. As Sarah Gristwood’s chapter on the Duke of Edinburgh discusses, the programme showed the day-to-day activities of the royal family, attempting to combat the perception that they were outdated. The documentary, which has not been broadcast in its entirety since 1972, had an enormous viewership and whetted the public’s appetite for details from the personal lives of the royal family. This appetite was further increased by the messy public divorce of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, in 1976.

Through the 1980s, the Queen Mother continued with her official duties, and her patronage list included over 300 organisations. She also dedicated her time and money to expensive hobbies. Though the Queen Mother had always enjoyed horseracing, after being widowed, she began pursuing this passion in earnest. She tried to be involved in every aspect and not only owned horses and attended the races, but she also read race coverage and had race results radioed to her at Clarence House. She developed a rapport with trainers, managers, and even “the people who work in the stables—the jockeys and the stable lads.”Footnote 83 She had a massive art collection that mixed the Masters with modern avant-garde work.Footnote 84 She regularly threw parties at her Windsor residence, Royal Lodge, where pricey champagne and gin flowed freely. She delighted in fashionable clothes and hats and was known for being extremely well dressed. When Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret gifted her a fur coat for her eightieth birthday, she raved about it in her letters.Footnote 85 After she died, it was reported that she left an £8 million debt, although her estate could cover its cost. Such fiscal irresponsibility may seem cause for scandal, but it was treated lightly compared to the tawdrier scandals that followed her daughter Princess Margaret and some of her grandchildren’s lives. This contrast was even noted by the press in her lifetime: in 1980, the London Times hypothesised that the Queen Mother was “the most popular royal personage of all time,” and noted how “none of the criticism of the Royal Family which has become increasingly fashionable has ever attached itself to the Queen Mother.”Footnote 86 The author mostly attributed her popularity to her lifetime of public service.

The 1990s was another period of turmoil for the British Royal family. Anne, Princess Royal, had married Mark Phillips in 1973, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1992. Charles, Prince of Wales, had married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, but divorced in 1996. Andrew, Duke of York, who had married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, also divorced in 1996. The press, which had been so generous in its coverage of the Queen Mother, made life difficult for the younger generation and provided frenzied coverage of these messy divorces.Footnote 87 When Diana, Princess of Wales, died in 1997, the monarchy again faced widespread criticism when they initially mourned privately at Balmoral Castle. Through these events, “the Queen Mother’s standing and the affection in which she was held helped the family to recover some public esteem.”Footnote 88 In fact, as one Manchester woman stated succinctly, “She’s unblemished, unlike some of the other royals.”Footnote 89 The Queen Mother managed to find a balance between the regal and familiar that both humanised her and saved her from public disapproval.

The Queen Mother’s life and legacy were widely celebrated at her centenary in 2000. Soon afterward, she experienced several health problems, breaking her collarbone in November 2000 and fracturing her pelvis a year later. Her last public appearance reminded onlookers of her redoubtable connections to modern British history when, on 22 November 2001, she attended the recommissioning ceremony for the Ark Royal, saying: “I’m so happy to be once again onboard Ark Royal. You see, I launched her and her predecessor. So, it’s wonderful to feel that now she’s going to be at sea and guarding our shores just as in the days of yore. She’s a wonderful ship … Captain, splice the main brace.” Her last line was met with laughter and applause.Footnote 90

On 9 February 2002, after two decades of poor health, Princess Margaret died. The Queen Mother attended her daughter’s funeral on 15 February 2002. She died in her sleep on 30 March 2002 at the Royal Lodge, Great Windsor Park, with Elizabeth II at her bedside. She was 101, and remains the longest-lived consort in British history. Her funeral was held on 9 April at Westminster Abbey. Over a million mourners lined the path between Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel at Windsor, where she was buried alongside George VI and Princess Margaret, despite predictions that an uptick in republicanism would keep the numbers low.Footnote 91 Afterwards, the wreath that had lain atop her coffin was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in a gesture that echoed her wedding-day tribute.Footnote 92

After the Queen Mother’s death, many tributes and histories credited her with stabilising the monarchy during the abdication crisis, although “the Queen Mother’s former subjects will be more likely to remember her as the sprightly Queen Mum who seemed almost a part of everyone’s family.”Footnote 93 Both of these remembrances ultimately stem from the Queen Mother’s mastery of public relations. She maintained the dignity of the royal family, in sharp contrast to the scandals and tell-all books surrounding her relatives, but also, through her ability to connect to people of all classes, made the royal family appear relatable and relevant. She embodied the mythology of the idea that the “national family transcends class division because it is composed essentially of individual families, of which the royal family is only the most exemplary,”Footnote 94 and “reconciling a studied aloofness with appropriate gestures of populism, making the world’s least ordinary of families seem, when necessary, ever so ordinary.”Footnote 95 In her lifetime, which spanned the twentieth century, she served as a stabilising force for the monarchy, even in periods when it was otherwise turbulent. This was despite being of ‘common’ birth herself. As Lord Byers summed up, quoting a Cockney woman: “She is really just like everyone else, but much better.”Footnote 96 In this way, while Lady Diana Spencer may have been the “People’s Princess,” Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, another Earl’s daughter, truly was the People’s Matriarch.