HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002)


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I was over at Glittering Royal Events and they had quite a discussion about it. The web address I had was www.members3.boardhost.com/Warholm/msg/1163855771.html

They were expecting ITV to do a program about the whole old story of how Elizabeth married Bertie (and seemed to have a crush on David), the ill-will between Elizabeth and Wallis, etc. The Daily Mail is the one that ran the article on November 18. Since I'm over here, I don't know much about The Daily Mail so I can't judge the likelihood of it being a well-researched story.

I do know about GVI's temper tantrums and the allegations that he had an alcohol problem... but my gut instinct is that Elizabeth didn't suffer from a lack of confidence or intimidation, and I think she would have left her husband had she felt mistreated. I think she was raised in such an aristocratic family that, like Diana, she would not have been overawed by the Windsors. (And yes, my impression has always been that she was the stronger personality in that couple.)
 
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The Daily Mail aren't that reputable. As you say, the Queen Mother wasn't timid or nervous. If he was violent, I'm sure she would have given as good as she got.
 
My understanding is that the story about King George VI physically abusing his wife appeared in a book by Lady Colin Campbell - the name of which escapes me at present. Lady Campbell has not always been well regarded as an accurate historian. It would be interesting to find out what her sources were for this story. If none are quoted, I would treat the whole thing with scepticism.

As has been said, George's consort was regarded as a very strong character indeed and it's been claimed by several authors that she was the dominant partner in the marriage, although Bertie (George VI) was known to have been a heavy drinker and to have had an explosive temper. I really can't see this as having been an abusive marriage. The two seemed devoted to each other.
 
The thing about Lady Colin is that she tends to write her books from interviews and snippets she's heard or been told by those in the know. It's very much a James Whittaker situation where you choose whether you believe her or not.
 
Neither do I! From what I've read, they were very loving toward each other and toward their children.
 
I'd like to play the devil's advocate here, for all I know, Lady Colin Campbell could be making the abuse stories up from an overactive imagination, but it has happened that the person who outwardly appears the strongest can be abused.

Sometimes women who subject themselves to abuse think in some way they are protecting their husbands against themselves or protecting their children from abuse by absorbing their husbands' rage themselves.

I have no way of knowing whether this is true of the Queen Mother and the King but just pointing out a possible scenario. I'd want a better source than the Daily Mail and Lady Colin Campbell to believe in it though.
 
I've heard and read all of my life that poor King George VI drank and smoked to excess and was bad tempered, but given his speech problems, I guess that it's understandable if the pressure of his position got to him. However, this is a long way from accusing him of being an abusive husband. The Queen Mum was a strong, determined woman, and I really don't believe that she'd have accepted this for one minute. We all know that the Duke had to propose to her three times before she accepted him and I believe that she had the 'upper hand' in their relationship. As for her dislike of the Duchess of Windsor, I do believe that it may well have been jealousy, the Queen Mum wanting to marry the then Prince of Wales herself. Still, the only people who really know the truth of any of this will never tell.
 
I'm reading Hugo Vickers' biography "Elizabeth, The Queen Mother" at the moment. I'm about 90% through it. The author seems objective, and it is a very thoroughly researched book, with all the quotes and footnotes and references anyone could ask for. It's all still fairly fresh in my mind and I don't recall reading any whiff of a hint of a suggestion that Bertie was violent towards Elizabeth. I certainly don't believe she was an abused wife. She wouldn't have tolerated it!
 
Bertie was also physically weak (he had an abusive governess in his youth) so it seems highly unlikely he physically abused Elizabeth, especially given her strong character.
 
By all accounts The King had a short temper ,a stammer and was nervous and uptight and all was made wrse by a job he didn't want- to be king.Only his wife got him through it she was the thougher of the two I really can't see her being an abused wife.I think he leaned heavily he and his brothers all had difficult childhoods and had their share of insucurites especially the King and the Duke of Windsor.I'm not sure about how their sister Mary coped.:ermm:
 
While I don't think for one second that she was an abused wife, consider the ramifications if she was. A divorce would have permanantly separated her from her children in those days. What kind of queen would Elizabeth have made without her mother in her life? How different would Great Britain be now?
 
From what little I know of them, (a lot from reading The Little Princesses, by Marian Crawford, aka Crawfie), the Queen Mum was the backbone of their relationship- she was there to support him when he could not support himself. She is the classic example of 'the woman behind the man.' So I doubt she would take it.

However, it is true that most abusers were once abused themselves.
 
Well, for my two cents, I have a feeling that had she been abused, there were way too many people in and around their lives for it not to have come out before now.

There is just no way that abuse happened and no one said anything before now, regardless of the respect for the queen mum.

People talk to other people who talk to other people, etc, so this would have come out long ago.

I just do not believe it.
 
i do not believe it either, this would have come out a long time ago because he has been dead for years now.
 
EmpressRouge said:
Bertie was also physically weak (he had an abusive governess in his youth) so it seems highly unlikely he physically abused Elizabeth, especially given her strong character.


Was Bertie abused physically or emotionally by his governess? Where can I review a story about that? :)
 
HRH Kimetha said:
Was Bertie abused physically or emotionally by his governess? Where can I review a story about that? :)

Well, according to Charlotte Zeepvat, an acknowledged royal historian, the story about the nurse mistreating Bertie because she hadn't had a day off in several years and preferred David (Duke of Windsor) anyway, is not true.

Queen Mary (whilst Duchess of York) apparently saw a nurse slap Bertie and dismissed her on the spot.

King George V and Queen Mary were not very successful parents. George, in particular, was overly harsh with his sons (but not with Mary, the only daughter and his favourite) but there is ample evidence that they loved their children nevertheless.
 
The Queen Mother and her Winterhalter look

Lorraine said:
The late Queen Mother - posed for this painting at Clarence House.
http://www.richardstoneuk.com/queenmother.html
Hello,
It is a little known fact that the British Royals based their fashion looks on the "Winterhalter Look" from the paintings of Winterhalter's very romantic ladies in full skirted gowns.
Originally, Diana was initiated into this school of attire and later she broke away.
This look was diametrically opposite to that of The Duchess Of Windsor's fashion sense.It created and maintained the mystery of the monarchy and could withold the jewellery necessary for the royals to wear.
I saw the Queen Mother in 1974 and the "Winterhalter" became her.
It includes "stomacher" brooch and feathered hat.
What a Vivienne Westwood moment.
 
Items from the childhood of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to go on display

The British Schools Museum, Hitchin, is proud to announce an exhibition for February 2007 “Memories of the Queen Mother’s Childhood – her clothes, books and photographs.”
Elizabeth Bowes Lyon spent many of her childhood years at St Paul’s Walden Bury, close to Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
We are able to show a collection of costumes and items of clothing worn by the late Queen Mother and her brothers / sisters as children with by permission of Sir Simon and Lady Bowes Lyon Bowes Lyon
 
i always liked the queen mother, i thought she was always that typical grand-mother figure which was really sweet and she looked really sweet too! I thought she was really lovely and perhaps not as serious as the queen.
 
Well, she didn't need to be as serious as the Queen. As a Queen Consort, she did not have the same responsibilities as her daughter EII, a reigning Queen. :)

Whether you like Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother or not, I think the former-held illusion of her being simply a sweet little old grandmother no longer really exists these days. She wielded great power within the RF until the day she died and her influence in certain areas has not always received widespread praise.
 
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The Queen mother also had the chance to have a life before marrying into the royal family, her daughter even as a youngster had more rules and regulations to follow because of who her parents were. She does deserve credit for always sticking to those rules and backing her husband 100%.

It is worth bearing in mind that like many of these so called icons, in real life, to many people she was not very nice. IMO.
 
I think to the older generation - certainly in cockney circles - the Queen Mother was a type of God. She was the good old gal in "My Old Dutch" - we'd been together for more than 40 years and she became the grandmother of the cockney people. My great-grandparents were not really that bothered about the Royal Family despite my Great-Grandfather meeting Edward VIII, but they had an enormous amount of respect for the woman who looked the East End in the face.

I wouldn't say the Queen Mother was an icon but she was amazingly loveable. We hadn't heard her say a word since 1942 and her hats made her look like Ronnie Corbett in drag but she was just so loveable. When I heard she'd died, it was pretty devastating because she was just part of the national furniture and she just seemed to always be there as someone you could count on to be there. Quite an amazing woman really.
 
Yes, you are absolutely right - she was loveable and a great, great royal lady.

I was just trying to point out that that loveable facade the public saw was not the only side to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. She was said to have a very strong character behind the scenes and was a very determined, steely character.
 
I think the Queen Mum was the type of person that in the American South would be called 'Steel Magnolia' All sweetness and light on the outside but you cross them at your peril.
 
I think the Queen Mother is a great woman. Her strength perfectly makes up some shyness in the characters of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. She was a great support and encourageer behind them. I think Queen Mother had lots of grace and tenderness but she was not a weak person so she knew how to beat her enemies.That's a perfect combination of leadership. She was a perfect consort for King George VI.
 
Hmm, I agree with your post - except for one point. :)

I don't believe the support and encouragement the Queen Mother gave her supposed favourite grandson Charles was necessarily in his best interests.

She is said to have taken over some of the duties of Charles' mother, busy as she was as Queen, but I think the Queen Mother taught Charles life-long attitudes that he is loved by the public unequivocably and that he is entitled to do what he wants, when he wants without question. Her acceptance and even welcoming of Charles' extra-marital affair with Camilla is one example of this.

Encouraging and inspiring is one thing, but I really believe her influence on Charles has been negative to the development of his character in the long run, rather than positive.
 
I don't agree at all. The Queen Mother was really like a mother to Charles when the Queen couldn't be. She taught him to explore his interests, be himself and be true to his feelings. That's no negative thing IMO.
 
I don't think that the Queen Mother was an abused wife, but the King was sometimes difficult to manage and needed her help to calm him down,help him get over his stuttering problem,be a help-mate.He was a nervous,shy man whose heavy smoking lead to his death from lung cancer. The Queen Mother held the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor responsible for the King's ill-health, but it should also be noted that the government also was not very happy with Edward VIII 's actions either;they were the ones who vetoed a lavish allowance from the Civil List for the Windsors.And they,along with the King and Queen Consort,were not sure how long the marriage of the Windsors would last and didn't want to bestow a Royal Title on Mrs.Simpson.
 
Queen Mother was long live and was good alert his age. Queen mother was beloved to royal family and grandchildren,great-grandchildren!
 
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