"The Queen Mother: The Official Biography" - William Shawcross, 2009

[Madame Royale]

This is no biased view, but I think lady royals make better figureheads than those of gentleman. They exude a confident and reassuring presence, I believe. Nurturing, in a way.

I'll certainly read the book.

[cd255]

I can't wait to read this book. I think it'll be very interesting. There's so much we don't know about the older Royals because they lived in a time when the press wasn't so intrusive and they didn't give interviews.

Madame Royale I agree with you. I think women tend to have stronger characters and stay out of trouble (for the most part).

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by iowabelle

I just read that this bio is due to be released in the UK on September 18. I wonder if there will be any surprises. Of course, I'll be flipping forward to the parts on Wallis Simpson when I get mine.

The book's cover

° ° °

.
.

I don't think there's going to be anything about Wallis that isn't the usual party line. The Queen and Charles have read and approved the draft, and they wouldn't be thrilled about anything that doesn't show Mummie as the good guy in every respect.

Thanks for the reminder, though - I need to go and preorder it!

[Odette]

What other books did Mr Shawcross write before this one?

[love_cc]

Letter reveals Queen Mother's rift with Wallis Simpson
Letter reveals Queen Mother's rift with Wallis Simpson - Telegraph

Unseen pictures of Queen Mother unveiled
Unseen pictures of Queen Mother unveiled - Telegraph

Queen Mother Blitz letter: in full
Queen Mother Blitz letter: in full - Telegraph

The Queen Mother reluctant to join Royal Family
The Queen Mother reluctant to join Royal Family - Telegraph

Queen mother's biographer who walked a fine line
Queen mother's biographer who walked a fine line | Mail Online

[Skydragon]

"Waking up this weekend felt a bit like a time warp. Vera Lynn's back on the top of the Hit Parade with We'll Meet Again aged 92. Peter Mandelson is back on the airwaves talking silkily about those wicked Tory cuts – Labour cites "reductions" – at 55. A definite sense of deja entendu there.

Most remarkable of all, that doughty old Chamberlainite appeaser, the Queen Mum, has been dusted off as a war heroine to mark publication of a new biography by William Shawcross. It is proof from beyond the grave of her formidable talent for PR, which subsequently saved the family firm."

Even in death the Queen Mother is still polishing her image | UK news | guardian.co.uk

[Skydragon]

The anguished private thoughts of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother about the abdication crisis, which haunted her for the rest of her life, are disclosed for the first time in her official biography being published tomorrow

Queen Mother's anguished private thoughts on the abdication crisis disclosed for the first time - Telegraph

excerpts:
[Immediately prior to the Abdication] "The then Duchess of York wrote to Queen Mary that she prayed every day for the King to “see reason and not abandon his people”. She added: “I am sure that it would be a great shock to everybody and a horrible position for us naturally.”

In another letter to Queen Mary, she said: “I have great faith in Bertie – he sees very straight and if this terrible responsibility comes to him, he will face it bravely.”

Immediately after the abdication...she wrote a compassionate letter to the former King even though he had ostracised her and her husband. “We are all overcome with misery and can only pray that you will find happiness in your new life,“ she wrote.

[On her becoming Queen]...the former Duchess of York was more calm. She said: “The curious thing is that I am not afraid. Inadequate, but unfrightened.”

[In a letter to Queen Mary after visiting the East End a few hours after Buckingham Palace was hit by a bomb] “I really felt as if I was walking in a dead city, when we walked down a little empty street. All the houses evacuated and yet through the broken windows one saw all the poor little possessions, the photographs, beds, just as they were left. It does affect me seeing this terrible and senseless destruction. I think that really I mind it much more than being bombed myself.”
.

[queenofthelight]

How Princess Margaret burned Diana's letters to Queen Mother | Mail Online (17/09/2009).

The Queen Mother: She loved owls, fairies and the miners. She hated oysters, LibDems and being kissed by a U.S. president. And she lived every day as if it were her last | Mail Online (17/09/2009).

[Skydragon]

The private thoughts of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, about the break-up of the Prince of Wales's marriage are disclosed for the first time in an authorised biography

Queen Mother's biography discloses thoughts about Prince Charles divorce - Telegraph

Queen Elizabeth "utterly abhorred" the way Diana, Princess of Wales decided to "wash dirty linen in public" by covertly giving the author Andrew Morton highly sensitive details about her marital turmoil, which she also discussed in a BBC Panorama programme. She was equally disapproving when the Prince of Wales decided to admit to being unfaithful during a TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.

"It's always a mistake to talk about your marriage," Queen Elizabeth said in a tape-recorded interview, which was kept under lock and key in a Royal archive until the biographer William Shawcross was given access to it after being chosen by the Queen to write an account of her mother's life

A NEW official biography of the Queen Mother was condemned as a whitewash yesterday after airbrushing out her views on Princess Diana’s death and other family crises.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...royal-history-

I think this criticism is unfair, Diana was such a short part of QEQMs life.

[Mermaid1962]

I tend to agree, Skydragon. Queen Mother lived for over 100 years, many of which were quite dramatic for the lady herself and for her nation. Diana was part of the public world for 17 years, which isn't a lot of time in the scheme of things. The Express seems to be stating things in a way to make maximum impact.

Originally Posted by Skydragon

Daily Express | UK News :: Diana axed from royal history

I think this criticism is unfair, Diana was such a short part of QEQMs life.

[queenofthelight]

So what did she really think of Diana? The full, acrimonious story glossed over by the Queen Mother's new biography | Mail Online (18/09/2009).

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by queenofthelight

So what did she really think of Diana? The full, acrimonious story glossed over by the Queen Mother's new biography | Mail Online (18/09/2009).

I am glad that there isn't a lot on Diana in this biography as it means that it will be concentrating on the important parts of the QMs life.

By the time Diana was on the scene the QM was over 80 and her main contribution to the life of the nation was in the past and that is what the book should be about her life.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by queenofthelight

So what did she really think of Diana? The full, acrimonious story glossed over by the Queen Mother's new biography | Mail Online (18/09/2009).

Trust The Mail!

We learn little of the Queen Mother’s views of the Charles and Diana crisis, which threatened to destabilise the monarchy, and nothing at all of her role in it. Yet by common consent, that role was pivotal

One former lady-in-waiting is on record as explaining her impatience with Diana was based on her disappointment that ‘a girl from a good family could have taken on marriage to the heir to the throne without understanding the implications’.
‘I know she’s very young,’ she said, ‘but she ought to have known better.’

Their interpretation of this is -

The ‘implications’ that the Queen Mother was referring to involved her old-fashioned view of a traditional aristocratic marital order in which ‘men have affairs, women do not.

[Warren]

For those members who can recall the discussion of Princess Margaret's relationship with the Queen Mother, there's a teaser in this quote from The Telegraph:

The 1,096-page biography describes how:
* She had a sometimes difficult relationship with Princess Margaret, who was "not always kind" to her mother.

We await further details with interest!

.

[principessa]

Daily Telegraph: "Queen Mother on 'abhorrent' Diana, Princess of Wales":

Queen Mother on 'abhorrent' Diana, Princess of Wales - Telegraph

[scooter]

The author also only mentioned Camilla a single time and did not discuss Charles' 30 year affair with her, so I think it's safe to say there is some whitewashing going on. Having lived through the whole Edward/Wallis drama, QEQM must have been concerned about a repeat, when it was clear that Camilla was not a passing fancy. One would think there would be some discussion of that situation. I pre-ordered the book on Amazon and am waiting by the mail box.

[Wisteria]

To parody Hardy when talking to Laurel, Wallis was definitely a different kettle of fish from Camilla who could never be compared to Wallis.

[Princejohnny25]

I was about to go to my local bookshop and buy a copy but I've only just learned it comes out on the 20th of October in the states. I'll just have to keep my checking this forum for the good details.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by Princejohnny25

I was about to go to my local bookshop and buy a copy but I've only just learned it comes out on the 20th of October in the states. I'll just have to keep my checking this forum for the good details.

You can order it from Amazon.co.uk and get it long before the middle of October. My copy is already on the way.

Like iluvbertie, I'm not expecting anything much other than a bit of flesh on the bones of what we already know. As long as the monarch of the day has some say in biographies written with the help of material from the Royal Archives, I think we'll have to wait till the end of Charles's reign, if not William's, before a truly balanced account appears. While the Windsors are far from blameless, the Queen Mother seemed to carry vindictiveness to very unusual extremes in that regard, and I'm fairly sure that this book won't be the one to go into any great details there. Also, my interest in the Queen Mother regarding Charles and Diana isn't about what she thought when the two of them were splitting up, it's her motivation in bringing them together. Again, this probably won't be the book where we see it in any detail, but circumstances suggest rather strongly that the Charles-Diana relationship was in large part the Queen Mother's attempt to maintain significant influence over Charles in the face of Mountbatten's attempt to have Charles marry one of his granddaughters. Going back to the Windsor days, if not before, the Queen Mother didn't have much trust in Mountbatten, and not only did he manage to get his nephew married to one heir to the throne, he made a pretty determined attempt to get a granddaughter married to the next heir. But since the Charles-Diana match was such a high-profile failure (and it was clear from the start that they had precious little in common), I don't think we'll be hearing much about how Grannie was the main reason they got married in the first place.

[scooter]

Prince Johnny, you can pre order it on amazon and it will arrive at your house on day one! :-)