Counting One's Blessings
Page 1
COUNTING
ONE’S BLESSINGS
The Selected Letters of
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
EDITED AND WITH A PREFACE BY
WILLIAM SHAWCROSS
‘Letters are like wine; if they are sound they ripen with keeping’
SAMUEL BUTLER
‘Sometimes, one’s heart quails at the thought of
the things that lie ahead, and then one counts one’s blessings
– and things don’t seem so bad!’
THE QUEEN,
5 May 1939 to the Archbishop of Canterbury
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Epigraph
List of Illustrations
PREFACE
PART ONE
ELIZABETH
PART TWO
DUCHESS OF YORK
PART THREE
QUEEN
PART FOUR
QUEEN MOTHER
Appendix: Family Trees
Notes
Index
About the Author
Photographic Insert
Credits
Also by William Shawcross
Copyright
About the Publisher
Illustrations
1 Elizabeth Bowes Lyon with her mother (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
2 Elizabeth, David and Jock Bowes Lyon (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
3 Elizabeth, aged about five (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
4 A letter written by Elizabeth aged six (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
5 Beryl Poignand in 1915 (By courtesy of Richard Hall)
6 A letter from Elizabeth to Beryl Poignand (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
7 Jock, May and Rose Bowes Lyon (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
8 Elizabeth with Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
9 Elizabeth with Doris Gordon-Lennox, Freddy Dalrymple Hamilton, Bruce Ogilvy, Geordie Haddington, Alix Cavendish and Diamond Hardinge (By courtesy of the Earl of Strathmore, digital image by P. J. Buxton)
10 Prince Albert in 1920 (Photograph by (Mary) Olive Edis © National Portrait Gallery)
11 Elizabeth in 1920 (Photograph by Swaine © Daily Herald Archives/SSPL/Getty Images)
12 At Bisham, Ascot week 1921. (RCIN 2585024.b © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
13 Elizabeth with Princess Mary and Geordie Haddington (RCIN 2585069 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
14 Elizabeth at Glamis with her dogs, Peter and Biffin (RCIN 2585078 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
15 A house party, September 1921 (RCIN 2585060 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
16 The Duke and Duchess of York on the balcony of Buckingham Palace (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
17 The bride and groom leaving for their honeymoon (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
18 The Duchess of York trying her hand at the coconut shy (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
19 The Duke and Duchess at the Empire Exhibition, October 1925 (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
20 The Duke and Duchess of York (RCIN 2111468 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
21 The Duke and Duchess on tour in Australia (RCIN 2940859 © Reserved/The Royal Collection/Simpson, Bell & Co., Coolangatta, Queensland)
22 The Duchess and Lady Strathmore with the Princesses (RCIN 2112235 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
23 The Duchess, King George V and Queen Mary with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret (RCIN 2112338 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
24 The Duke of York with the Princesses (RCIN 2112417 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
25 The Prince of Wales, the Duke of York and the Princesses (RCIN 2112539 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
26 The Coronation of King George VI (Hay Wrightson © National Portrait Gallery)
27 A Christmas invitation to Sir Richard Molyneux (RA QEQM-OUT-MOLYNEUX-91)
28 The King and Queen on board the Empress of Australia, bound for Canada, May 1939 (Evening Standard/Getty Images)
29 The King and Queen in Washington DC with President and Mrs Roosevelt, and the President’s aide, Major-General Edwin Watson, June 1939 (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
30 The King and Queen surveying the damage caused by the bombing of Buckingham Palace (RCIN 2941132 © Reserved/The Times)
31 The King and Queen in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, photographed by Cecil Beaton (RCIN 2088561 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
32 The King, Queen and the Princesses with General Smuts (RCIN 2704839 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
33 The Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace (Popperfoto/Getty Images)
34 Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
35 Queen Elizabeth with the jockey Dick Francis (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
36 At the controls of a Comet, 1952 (RCIN 25946633 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
37 At Saks 5th Avenue (Harry Harris/AP/Press Association Images)
38 On tour in Bulawayo (AP/Press Association Images)
39 On tour in Canada (RCIN 2599730 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
40 With veterans of the Boer War (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
41 Attending a reception for the London Scottish Regiment (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
42 At a London University Ball (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
43 With Prince Charles and John Elphinstone (RCIN 259594344 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
44 With the Queen and Princess Margaret (RCIN 2595713 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
45 A letter to Sir Frederick Ashton (By courtesy of Anthony Russell-Roberts)
46 Queen Elizabeth with her horse, Special Cargo, which had just won the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown Park, April 1984 (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
47 Queen Elizabeth enjoying a pint of bitter (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
48 Queen Elizabeth and her friend Dick Wilkins (RCIN 2324847 © Reserved/The Royal Collection)
49 Queen Elizabeth with her nephew Simon Bowes Lyon and his wife Caroline (RCIN 2599944 © Reserved/The Royal Collection/Studio Neill, Biggleswade)
50 One of Queen Elizabeth’s last public engagements (PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
PREFACE
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN graciously permitted me to compile and edit this collection of letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. I am deeply indebted to her. As a result of her generosity, I was allowed unrestricted access to the Royal Archives, where I had worked on the official biography of Queen Elizabeth, published in 2009, and to all other sources which I had used for that book.
As well as to Her Majesty the Queen, I am very grateful to other members of the Royal Family who have helped me, in particular the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, Viscount Linley, Lady Sarah Chatto and the Earl of Snowdon for their assistance.
I thank Her Majesty for permission to quote material from the Royal Archives, as well as from all other letters subject to her copyright. Anyone who has worked in these archives knows what a pleasure that is. Once again, I was assisted in the most efficient and supportive way by the Registrar, Pam Clark, and her staff, including Jill Kelsey, Allison Derrett and Lynne Beech. Felicity Murdo-Smith kindly
assisted in transcribing letters in the Archives. The Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection, Sophie Gordon, the Assistant Curator, Lisa Heighway, and Shruti Patel and her staff at the Royal Collection Photographic Services were all immensely helpful in providing photographs to illustrate this book.
At Glamis Castle, the ancestral home of the Bowes Lyon family, I must thank the Earl of Strathmore for permission to quote papers within the family’s possession. The Archivist at Glamis, Ingrid Thomson, helped me in every way, tracing names and dates and letters. Among other members of the Queen Mother’s family, Sir Simon and Lady Bowes Lyon again allowed me access to their papers at St Paul’s Walden, one of the Bowes Lyon family homes, and I must thank Queen Elizabeth’s nieces, Lady Mary Clayton, Lady Mary Colman and the Hon. Mrs Rhodes (née Margaret Elphinstone) for their assistance. I have also been generously assisted by Queen Elizabeth’s nephew the Hon. Albemarle Bowes Lyon and her great-nephew James Joicey-Cecil, by her cousin John Bowes Lyon and by her great-nieces Rosemary Leschallas, Lady Elizabeth Shakerley and Rosie Stancer, and by Jenny Gordon-Lennox.
I am much indebted to everyone who allowed me to quote from their own letters and who gave me access to letters from Queen Elizabeth which they held. These include Sir Antony Acland, Sir Edward Cazalet, Mrs Alan Clark, Lady Katharine Farrell, the Hon. George Fergusson, Canon Dendle French, the Earl of Halifax, Mrs Anthony Harbottle, Sally Hudson, Carol Hughes, Joanna Johnston, Henrietta Knight, Mark Logue, David Micklethwait, John Murray, the Hon. Lady Murray, Susan Crawford Phipps, Lady Penn, Anthony Russell-Roberts, the Marquess of Salisbury, Alexandra Sitwell, Susanna Sitwell and the Osbert Sitwell Estate, Sir Jock Slater, Earl Spencer, Lord Tweedsmuir, Violet Vyner, Cath Walwyn, Diana Way, Robert Woods, Lady Wyatt.
I have received help from the staff of many archives and libraries as well as from the archivists of private collections. They include Dr Nicholas Clark, Librarian at the Britten–Pears Foundation; Tanya Chebotarev, curator of the Bakhmeteff Archive, Columbia University; Helen Langley, Curator, Modern Political Papers, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library; Michael Meredith, Librarian at Eton College; Susan Worrall, Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections, University of Birmingham; Allen Packwood, Director, and Madelin Terrazas, Archives Assistant, at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; Giles Mandelbrote, Librarian, and the Trustees of Lambeth Palace Library; Kathryn McKee at St John’s College, Cambridge; Alison Metcalfe at the National Library of Scotland; Vicki Perry, Head of Archives and Historic Collections at Hatfield House; Bruce Bailey, archivist at Althorp; staff at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; staff at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York. I am grateful to them all.
I have been helped by many members of the Royal Household, as I was with my official biography of Queen Elizabeth. They include Sir Christopher Geidt, The Queen’s Private Secretary, and Samantha Cohen, her Assistant Private Secretary. Sir Christopher has a superb understanding of the monarchy’s place in British life and I am grateful to him for approving this collection. Miss Cohen oversaw the publication of my biography of Queen Elizabeth with consummate talent and grace, and was especially generous with her time on this work also.
I am indebted to the Royal Librarian, the Hon. Lady Roberts, and to Sir Hugh Roberts, former Director of the Royal Collection, and to his successor Jonathan Marsden. All of them gave me the benefit of their knowledge and insights. So too did Lady Susan Hussey and the Hon. Mary Morrison, each of whom has served the Queen for over fifty years.
In the office of the Duke of Edinburgh, Dame Anne Griffiths was extremely helpful and at Clarence House I was assisted by Sir Michael Peat, Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, and his successor William Nye, as well as by David Hutson, Virginia Carington and Paddy Harverson.
I thank Ailsa Anderson, Press Secretary to The Queen, always a fount of impeccable and witty advice, Zaki Cooper and other members of the Palace press office. As always, the Buckingham Palace switchboard under Michelle Redpath was marvellously efficient.
Many of the Queen Mother’s Household and friends provided me with great help. They include Dame Frances Campbell-Preston, Martin and Catriona Leslie, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Lucy Murphy, Leslie Mitchell and Jacqui Meakin. Ashe Windham, former equerry and friend of Queen Elizabeth, and Lady Penn, former lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth, gave me particular friendship and assistance.
There are many others to whom I am grateful for different forms of help. They include Sir Eric and Lady Anderson, Fiona Bruce, Sir Edward and Lady Cazalet, Miss Pamela Fleetwood, Dame Drue Heinz, Nigel Jaques, Lady Rupert Nevill, Patty Palmer Tomkinson, Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, Simon Parker Bowles, Major Johnny Perkins, Lord and Lady Sainsbury, the Dowager Countess of Strathmore, Colin Thubron, the Duchess of Westminster.
As with my biography of Queen Elizabeth, I owe debts to other writers, particularly to Hugo Vickers, author of many books on the monarchy, including Queen Elizabeth (2005), who gave me generous access to letters in his own archives.
Above all I am indebted to those who helped me most closely, in particular Lady Elizabeth Leeming, a skilled editor in her own right, great-niece of Queen Elizabeth and sister of the Earl of Strathmore, the head of the Bowes Lyon family. She tirelessly worked through many drafts of this book and, through her careful research, discovered not only family facts but also many others. She and her husband Antony were also very hospitable to me, allowing me to work and stay in their house in Cumbria. I am once again very grateful to Sheila de Bellaigue, former Registrar of the Royal Archives, who was my peerless scholarly companion on this book, as on the official biography. Without her meticulous scholarship and erudition I could never have completed either book.
My literary agents, Carol Heaton in London and Lynn Nesbit in New York, were supportive and helpful as always. In New York I was happy to be published by Jonathan Gelassi of Farrar Strauss and in London I was fortunate that once again Georgina Morley of Macmillan was my editor. It was not a simple book to create but she accomplished it with patience, charm and skill. Peter James copyedited the book with precision, Jacqui Graham arranged publicity with skill, Tania Wilde was coolheaded and managed all the final details of publication with dexterity. As before, I was privileged to have Douglas Matthews create the index.
Finally, I am grateful to my family, especially my wife Olga, and Conrad, Ellie, Alex and Charlie for their patience while I had the joy of assembling these letters.
LETTERS HAVE ALWAYS been treasured, sometimes revered. Archives and museums all over the world cosset them. So do people, in the drawers of their desks, in bundles hidden in boxes, in attics or in wardrobes. Letters are history, public and personal. They can evoke times, characters, hopes and fears like almost nothing else. And, above all, they can evoke love. There is almost nothing so exquisite as a letter bearing, describing, offering love. The crackle of paper drawn out of envelopes has a mystery, if not a magic, that evokes an age gone by. The letters of many prominent people – statesmen, politicians, writers, artists, lovers, kings and queens – can command both awe and high prices.
Throughout the ages, letter writing has flourished. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pen and paper were almost as natural and frequent a means of communication as word of mouth for those with money and time. In central London and other great cities, the postal services were superb and swift – letters written and posted in Mayfair would be delivered in Belgravia an hour or so later. Mornings in many households, both grand and less so, were given over to letter writing, certainly by the lady of the house.
But today letters sometimes seem of another time, almost as ancient as calligraphy. In this digital age into which the world has been thrust, almost without warning, the art of letter writing is already being swamped by emails, text messages and tweets and many more means of communication that only recently could hardly be imagined. How will historians of the future manage wi
thout the glorious primary source of private thoughts in private letters?
Of course, lamenting the death of letter writing long predates the current revolution in technology. Roger Fulford, the editor of an earlier collection of royal letters, pointed out in 1964 that phrases such as ‘Nobody writes letters nowadays’ and ‘The art of letter writing is dead’ were already constant lamentations in the middle of the twentieth century.
Fulford was introducing the first of what became five volumes of correspondence between Queen Victoria and her daughter Victoria, the Princess Royal and later Crown Princess of Prussia and mother of the last Kaiser of Germany. He ruminated about how such mid-nineteenth-century letters should be presented to readers of the 1960s. Should they be to and fro, or is a one-sided correspondence enough? Should they deal with a specific period of a life, or with the whole life? He did not lack for material – for over forty years, the Queen wrote to her daughter at least twice a week and the Princess replied almost as often. All those letters have survived. The Queen alone wrote half a million words to this one daughter.
Roger Fulford had to decide whether to publish a selection of the most interesting letters from four decades in a single volume, or to concentrate on a shorter period in order to be able to show ‘the interests and occupations of the Queen’. He chose the latter and his first volume, Dearest Child, covers only four years, ending with the death of the Queen’s husband and the Princess’s father, Prince Albert, in December 1861.
In this book, by contrast, I have chosen letters from all ten decades of Queen Elizabeth’s life. I hope nevertheless to have avoided the ‘distracting’ effect of a selection which ‘jumps the reader from decade to decade’, in Fulford’s words.1 And I hope also that the wide variety of those to whom the letters are addressed reflects the breadth of this Queen’s interests and occupations.
WHEN I BEGAN RESEARCH in the Royal Archives on the official biography of Queen Elizabeth, box after box of material was brought to my desk and I was immediately struck by the wonderful letters she wrote.