Counting One's Blessings
Page 14
It has been boiling, 80 degrees today & shining sun. I hope you will be coming to London soon darling, so au revoir, & please forgive this short scribble,
From your very loving
Elizabeth
26 October [1923] to Lady Strathmore
White Lodge
My Darling Mother
Thank you a million times for ringing up last night. We had an awful crossing, but luckily I didn’t feel sick. Catherine was VERY sick!!
The Serbian visit was terribly funny. They all walk about all day in musical comedy uniforms. I will try & tell you a little about it.
We arrived at Zagreb at about 9 o’clock last Saturday, where we hitched our carriage onto Alexander’s train which he had sent for us. It was once the Austrian Emperor’s, & very rattly! There were several footmen dressed in beautiful liveries of pale blue, with trousers that went into spats, do you know the sort, and huge silver buttons. We travelled the whole day, through a completely flat plain, all cultivated, but no roads at all. We got to Belgrade at 7.30, where Alexander met us, and his sister, as his wife was ill. The band played God Save The King very quickly over & over again, & we got into tiny blue Victorias with white horses & rushed off to the Palace. The whole family were there, the King & Queen of Roumania, their eldest son & his wife, the other daughter who is Queen of Greece, Ileana, & all Paul’s fiancée’s family. They are all so nice, & very English.
The next day, the christening was at 11, & Bertie was simply terrified at having to carry the baby about! However, it went off very well, and the singing was too lovely. Afterwards, there was a tremendous luncheon party of about 300. At about 4, Bertie & I & Paul & Olga drove out & looked at Belgrade, & then went & had tea with the Roumanians on their yacht in the Danube. They nearly all lived there, as there is so little room in the Palace. There was a family dinner, & then a concert & reception after. I got so tired, that Bertie & I crept away.
The next day, was Paul’s wedding. Olga looked lovely I thought, & it went off very well, and Paul is so happy. He was enchanted at having us there, & otherwise he had no real friends. A large luncheon, & then I went off to see a hospital for children run by a Scotch woman doctor. It is the only one in all Serbia, and does marvellous work. Then I went down to the Danube, & joined Bertie on the Glowworm which is a British monitor, & then we went off to the Legation & met the British Colony. Very small, & all Scotch! Then home, & I rested, whilst Bertie went down to see Paul off. After dinner, we departed – I drove down to the station with Alexander, and it was very funny, as we did not really go! You see the train went very early the next morning, so we thought it would be less trouble to sleep in our own ‘wagon lits’ carriage, & just get hitched on to the train very early when we were asleep. So we went through all the usual pomp, & a guard of honour, looking exactly like the male chorus of a revue, & a band, & rows of ladies with bouquets, & kisses all round, & then we steamed triumphantly out of the station, for about 20 yards, where we stopped all night! It was so funny, because it was all a sham, & they all knew it too!! You have no idea how odd they are, & so nice!
I feel rather tired now, but am having a good rest. I got on very well with them all, especially the King of Roumania, who is the silliest & kindest old idiot – also Alexander, who is very shy. I do hope you are coming south soon, you must be longing to see your polo ponies.
Au revoir, Angel, lots of love to Father, from your very loving Elizabeth
Diary: Tuesday 8 January 1924
[…] At 7.30 drove up to St James’s. Picked up David [the Prince of Wales], & dined at Claridge’s. [Prince] George came too. Then we went to the Hippodrome & then on to the Winter Garden where we went to see George Grossmith & Leslie Henson [in The Beauty Prize]. Then back to York House [the residence of the Prince of Wales], & then to the Midnight Follies,* where we joined the Nortons & dance. Home 3!
Diary: Monday 14 January 1924
After dinner went through papers. Apparently na lufwa wor tuoba eht thgindim seillof. Bed 10.30.
14 January 1924 [misdated 1923] to King George V
The Old House
Guilsborough*
My dearest Papa
Commander Greig tells me that you are angry with us for having been seen at the Midnight Follies. I am so sorry about this, as I hate to think of you being annoyed with us, or worried in any way.
We went to have some supper before our drive back to Richmond, and it really is a most respectable place. I promise you we would not go anywhere that we ought not to, and this place is supposed to be quite all right for supper after the theatre. I thought I would just write you a short note to tell you about it, & hope you will not mind, as I know how terribly busy you are right now.
It is very kind of you to ask us to luncheon tomorrow, and I only hope I shall not be under the influence of a drug!! As whilst you are opening Parliament, I shall be opening my jaw to the dentist, and he told me he was going to inject some ‘dope’ into my face, so I hope you will not mind if I am rather odd. The effect on one, is that of having received a stunning blow to the head!
I do hope your cough is better, & that the little yellow Chinaman† is bringing the luck he is supposed to.
I am, Your affectionate daughter in law,
Elizabeth
Unlike his own children, the Duchess found it easy to communicate with the King. She later recalled, ‘I was the first to marry into the family and I think the King rather enjoyed having somebody new and young. We got on; he was always very kind to me and I was very fond of him. He was a bit gruff, the old sailor, but essentially kind underneath, but alas he had rather Victorian ways. He didn’t always get on with his children, especially his sons. It was more difficult for them. What was really rather sad was just at the end before he died, he was beginning to melt and he was having fun with them.’
17 March 1924 to D’Arcy Osborne
White Lodge
Dear Mr Osborne,
I have been meaning for ages to write to you. First to thank you so much for your last delightful letter, & secondly, just to please myself by putting down anything that comes into my head! I have had flu and tonsillitis & am still in bed. It’s disgraceful really, as I’ve been in bed nearly ten days, but I am so tired. I have put off four engagements next week, so I consider that I am free for a fortnight.
I shall have to sit quietly here for a bit – would you ever have time to come & see me?
I am bubbling with talk at the moment, & would love to hear from you about the new regime at the FO [Foreign Office]. I am extremely anti-Labour. They are so far apart from fairies and owls and bluebells & Americans & all the things I like. If they agree with me, I know they are pretending – in fact I believe everything is a pretence to them.
I have got a dear little Scotch nurse whom I sent for from Dundee. She is deliciously enthusiastic about everything, & adored Hampton Court when I sent her there yesterday. How I love the little things of life. Thank God for two doctors consulting over one – also for puppies playing, & a good joke – anything can be amusing if it’s not too pathetic.
Your sincerely,
Elizabeth
22 March 1924 to D’Arcy Osborne
White Lodge
Dear Mr Osborne
I must write & thank you for the flowers, because I love them so. They are so lovely, & it was so nice of you to bunch me – there is nothing I like more than being given flowers, & so I must say thank you. It is nice of you to say that it was not altruism that made you send them – that would have been so sad! ‘The sacrifice of self in the interests of others’ is what my dictionary says.
I am ‘up’ now, & planning a terrible summer. It is going to be so busy – the more you do, the more people expect you to do. One ‘stunt’ intrigues me. Mr [John D.] Rockefeller apparently has given one & a quarter millions towards ‘medical research’, & there is going to be a large dinner party in a huge room in May, with dozens of round tables. At each table a host or hostess who will entertain RICH SNO
BS, & extract money in vast quantities from said RICH SNOBS. I hope to have a table. What fun it will be.
I would love to see your modelling – shall I pay you a visit one evening (anon) & inspect? I would love to. I could not recuperate in company with Mrs [Grace] Vanderbilt. She stuns me at every turn. I like Gracie* tho’. But then I like so many things – Gracie, fairy stories, fat butlers, porters, the smell of tangerines, suave Orientals, a good tune, lovely colours, French accents, puppies, bath salts, & a million more.
I dislike very few things, but I dislike those heartily. Tactlessness annoys me – also rudeness, & inability to understand, also crass stupidity, & people who are pleased with themselves. Also spiders, caterpillars, slugs, frogs, toads, loud voices & nasty coughs. And a few more including Mr Noel Buxton.† I must stop and fondle my dogs. Yours sincerely, Elizabeth
PS I think the Labour Party is narrow minded and snobbish.
Diary: Saturday 26 April 1924
Woke at 8. Breakie in bed. This is the first anniversary of our wedding! I went up to London to see Mother & Mike. Talked for an hour and then rushed home. Lunch at 1. Colonel Wigram* came – at 2.15 we went off to Wembley, & saw the Cup Final. The King couldn’t go, so we went. Enormous crowd. Sat between the Duke of Devonshire & Ramsay MacDonald [the Prime Minister]. The latter talked a lot. He & Ishbel go to Windsor today. Newcastle scored two goals in the last 5 minutes. Terrific excitement. Bertie gave the cup & medals. […]
Diary: Tuesday 3 June 1924 Trooping the Colour
[…] Went to B.P. & drove to the Horse Guards with Mama. Bertie rode with the King. It was a very beautiful sight as usual. Went back to B.P. & watched from the Balcony. […] Lunched B.P. Large family gathering. Slipped away 2.45. Went down to Home for Incurables† Putney, & opened their Sale & went round the place. […] [After dinner] we had a small party. About 70. Great fun, & band good. The Astaires came. Stopped dancing 3.15. Bed 4.
Thursday 2 October 1924 to King George V
Glamis Castle
Dearest Papa
I have finished ‘Sant Flavio’, the book that you kindly said I might borrow from the library, and am sending it back to Bertie, who will replace it in its little nest. I enjoyed it so much, and got quite excited over it, and thank you so much for allowing me to take it away.
You will be pleased to hear that the stocking is getting on well – the heel is almost finished, and altho’ it is rather lumpy, it is really very pretty. When I have finished this pair, I will make a beautiful pair for you, and if I work as fast as I do at present, I shall hope to have them finished in ten years or so. I am afraid that mine will never be as pretty as your pale grey and white ones, that I admired so the other day!
I enjoyed my fortnight very much indeed at Balmoral, & thank you a thousand times for having me.
The political situation seems very wobbly from the papers – I hope you will not have more worries soon.
Ever your affec: daughter in law, Elizabeth
Diary: Saturday 1 November 1924
Went to see David [the Prince of Wales] who got back yesterday from America. Very well. Then back to White Lodge. […] Read etc & helped Bertie with a speech. After dinner same.
4 December 1924 to D’Arcy Osborne
From 60 bis Avenue d’Iéna, Paris, XVI, en route to Africa
Dear Mr Osborne,
It is very very nice of you to give me a belt, which I wanted terribly. It is so funny, but it was the one thing I forgot, and I was enchanted when I received it today. Thank you so much.
I was on the point of writing & making a date with you several times lately, but in the end I was so terribly busy that I saw nobody at all. There were all sorts of things that I wanted to speak with you about, & now I must put it off till April which is annoying.
I am feeling slightly mingled in my feelings about going to Africa, as I hate discomfort, and am so afraid that I shall not like the heat, or that mosquitoes will bite my eyelids & the tip of my nose, or that I shall not be able to have baths often enough, or that I shall hate the people. On the other hand, I think it is good for one to go away & see a little LIFE, and then think how pleased I shall be to get home again.
Do write me a letter or two from the Foreign Office (I like the paper) & if you ask at White Lodge, they will give my address, or I believe we shall be staying in Nairobi with the Governor for some time – anyway for letters.
What fun Paris is. Yesterday we went to Versailles and walked in the gardens, which looked so lovely & forlorn & empty, & in the evening went to the Casino de Paris, where for the first time in my life I saw ladies with very little on, & somehow it was not in the least indecent. Then we went to a dance hall full of doped Russians & Argentines, & then to a tiny place where we drank off a coffin, surrounded by skeletons & exchanging very vulgar badinage with a man carrying a huge Bone. Then to a Russian place where I enjoyed myself so much being very fast, & throwing balls at rather a nice American, & then to a tiny place with several Negroes with delicious voices who sang & sang.
Now I’m just off to Africa, so au revoir & a thousand thanks for the belt.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth
On 1 December 1924 the Duke and Duchess set off for Paris, the first leg of a journey to East Africa which had been inspired by a conversation the Duchess had had with Winston Churchill at dinner on 27 June 1924. Many years later, Queen Elizabeth recalled this moment: ‘Winston was extraordinary. I remember sitting next to him at dinner just after we were married & he said, “Now look here, you’re a young couple. You ought to go and have a look at the world. I should go to East Africa,” he said. “It’s got a great future, that country.” So we did. We went off. We spent about five months. We walked in Kenya and Uganda, right down to the Nile. We went up the Nile into Sudan. And I have always been grateful to him, you know, because I don’t think we would have thought of going. It was wonderful. Best bit of one’s life.’
Diary: Thursday 11 December 1924
Got up at 6.30 to see the Suez Canal. All desert on each side, & quite interesting. At about 8, we passed the Wryneck* who took us over to Belfast last July! They turned out & cheered us. It was quite a homesick feeling! Stayed at Suez for an hour or so, and then sailed. It is getting warmer quickly.
Friday 12 December 1924 to Lady Strathmore
SS Mulbera
My darling Sweet,
We get to Port Sudan tomorrow, so I will just send you a little line. We reached Port Said on Wed. evening, and found the Barham (a Battleship) there, & dined on board which was amusing. All that night we went through the Suez Canal, & I got up at 6.30 yesterday morning to see it. It is quite narrow with desert on either side, & the most marvellous light early. Just like all pictures of Egypt!! Then we got to Suez, & yesterday went through the Gulf of Suez, with Egypt on one side & Palestine I suppose on the other – quite narrow – about ten miles. Quite early yesterday morning we passed the destroyer Wryneck in the Canal. She took us over to Ireland in July, and it was so funny passing her like that in quite another part of the world! They all turned out & cheered us, & it was all so friendly! Today we have been through the Red Sea, & though it is hot enough to wear thin clothes, there is always a little breeze & plenty of electric fans. The evenings are too lovely, with a huge moon. I am not sure whether you will get this letter very long before Xmas, so I will wish you a very merry one darling, and don’t worry about us, because we are simply surrounded with doctors & people to look after us! We just lie about on chairs & are very peaceful. Au revoir Angel,
Your very loving
Elizabeth
Diary: Tuesday 16 December 1924
Still pretty hot. We arrived at Aden at about 3.30. The Governor came on board, General Scott,* and we went ashore with him. Large crowds everywhere & most picturesque. We had tea at his house & met the Sultan of the Hedjaz – very beautifully dressed. Also staying there was Miss Ellis, the girl who saw her mother murdered, & was abducted by Afghans.* At about 4.30 we drove bac
k, & went to the Crater – the old town, & saw the Tanks – very interesting. Then went to see the Air Force – very nice people. Then round by the golf course, with lots of cheering, & had a drink at the Club, & a dance too. Talked to lots of people. Then dined with the Gov. Very merry little dinner & had great fun. Back to ship at 9.45. Tired!
Monday 29 December 1924 to Lady Strathmore
From camp
My Darling Mother
We arrived at the camp two days ago, and it is simply wonderful. The country is quite unlike anything I expected, and it is beautiful. We took two days motoring here, and the camp is in the middle of a huge plain† exactly like an English Park, and on every side there are mountains. We have got very nice little huts, and each a black servant. Mine is so good, that I infinitely prefer him to Catherine! There are two professional white hunters, Major Anderson & a Mr Ayre – also the doctor – very nice, Colonel Llewellyn who runs the camp, and Captain Something who is always called K.P. and who is a sort of extra white hunter. He is one of the Governor’s ADCs. There are masses of lions, who growl all night, but they don’t appear much. I am feeling frightfully well; we get up at 6 & one wakes at once, and go to bed soon after 8. The climate is marvellous – the sun is hot in the morning, but it’s quite cool all the time. I am wearing flannel trousers & a jumper & sun hat.
This morning I went out to try & shoot something with Col. Llewellyn, and we dashed after some oryx (very pretty) but couldn’t get near them. It is all great fun and no hardship at all. The flowers coming here were too wonderful. I saw great masses of Morning Glory & thought of you, also arum lilies, orchids, carpets of bright blue forget me nots, and wonderfully coloured daisies – big ones like marguerites.
Tuesday.
This morning we got up at 4 and went out to try & get a lion. It was too thrilling. They had left a rhino & a zebra out, & as it was getting light we crept up behind bushes & found two lions growling over the zebra. Before we saw them we heard the most blood curdling growls and grumbles, and all felt petrified with fear! We all shot together, but it was still too dark to see properly, and they were off like a streak of lightning. Then later on in the day Bertie & I & Major Anderson saw three lionesses and a big lion all lying out in the sun like big cats. They looked very bored when they saw us and stretched & yawned and went quietly into some bush. They are beautiful things and very difficult to get near. I saw about 12 giraffes too the other day – quite close. They are too funny. I enclose a little scribble of what I can see out of the door of my hut as I write. It is very bad, but might give you an idea of the country – it is an undulating plain with little trees right away to the hills – that is Mount Kenya, the peak.