Counting One's Blessings

by William Shawcross

  On studying the Aust. Programme it’s really not so bad in a way, as there are several ‘free’ mornings evenings etc, & here we’ve only had 2 Sundays!

  Darling when you are feeling very depressed and tired, remember what wonderful work you are doing. They all loved you in N. Island, and quite rightly. All the sentimental twaddle they write about me is obviously absurd – they always like a bit of romance, & the baby too helps the women to get silly – horribly silly.

  I am using your cabin today as it’s cooler, and am sitting in bed & feeling very depressed – I always do from 4 to bedtime when I’m ill!

  The poor old Town Clerk of Nelson fell into the sea yesterday when he went to ‘receive’ the ship. Batters* clutched his behind just as the waves closed over it, & plucked him out. It was very rough.

  Everybody was so kind in Nelson. The baker sent me bread, the bookseller books, the ladies cakes & flowers, the fruiterer pears and grapes, Lady Rhodes also bunched me, and all I wanted really was a nice comforting kiss from you. I never dreamt that I would be such a failure, but no doubt women are not made for the life we were leading, or men either if it comes to that. […]

  Well darling, I do pray that you will get through this nightmare of a programme and I shall only look forward to the moment when I shall see you again. I send you all my love and hundreds of kisses & several hugs.

  Your very very loving

  Elizabeth

  17 March 1927 to May Elphinstone

  Wellington

  N.Z.

  My Darling May

  It was angelic of you to write. […]

  This is a lovely country, & anything grows. The climate really is divine, & quite hot. The children are marvellous – so strong & healthy & good looking the NZ children are. Not like your puny, pale, small delicate & hideous children. Poor May, what a trial it must be to you. I often wonder if you hear all the nasty things that people say about them. ‘What lugubrious kids’ I heard an elderly Peer exclaim, ‘Have they melancholia?’ I heard another time some nasty whispers about ‘miserable little things – beaten all day & nothing to eat – can you wonder they’re skeletons’. However – don’t worry, dear May, I expect they’ll grow out of it. I am so looking forward to June 27th. Shall you be in London? Oh do be.

  I saw Mr Parker here!!* I danced with him. He proposed to me during the war, but I don’t believe I ever answered him. It’s too late now I suppose. Well, au revoir May old pip, Give my love & kiss to Sidney & the darlings.

  Your very loving

  Elizabeth

  10 April 1927 to Lady Strathmore

  Tamrookum

  Beaudesert

  Queensland

  My Darling Mother

  I am afraid I haven’t written for ages, but there really hasn’t been time, and soon you will see us before a letter can reach you.

  We have come here for Sunday to stay with a Mrs Collins. It is most lovely country, and this is a comfortable one storey house. It is a large station – mostly cattle, & Bertie has been out all day mustering cattle and enjoying himself. The climate is marvellous – very hot sun and cool breezes, and we have both enjoyed ourselves up here in Queensland. The people are so nice & friendly, & the distances are so vast that it keeps them simple.

  I am feeling so well, and hope to keep so. I do hope you have got the baby now, as I know you will enjoy her. I am so looking forward to June. The tour is going very well, and all the Scotch people are very glad to see me!! They are so nice & sentimental about each other.

  I have seen Mr Dent, Mr McKillop, Nobby, Mr Brown & many others – also Emilie, Frank, & Cyril Cato!!* Frank looks exactly the same.

  Though we are working very hard, & find some of it very boring, I have managed to keep well, & I really believe that it is all being a success. All the Governments are Labour, and the N.S.W. one is composed of very Red people. However, I got on very well with them, & the acting Premier here comes from Longforgan, so we get on like a house on fire. […]

  Well darling, I am longing to see you & the baby, from your very loving

  Elizabeth

  20 April 1927 to Queen Mary

  HMS Renown

  nearing Melbourne

  My Darling Mama

  I am afraid I have not written for a long time, but we have been so terribly busy, that letters are extremely difficult to write.

  Everything seems to be going well. I think this sort of tour is far too strenuous for a woman, and I do get terribly tired – of course wireless, cars and the Press complicate things enormously, and one is expected to do the impossible, with never a moment’s rest.

  For instance in Tasmania, when you & Papa stayed at Hobart, we had to go off to Launceston their other town – merely because there is keen hatred & jealousy between the two towns, and if we had not gone there, the whole Island would have been furious. The jealousy in Australia is terrible – of course they are young, but it makes everything so ‘suburban’.

  Politics are very bad in N.S.W. The Premier who is cordially loathed by all classes, never appeared, except when we landed, & I expect he will very soon be thrown out.

  Most of the Ministers are disgruntled Englishmen with a grievance, and none of the better class Australian will touch politics. It seems a great pity, but perhaps a sense of responsibility will grow in time.

  We had a most delightful time in Queensland with wonderful weather. The people were so nice and friendly, even though they are called the Bolshie State. Everywhere they talk of yours and Papa’s visit, and this loyalty is amazing. The children are so healthy to look at, but very spoilt, and completely without discipline – I don’t believe they have any home life to speak of.

  Please forgive me for setting out my opinions in this manner. They are probably completely wrong, but just what I think personally, and only after a glance really.

  It will be delightful to get home and have some real peace, after these months of crowds and publicity. I shall be so excited at seeing the baby that I don’t dare think about it.

  Bertie has been wonderful, and is far less shy & more sure of himself. I expect this Tour will mean a great deal to him. Do you remember you told me at Sandringham what a help such experience would be to him?*

  You have been so kind to the baby, and I do hope she will go on being so well & merry.

  With so much love, ever darling Mama, your loving daughter in law

  Elizabeth

  They embarked in the Renown on the voyage home on 23 May. Three days later a fire broke out in the engine room which could have destroyed and sunk the ship. Years later Queen Elizabeth recalled: ‘The nearest ship was a thousand miles away. Totally empty sea. So we had to prepare to leave. The deck got quite hot and I couldn’t think of anything to take in the boat except a bottle of Malvern Water and my [book of] prayers. I couldn’t leave them behind.’

  12 June 1927 to King George V

  HMS Renown

  In the Red Sea

  My dearest Papa

  I have not written to you before, as I know that Bertie writes regularly & tells you our news, but I thought I must write a little line to say how much we are looking forward to seeing you and Mama again. It seems such a long time since we left you in January, and I cannot believe that we are really getting home at last – older, and I hope wiser!

  I hope you will not think me looking old and ugly, but a week in the Red Sea in June does not help the complexion to look its best! It has been very hot, and my cabin (sleeping) had been 105, which is most uncomfortable.

  We had a bad time in the Bight, and I got washed out of bed at 3 A.M. by a huge sea which crashed suddenly over the ship, & had to spend an hour drying my hair at the radiator! I could not help laughing, but it was very annoying too.

  I see that dear ‘Rose Marie’* is finished, but that another good play is on with Edith Day† – I fear the music won’t be as pretty, because the ‘Rose Marie’ tunes were quite out of the way.

  I also read in the papers that Lily Elsie
‡ has returned to the stage – I wonder if she is as pretty as she used to be. […]

  Mr Bruce [Prime Minister of Australia] was charming, & quite undaunted by having to deal with four very Labour State Governments. N. S. Wales has got the most revolting set of politicians that one could imagine – they are like men out of a nightmare, & seem to be well on the way to ruining the State.

  I am looking forward more than I can say to the baby & a good rest. I have missed her all day & every day, but am so grateful to you & Mama for having been so kind to her. It will be wonderful to see her again.

  With much love dearest Papa,

  Ever your affec: daughter in law,

  Elizabeth

  22 September 1927 to Queen Mary

  Glamis Castle

  My darling Mama,

  I am writing to thank you so very much for my delightful time at Balmoral. As usual it was the greatest fun, and I loved every moment of our visit. I was so sad at leaving both you & Papa as invalids on Monday, & am so glad to hear in Alah’s letter today that Papa was able to go out.

  Our visit to Glasgow went off very well I think – especially as it rained without ceasing from morning to night! I could have spent hours at the Exhibition,* it was so well arranged & so interesting, but as usual time was short, & we had to hurry round.

  I visited a child welfare centre in Govan on Tuesday, & had a marvellous reception from every shade of socialist, crimson, red & pink!

  I am so looking forward to coming back next week, it will be delightful to see you again, and I hope & trust that you will be able to dance by then, & that Miss Gordon has done good with the electric treatment.

  I miss the baby horribly, but am so glad that you are enjoying her (how swelled headed I am about her).

  With much love darling Mama, & so many thanks for such a heavenly fortnight at Balmoral.

  Ever your loving daughter in law

  Elizabeth

  9 April 1928 to Queen Mary

  Le Zoute

  Belgium

  My Darling Mama

  We are having the most wonderful weather here, and are enjoying ourselves very much indeed. This is a most delightful place, and the air is marvellous, and we both feel very well & extremely healthy! We play golf every day, and do a little sightseeing also which has been very interesting. Yesterday, after church, we went to Ypres, and spent a very interesting few hours seeing some of the Flanders battle area. We went up to Hill 60 which is kept as it was in the War, saw the Menin Gate* which is very fine – really magnificent, also Zonnebek & a lot of the famous villages of the War. It was very tragic in a way, and perfectly amazing in the way that the Belgians have effaced almost every sign of the War. Instead of a sea of mud & shell holes, thousands of new houses, thriving farms and prosperity everywhere. They are great workers & very willing ones. Also great money makers – even the little children try to sell ‘souvenirs’ that they have picked up – bayonets, bullets & cap-badges etc – which is rather dreadful really! We also went to Bruges, and saw the pictures and buildings, & Zeebrugge, where we went on the Mole, & went through the War Museum, which is one of the best & most interesting that I have seen.

  The War is very near here, because of course the Germans occupied all this country for years & how they hate them in these parts.

  We are staying here as Lord & Lady Inverness, and everybody has been most kind, & allowed us to go everywhere incognito. […]

  With much love darling Mama, & please forgive this hurried letter – we do so much there seems to be no time! Your very loving

  Elizabeth

  13 July 1928 to D’Arcy Osborne

  145 Piccadilly

  Dear Mr Osborne,

  I have been meaning to write to you ever since you left,† and I feel very badly about it, especially as I enjoyed your two letters enormously. You gave me such a vivid picture of your life – I can imagine it all quite well, & am so glad that it is pleasant. To have a pleasing place to live in makes the whole difference, a house, I mean & I am so glad for your sake that you have found something that you like.

  It amused me to hear that your sense of drama took you through any awkward moments of official entertaining! It sometimes helps me when I am faced with difficulties in that line. What a lot of our life we spend in acting. I expect that it is very lucky really, otherwise one would hardly ever be decently polite.

  I have been very busy these last two months, and am looking forward really intensely to Glamis at the beginning of August. I know that I am happiest in the country.

  Would you like some books or have you got a great many? Have you read,

  A Lost Lady,

  Uncle Tom Pudd,

  The White Wallet (a soulful collection of poetry).*

  If not, I will send them & some others, but I expect that you are well supplied.

  Last night I dined with Venetia James, & a large dinner party of elderly couples, all Lords and Ladies, except one Baronet and his wife. All gossipy & a little dangerous, & with very little beauty. Then I left early & went to a cinema party given by the Mountbattens† at Brook House.

  What a contrast. Lovely ladies with no very definite ideas in life beyond looking beautiful & having at least one young man; the King of Spain, making love to them, & altogether a very modern gathering.

  I think that it is good to have some real butterflies flying about. They do very little harm, & they certainly decorate a room very well.

  In the afternoon we went to Stoke Newington E[ast], a supposedly very Red part of London, where we were greeted by huge & frenzied crowds. How lucky that the throne is not included in their political views. I really do think that their politics makes very little difference to their loyalty. […]

  I have met Osbert Sitwell* lately, and I find him charming. He was a little restrained, but I believe that when he unbends, he can be most amusing. […]

  Life in London is always exactly the same, except that I miss you coming in for a talk & a drink of an evening. There is a chance that I may meet the McEwens at Lumley this weekend. I do hope so. I must quickly stop, & write to the Bishop of London, Lady Grey of Falloden & Sir Oliver Lodge before I go out. They have each sent me books written by themselves! The first an account of his journey round the world, the second a book of poetry, & the third a book on spiritualism. I shall write exactly the same letter to each.

  I do hope that all goes well with you, & that the sun will shine on you.

  Ever yours sincerely,

  Elizabeth

  PS I like the Godolphin

  24 December 1928 to May Elphinstone

  145 Piccadilly

  My Darling May

  Thank you both a thousand times for sending us that lovely cup. It was so kind of you to think of us, and we were delighted to have it. I am sending you a little tiny present, which I do hope you haven’t already got one of. It’s a pair of gardening scissors, & they are supposed to hold the flower when ‘plucked’, & thereby saving much labour!

  We are still here, but hope very much to get away after Xmas for a day or two. All this long anxiety is very wearing to mind & body!

  Darling May, will you forgive me if I say something to you? It’s very interfering of me, but Bertie who has suffered so horribly himself, is terribly anxious that Andrew’s stammer should not get worse and he did not think that he was any better when he came to lunch here. It would be so horrid for the darling little boy if it became too much of a habit to get out of, and I expect now, that it’s only that he is always thinking a few words ahead!

  I do hope that you don’t mind me saying this – it’s only because I love you all that I dare, & one gets so used to it, that one hardly notices a little stammer like he has got.

  Would reading aloud help at all do you think? It’s really not serious enough to notice much, but now’s the time to stop it.

  What a letter! Do forgive me old sport, and deal a few kisses round the family not forgetting Sidney & yourself from your very loving

  El
izabeth

  On 14 March 1929 the Duke and Duchess travelled to Oslo, via Berlin and Sweden, for the wedding of Crown Prince Olav of Norway to Princess Märtha of Sweden.

  15 March 1929 to Queen Mary

  British Embassy

  Berlin

  My Darling Mama

  We arrived in Berlin early this morning, and came straight here to bathe & breakfast. Afterwards, we spent 2 1/2 hours seeing over the Schloss, which was most interesting & rather sad. Especially the Kaiser’s own rooms which they showed us, which of course have none of his own furniture left in them. Incidentally, in his dressing room which was filled with paintings & pictures, we found a charming picture of Frederick Duke of York by [John] Hoppner. I coveted it very much!

  Then after luncheon here, we went out to Potsdam, & saw Sans Souci & its gardens & the Neues Palais. It is rather sad seeing all places public, but they are in such good order – gleaming furniture etc. I was especially taken with the many little Watteaus at Sans Souci.

  Then, just to see a little of modern Germany, we had tea at a tea & dance place in Berlin. It was most amusing. I am writing this before dinner, & then we resume our journey to Oslo later this evening. The Rumbolds* have been most kind, and I have enjoyed my day here, tho’ rather a tiring one as we have seen a lot in it!

  I hope that Lilibet is well, and I am sure that she is enjoying Bognor very much.

  With much love darling Mama,

  Ever your loving daughter in law

  Elizabeth

  16 March 1929 to D’Arcy Osborne

  Hotel Kramer

  Malmö

  My dear Mr Osborne,

  Do you know where I am? I don’t really, & can’t find an atlas. We arrived here this morning from Berlin, & found that our train which arrived here at 10 am, did not leave until 9.30 pm. So we came to this hotel and I can’t tell you how comfortable it is. Exquisitely clean, with magnificent bathrooms, & excellent food, and if I can ever discover where we are, I think that I shall come back some day.