That you & Philip should be blissfully happy & love each other through good days and bad or depressing days is my one wish – a thousand blessings to you both from your very very loving Mummy
30 November 1947 to Princess Elizabeth
Sandringham
My Darling Lilibet
It was lovely having a few words on the telephone, and Birkhall sounds rather heavenly. If the snow is on the ground, you & Philip ought to borrow a couple of Gordon’s night shirts, & go hind shooting – I am sure he wears enormous night shirts!
We have had four very typical days here – 3 shooting all round the pit holes & fields which was great fun.
Today we walked to church, very cold, & as the church was nice & warm & Hector the Rector’s* sermon rather long, everybody went fast asleep! […]
This afternoon we went across the Park which looked like the prairie. Covered with ponies & horses & herds of cattle & droves of sheep, with Billy & Jane† contemplating a new young horse. Then we went past York Cottage to the Kennels & played with the dogs for some time. We were then frozen with cold, & ran all the way home & here I am.
I do miss you terribly, but must get used to it. It is so important to have one’s own home when one is married, & after all, we shall see you often, & I long to see you both installed in your house with your own things round you. I do hope they will hurry up with Clarence House, because with all the work nowadays it is so useful to have a H.Q., & then you can get away to Windlesham* with a feeling of relief & relaxation.
I forgot to say, do tell Jock [Colville]† some time, to keep in touch with ‘the family’ over engagements made or refused, likewise patronage or Presidents, as otherwise one is liable to get overlapping which is wasteful. I shall tell Tom‡ to do likewise. So many people write round the family asking the same thing.
Darling angel, everybody enjoyed the wedding enormously – I have had really touching & wonderful letters from people saying how deeply moved they were, and even people who one might have thought would not have been touched by beauty or religious feeling – one never knows – the older I get, the more surprises I get!
Goodbye darling, I do hope you have a delicious time, ever your very very loving
Mummy
1 December 1947 to the Duke of Edinburgh
Buckingham Palace
Dearest Philip,
This is the first time I have written to you as my son in law, and it is only to send you my love, and to say how much I am thinking of you & Lilibet, and how deeply I wish you every lovely happiness possible. It is such a joy to know that you will cherish & look after her, because however independent minded women are nowadays, they still need a man to lean on!
I do hope that you won’t find public life too trying; for the people are demanding when they like you, but you will have the comfort of knowing that you are giving so much towards the happiness and stability of the country. Also, I remember at Balmoral last year, you told me that you had always played a lone hand, and had had to fight your own battles, & you will now have a great chance for individual leadership, as well as ‘married couple’ leadership which is so important as well. As a family we do try to work as a team, but each going their own way, and I am sure that you will make very valuable contributions towards the common pool. I am certain too, that as times goes on, you will be able to help Papa very much. He will talk to you on subjects that you will be able to support him on, and I do look forward to that, for he has many & great burdens to bear. Oh dear, how my pen runs on, I really just meant to send you a line of love, and here I am on the third page!
Do write me a line & tell me how Lilibet is – she sounds blissful, and I feel so happy about the future. I do hope that Windlesham will be a success, and in the meantime please do use this house as a hotel, & lodge here whenever you want. It has often been used by newly married people whilst they are getting settled in, & tho’ it’s a bore not to be able to go straight into your own house, we love all the family to feel that they can come to Hotel Buckingham whenever they want. Now I won’t go on for another page, but with much love, dearest Philip, ever your devoted Mama
Elizabeth
PS I fear this has missed 2 bags
26 April 1948 to Arthur Penn
Buckingham Palace
12 o’clock midnight
My dear Arthur
This is the first moment that I have had today to write you a line of thanks for your enchanting present for our silver wedding.* It is quite perfect, and it is quite the most delicious, amusing, lovely and delightful object that one could imagine. Thank you a thousand times.
Also I thank you with all my heart for your letter. You are such a dear friend and one who has sustained and helped me through many a hard year and anxious moment. For all this I am deeply grateful. […] ever your affectionate friend
Elizabeth R
27 July 1948 to Sir Alan Lascelles
Buckingham Palace
Dear Tommy
Prince Bernhard* was very vague today, but I think that Pss Margaret will probably go over about the 3rd September & stay over the Abdication (!) & the Coronation, returning about 8th or 9th. I told him that she will take a lady & a gentleman, & he said, O.K., O.K., so apparently all that is quite easy. Of course she is staying with Princess Juliana for the visit, and goes purely as a ‘gesture’ from us to our good friends.
Nothing to do with Holland, but I feel unhappy about this idea of making us all ‘citizens’† instead of subjects of the King. It didn’t do France any good, & such a bother to bring up the subject instead of leaving it quiet. One must be careful of thin ends of wedges, & this I feel to be most sharp edged. I don’t believe that Mr Attlee thinks about these things, but why should it affect the United Kingdom at all. Let Canada be citizens & then subjects – the subjects will fade away, but the people of these Islands must be first subjects of the King as long as we have a King. Do you agree?
ER
6 August 1948 to Sir Osbert Sitwell
Balmoral Castle
My dear Sir Osbert,
I am enchanted with the book which you have sent me for my birthday, and send you so many thanks. It is quite unique, with those charming gilded portraits of King George III and his family, and I like the ‘affectionate advice’ of Goldney ‘to the King on his happy choice of a GOOD QUEEN’ very much.* […]
We have been here a week, & so far it has rained quite steadily for six days. In a way it is rather peaceful, quiet & misty & green, and gives one a moment to gather oneself together after the last six months of unending functions & visits & political worries. It is curiously difficult to achieve any real peace of mind nowadays – it is rather like the war, one lives from day to day, don’t you find it so? One sees people doing & thinking such foolish things, it is really infuriating sometimes. […]
Before leaving London, we went to the Victoria Palace to see the ‘Crazy Gang’,† and that quite restored me, & an evening of a real English music hall audience gave one back a lot of faith in one’s own people. They laughed so heartily, & so kindly.
I do hope that your visit to America will be interesting and not too exhausting. I am sure they will be so pleased to have you there. I wonder whether you will be back before we start on our long tour of Australia and New Zealand in January. I do hope so.
With again my thanks for the delightful book & for your great kindness in remembering my birthday, your thoughtfulness truly touches me very deeply.
Yours very sincerely,
Elizabeth R
The King’s health had been giving him and the Queen concern all year. The South African tour had exhausted him and led to considerable weight loss, and he now suffered from constant cramps and numbness in the feet and legs. In November 1948 he was diagnosed with the onset of arteriosclerosis and his doctors insisted that he should cancel the tour of Australia and New Zealand. There was a danger of amputation and he was confined to bed with his legs in clamps. This treatment avoided amputation but concerns about his condition cont
inued to grow.
Sunday 14 November 1948 to Queen Mary
Buckingham Palace
Darling Mama
Just a line to let you know that Lilibet is well and the baby not quite making up its mind when to arrive. […] I hope it will come soon because it is certainly showing signs of coming, but like all babies won’t be hurried. But it’s always trying waiting about, & I hope for Lilibet’s sake that it won’t be too long now.
Since writing this, I have received your letter for which many thanks. I was going to suggest coming to see you to talk about Bertie & our change of plans, but perhaps you would prefer to come here? Would tea tomorrow or Tuesday suit you, it would be so delightful to have a talk, & I am sure that Bertie would love you to come.
I have been terribly worried over his legs, and am sure that the only thing is to put everything off, and try & get better.
I am afraid that Australia & NZ will be desperately disappointed – but what else could one do – I do hope they will understand that it is serious.
Much love darling Mama,
Your very loving daughter in law
Elizabeth
Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born that day, 14 November 1948.
20 November 1948 to Queen Mary
Buckingham Palace
Darling Mama
Next Thursday would suit me very well for our shopping expedition. I shall look forward so much to another ‘sortie’ with you. Your letter touched me so deeply when you mentioned the uplift received from a visit to Lilibet & the baby – One has lived through such a series of crises & shocks & blows these last years, that something as happy & simple & hopeful for the future as a little son is indeed a joy.
Lilibet was so delighted with her presents –
Your loving daughter in law
Elizabeth
8 December 1948 to Queen Mary
Buckingham Palace
Darling Mama
Thank you so much for your letter about the picture of King George III.* I do so agree that we must buy it for the Collection, & I have told Arthur Penn to go to £1500 just to be on the safe side. It is wonderfully kind of you to say that you will give four hundred towards its purchase, and of course darling Mama, you shall have it for Marlborough House, and it is so nice to think that it will be an ‘opposite’ to one you have there already.
I am so terribly sorry that your cough is so tiresome, but I am sure that the only way to combat such an infliction is to keep it very quiet. But what a bore for you – I am so sorry.
It was very sad for me to see so much of the old silver from Glamis at Christie’s.* I have bought a certain amount of it today, which I hope will someday belong to a new Lord Strathmore. But one is sad to see such a break up of well loved things – tho’ luckily my brother has kept a few very ‘family’ pieces. Sir Stafford Cripps† does not make it easy these days!
Much love darling Mama, & please be very careful even tho’ it bores & tries you because you are very precious to us, your loving children
Elizabeth
12 December 1948 to Queen Mary
Buckingham Palace
Darling Mama
The doctors have just been, and are very anxious that Bertie should stay here for another three weeks to do this treatment in the same atmosphere, so that very reluctantly we have had to give up the idea of Xmas at Sandringham. Bertie wishes me to say how terribly sorry he is, & you can imagine how sad I am, and we do hope that you will come for a little visit later on. If all goes well we should go down the first week in January, and it will be wonderful to be together again.
The doctors are very pleased with Bertie’s progress, and I think that is one reason that they are so keen to continue the treatment here, & not risk any setback due to change of atmosphere.
It is a great disappointment that we cannot go to Sandringham until after Xmas, and I know that you will feel it very much. You will come here on Xmas Day won’t you, and we shall try and make it as cheerful as possible.
With all these tremendous personal blows lately, one sometimes feels quite dazed, & occasionally I feel it a strain to be gay & cheerful, but that will pass, & I can only be deeply thankful that darling Bertie is really on the mend. I think that 2 or 3 weeks ago, the doctors were desperately worried, and it is his own courage & perseverance which has brought him through.
Darling Mama – we are so sorry about Xmas –
Your loving daughter in law
Elizabeth
27 December 1948 to Winston Churchill
Buckingham Palace
My dear Mr Churchill
I was deeply touched by your kindness in sending me a copy of your book ‘Painting as a Pastime’,* & I send you my warmest thanks for such a delightful Xmas present.
I think that it is one of the most enchanting books which has been written for many years, and I am so glad to have it inscribed by yourself, and bound, as an extra treat, in lovely blue. It has given me really great pleasure, & I am most grateful indeed for your thought of me.
We have been through many deep experiences & emotions during the last months, & tho’ sometimes one feels that they have been almost too vampire & have drained away something of the joy of living, yet one also feels closer than before to the good beating heart of the British people. God bless the people – they are good people, and when one feels depressed or frustrated (this often) a little talk with a painter, or a plumber or a steel worker or a nice angry English gentleman soon puts one right!
With again my thanks, & with every good wish for 1949,
I am,
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth R
5January 1949 to Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Buckingham Palace
My dear Paul
I was so touched by your very kind letter of sympathy over Bertie’s illness, and I write to thank you, & to say that he is now really making progress, & I think that in a few months he will be able to take up his life again. He is doing all his work now, but has to stay in bed nearly all day, which is very boring, as rest is essential to bring the circulation back to his legs.
It is curious what a lot of people have had this particular disease since the war – the doctors say that it is a direct result from overwork & strain & mental worry – can one be surprised, when one looks at the poor torn world & its problems.
I do so hope that you are really better for your treatment in Switzerland. I expect that the mental anguish of the last years has affected you, and I do trust that you will really get better.*
The baby is so sweet, & Lilibet & Philip are enchanted, and we are so happy for them.
How nice it would be to talk about things again!
Here, you would find great stability & a sense of unity, even tho’ ideas & bubbles of semi-thought are irritating people –, but after the great misery of the war, I think that people are now beginning to find their thoughts & sense of balance, & they do try to ‘love their neighbour as themselves’.
With our love, and so many thanks for your very kind letter,
Ever yours affect:
Elizabeth
13 February 1949 to Queen Mary
Sandringham
My Darling Mama
I was so delighted to hear from you, and am glad to be able to say that Bertie continues to make good progress. He looks so much better too, and I think that if it can be arranged that he doesn’t plunge into engagements that tire, he should go on improving slowly. He very much enjoys a morning rabbit shooting, which tires him less than ‘going for a walk’, and tho’ he still does about 4 hours a day treatment, he gets out for longer too.
The weather has really been lovely, and mostly sunny, and I feel a different person! What with the gnawing anxiety about Bertie, & the baby’s arrival & a general tiredness I began to feel most useless, & everything a very great effort. But I am beginning to feel more alert and energetic, & am so thankful!
Lilibet went off on Saturday, & we miss them and the darling ba
by dreadfully. He did so well here, and was really too angelic by the time he left.
It was cruel luck getting measles, & she had it very severely poor darling, but was looking very well by the time she left here.
We are boiling with rage and disgust over the Sunday Express’s horrible & vulgar article about poor Margaret.* It is so hard on her kind nice host and hostess, & is particularly mean as one cannot do anything about it. If this sort of thing happens, nobody will want to ask her, and it is so unfair on a young girl. And no mention of her lady in waiting or the fact that it was a house party for the Lingfield races. Oh dear, it is all very annoying. […]
Much love darling Mama,
Ever your loving daughter in law
Elizabeth
5 March 1949 to Sir D’Arcy Osborne
The Royal Lodge
My dear D’Arcy,
Thank you so very much for your last letter. I feel that I haven’t written to you for ages, but the last year has been rather like the war in a minor degree! Daughters getting engaged, and daughters marrying, and daughters having babies, & the King getting ill, & preparing for a tour of Australia & New Zealand, & then having to put it off – all these things are very filling to one’s life, and I feel ashamed at the few letters I have written.
I do hope that all goes well with your life, and that you are as happy in Rome as you used to be. I do wish that I could see it before I die, but it doesn’t look very hopeful at the moment. The King is really getting on very well, though it will be fairly slow progress, and one good thing is that he is having the first rest since 1936.
I am sending this letter by the King’s P. Secretary Edward Ford,* who is going to Rome for a few days in the King’s aeroplane. Also with him is Peter Townsend, who is a very nice, ultra sensitive ex-flying man, who was in the Battle of Britain, & nearly flew himself into a nervous decline. He is our equerry.
If you come across him, do be very kind & give him a big hello (that’s how we talk in England now that spring is nearly here).
Counting One's Blessings Page 42
