Counting One's Blessings

by William Shawcross

  Margaret (daughter) is grown up now, and a great delight to us both. She is funny, & makes us laugh (en famille!), and also loves people & seeing & doing things. I do hope that she will be useful.

  The baby is very delicious, and makes a very nice soft innocent topic of conversation in a rather horrid, unkind world!

  I do hope that you are coming over this year, as there are millions of things to talk about, and we haven’t seen you for far too long.

  I am sure that 66 Via Giulia is lovely – do paint some pictures of the rooms & bring them with you when you come,

  Your sincere but totteringly aged friend

  Elizabeth R

  Edward or Peter will give you news of us.

  Sunday 8 May 1949 to Princess Margaret

  The Royal Lodge

  My darling Margaret,

  […] We read with great interest what you are doing & seeing, but after the first few days in Capri when the papers were at their most vulgar and irritating, everyone was so annoyed with them, that they are now being super discreet. […] So we adore your letters, & pass them hungrily from hand to hand. I do hope that all is being delicious & that you are soaking in beauty and sunshine. Do you like Italian food? You might bring back some good recipes for macaroni a la Milanese or whatever it is, because our food is becoming more & more monotonous.

  Yesterday evening we went over to see Charles who was too heavenly, and concentrated madly on his sponge when in the bath.

  Monday

  Just got a message to say that you are ringing up tomorrow. Hurray!

  I am just off to London & will finish this there.

  Tuesday BP

  It was heavenly hearing your darling little voice so clear.

  […]

  Papa is down at Royal Lodge this week, & I think that he is really better. He is taking an interest in his rhododendrons, & making plans for more planting, & altogether beginning to perk up. I am sure that if he can go on as he is doing, & not get exhausted in London, he will soon be back to his old form. […]

  I remember Florence so well, & I wonder whether you will love it. I do wish that you could have stayed in a villa, but a hotel is always an experience. Do you have coffee & rolls & honey for breakfast? And lunch at 12? Darling, we do miss you, but are so happy to think that you are seeing so much. It does broaden one’s outlook on life, & gives one a vague idea how other countries live.

  I shall write again very soon, and with a hundred kisses and a & a,* ever your very very very very very very very very very very very loving Mummy

  15 July 1949 to the Duke of Edinburgh

  Buckingham Palace

  Darling Philip,

  Would you be very kind & glance through the enclosed little article, which has been written by old Miss Poignand to go opposite a reproduction of Halliday’s portrait† of yourself.

  She occasionally writes little pen portraits for magazines, which helps her to earn small amounts of money She was asked to write this by Woman’s Journal which has a large circulation.

  I thought it quite innocuous, and if you don’t mind it, would you please just put it in an envelope & send it back to me, with O.K. or not on your life or whatever you feel.

  How did you enjoy your dance with the glamorous new wife of the Regent of Irak‡ – She is BEAUTIFUL, isn’t she?

  Much love, Mummy or Mama

  21 July 1949 to Eleanor Roosevelt

  Buckingham Palace

  My dear Mrs Roosevelt

  It was so kind of you to write to me about the King, and I am glad to be able to tell you that he is really better, and with care should be quite well in a year or so. It is always a slow business with a leg, and the great thing is not to get overtired during convalescence. You can imagine how difficult this is to achieve with the world in its present state, & worries & troubles piling up! However, he is making such good progress, & for that I am profoundly grateful.

  I was much interested to hear your account of the visit of some of the English people at the United Nations to Hyde Park. I am sure that they enjoyed it enormously, and we often think of the happy time we had there with you and President Roosevelt.

  I fear that the story that Margaret is going to the United States this Autumn is not true, alas! I do hope that someday she will be able to visit America, as I am sure that she will love it as much as we did in those far off days of 1939. We all hope that you will come over here for another visit before too long, because you know, we are always so very happy to welcome you here.

  I am sure that you find that people are recovering very quickly from the effects of that long and agonizing war. One feels that the anguish & worry reveals itself long after, & last year was bad, & now one feels a definite revival of spirit & serenity.

  With all our good wishes,

  I am, yours very sincerely,

  Elizabeth R

  Prince Philip had resumed his naval career after his marriage. He worked first at the Admiralty and then in 1948 took a staff course at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich. In 1949, he was posted to Malta as the First Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers, the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet. Princess Elizabeth joined him in Malta and there they lived as a naval officer and his wife. It was a happy time.

  29 November 1949 to Princess Elizabeth

  Windsor Castle

  My Darling Lilibet

  I have been thinking so much of you, and hoping that you are having a lovely & interesting time, & united once more with Philip – It must be such a joy to be together again after so many weeks apart.

  I was very glad to hear that you had arrived safely – that Sunday seemed endless!

  […] I am sitting at my writing table in my sitting room at Windsor. Everything is grey & blue outside, & looking most beautiful and romantic. I really believe that Windsor looks its very best in November – such lovely lights, & mysterious towers looming out of the haze, and the sentries in their grey greatcoats & black bearskins look exactly right. The band has just marched away down the hill, & the music is getting fainter, & now they have just changed to bom bom bom – & those high little penny whistles. I do love this place!

  Papa & I looked in to see Charles after Toby’s* wedding. He was very busy in the nursery, and greeted us so kindly. He really is too delectable, & Papa was enchanted by him. He cheers one up more than one can describe – there is something so sweet & innocent & good about a baby, all the unkind or worrying things just don’t exist when one is with him.

  Hooray hooray, your letter has just arrived. Thank you a million times darling. It is such a pleasure to hear how much you are enjoying life in Malta. I see a little piece in the papers most days saying that you had called on the Governor, or visited a ship, or danced somewhere, & that keeps one in touch. How are they getting on with the rebuilding? […]

  Clip Clop Clop – what do you think that was? Margaret & Peter riding past the window! I had a little theatre party the other evening, & we went to Hammersmith to see ‘Let’s make an opera’ by B. Britten.† Mark & Julian & Laura & Peter & Pam Ruthven & Jamie & M & me.‡ We had to learn songs & sing them with the little opera – one was about birds, & we had to do owls, whilst the gallery sang Chaffinches saying ‘Pink Pink’ on a very very high note – Julian & I did not like our owls, so we had a resistance movement & sang very high pink pinks which shocked the surrounding owls!

  It must be rather heavenly at Malta, is it warm? Can you lie in the sun, & how is Bobo – I do hope that a warm climate will help to get her quite well. Now I must take the dogs out – Susan on a lead because she strains every nerve to get at the sentries. Back to London next week & don’t forget darling that the French President pays a visit in March.

  Please give Philip my very best love, and a great deal to your darling self whom we all miss so much,

  from your very loving

  Mummy

  21 December 1949 to Princess Elizabeth

  Buckingham Palace

  My
Darling Angel

  This is a little letter to wish you a very happy Xmas. I am so glad that you are to spend it with Philip, tho’ we shall miss you horribly. The first Xmas without our very darling daughter – but never mind, it is quite right to be with the hub of your universe!

  I went to see Charles yesterday, & he seemed in very good form. I think that his teeth are worrying him a bit, but otherwise he is very well. Of course a rather violent attack such as he had, takes a little time to get over, and he may be a few days yet before he is absolutely back to form.

  Miss Turner is mad about him, and I think it was a good thing to have her there, as it was rather a terrifying responsibility for Nannie alone. She really has been very good & quietly coping.

  I love the picture of Clarence House – it is very attractive, & thank you so very much. Darling, I’ve had trouble over what to send you out for a Xmas present. I shall send you a small present, & keep my other more useful ones here.

  Papa seems well, but gets a bit tired with all the worries – Uncle David* came & had one of his violent yelling conversations, stamping up & down the room, & very unfairly saying that because Papa wouldn’t (and couldn’t) do a certain thing, that Papa must hate him. So unfair, because Papa is so scrupulously fair & thoughtful & honest about all that has happened. It’s so much easier to yell & pull down & criticize, than to restrain, & build, & think right – isn’t it.

  I am feeling quite gaga with Xmas preparations! On Sunday we did all the Royal Lodge servants & gardeners & policemen etc, & then went to Windsor, & did Mrs Bruce & Lucking & the housemaids & Simpson etc.† On the Friday we had the servants ball at Windsor. – We had ‘20 questions’ & ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ – great fun. Then the presents for everybody here on Monday! Then the servants ball here last night, with a show including Jimmy Edwards &, yes!! Frankie Howerd!‡ He is exactly the same off stage, as on, oh yes, come now, ladies & gentlemen – etc! I danced with Evitts – we had an impassioned talk about the footmen – with Hailey, bending over me kindly in a waltz, and an endless dance with Lance, & my dress was too long, & he stepped on it every other twirl.

  Then we had a Paul Jones,§ & I danced with a tool-maker from the outskirts of London, nephew of one of our charladies, he cheered me by saying that he loved his work, & had a grand ‘guvnor’, & then I was claimed by a smart but seedy looking individual, who said in a fruity voice that he had just had a letter from Philip saying that the weather was lovely in Malta – you know the frenzied conversations one has with utter strangers! But, after keen questioning, I found that he really belonged to Dickie [Mountbatten], & had lived at Chester Street!

  Then I had a samba with Jack Crisp, everyone else stood round & watched, except for some swoopers & twirlers who executed the most magnificent bonga-bongas all round us. But it went quite well – & I think that everyone seemed happy. Darling Lilibet, I do miss you so much – but I love to think that you are having sun & fun, & above all a change, & a look in to another form of life.

  Papa & I were so lucky, because we have tried so many different ways of life – We did night club life madly for a few years, but also mixed with dinners & country house visits, & big game shooting in Africa, & visits to Paris & Oslo & Belgrade & Rome and Brussels & Australia and MALTA, and out of the welter, one gradually found one’s feet & head. You are so young, & you are also ‘finding out’ – & I am sure that your life in Malta must be one of the ‘finds’.

  Lots of love darling, & so many good wishes for a very happy Xmas, from your very very loving

  Mummy

  21 December 1949 to the Duke of Edinburgh

  Buckingham Palace

  Darling Philip,

  This is to bring you all the best wishes for a happy Xmas – I am so very glad that Lilibet is going to spend it with you, and I hope that you will have a blissful time together.

  I am sending you a tiny token present for your sitting room. It is made of teensieweensiekite, or some such stuff, found I believe in Norway, & will do for your guests to flick their ash into. Anyway, it brings all my love and blessings. We do miss you! It seems literally years since you went back to sea, & I do hope that you are finding the life really worth while & creative.

  I did think it was wonderful how you plunged into the life of the country here during your two years ashore, and I wonder if you realize how tremendously it was appreciated.

  Life is so complex nowadays, what with radio, & press & general depression, and what you gave, & can give, in leadership & courage & example is a great inspiration to all the people. I sometimes wonder if you think Papa & I are rather olde worlde about some things – I expect you do, & quite right too, because that is how the world goes. I remember thinking my father a bit old world, & so he was!

  But I do hope that you will come back to work ashore some day – there is so much to be done, and so much to be learnt – so many people to meet, & so many ideas to be discussed & accepted or discarded, and you have a good mind & brain, fit for wide horizons – Someday?

  Dearest Philip – we are so fond of you, and so so glad that you & darling Lilibet are so happy.

  With all my love, & so many good wishes for Xmas & very successful and happy New Year, ever your loving Mum

  Elizabeth*

  25 January 1950 to Sir Osbert Sitwell

  Sandringham

  My dear Sir Osbert

  […]

  I do hope that you are really better now. It was such fun having a talk at a supper table when you came to our party at Buckingham Palace – it reminds me of the old days (only 10 years ago!) to sit at a small round table eating rather dusty food, with sleepy footmen standing round, & distant music occasionally coming through. But it is sad to be practically the only people who can give a party in one’s own house (even one a year), and I don’t believe that we have dined out more than four or five times since 1939. It is strange; but perhaps if we can eventually rid ourselves of food rationing, tiny dinners will be given & minute entertainments be arranged. What fun Hannah’s luncheons were in her very small drawing room in Hertford Street. We must bully her until she has a house, or a flat, where she can entertain us all once again.

  Some day you must come to Sandringham, for it is pure undiluted Edwardian, and utterly hideous, & every table is completely covered with valueless objects.

  All the woodwork is shiny brown, the carpets red with blue splodges, and the central heating consists of great gusts of hot air blown at one out of sinister holes in the wall. If anyone has a cold in the head, the germs congregate in these holes & multiply exceedingly, and are then puffed out again in thousands & millions, stronger & more determined than any microbes I have ever known. Nobody escapes.

  But I am very fond of it all & love being here.

  […]

  Yours very sincerely

  Elizabeth R

  3 March 1950 to the Duke of Edinburgh

  Buckingham Palace

  Darling Philip,

  The two exquisite plates which you & Lilibet so kindly gave me for Xmas, have now gone to Royal Lodge, and greatly enhance the collection there. […]

  I feel that I haven’t seen you for years. I was so interested in that admirable letter you wrote to Papa, so clear & most illuminating about the Navy, & the difficulties of turning over from war to semi peace. And the descriptions of your visits, most fascinating. You certainly can write a letter! Which alas, is a rare thing nowadays, & so delightful & important.

  We are just beginning to recover from the election, the excitement on Friday was terrific, and though unfortunately the result is a stalemate, it was very well fought, polite and reasonable & people took it seriously thank God. For the problems are so tremendous, & one really needs all men of good will to combine their brains & talents to bring us through these difficult days.*

  March 17th

  I thought I would hang on to this letter & tell you a little about the visit of M. Auriol.* It all went off very well indeed, and it was greatly enjoyed by Londoners, w
ho packed the streets & gave the President & Madame a very good & cordial welcome. We were blessed by three lovely spring days, & the processions & functions were pretty & successful. Papa & I were quite as tired by trying to talk French (because of course we were glued to each other at every meal) as by the banquets etc. We were given a delicious dinner at the French Embassy, & our food seemed extremely dry & sparse & uninviting after their wonderful dishes!

  The Ballet was really good, & Covent Garden looked a dream with décor by Oliver Messel. We did so miss you Philip, and I do hope you will be here for the next State visit (when & who I don’t know) because one gets a real good laugh in between.

  I am sure you must be longing to hear of Lilibet. She seems very well, and is looking extremely pretty as you may have seen from press photographs. She misses you terribly I think, and is looking forward with all the force of her ardent & controlled nature to meeting again. When one is parted from one’s husband one misses the little tendernesses & thoughts & kindnesses most of all, & especially just now for a reason which is just too wonderful. I am so glad for you both. […]

  Best love, darling Philip, & I pray for your happiness & guidance every night – from your loving Mama, Elizabeth

  27 March 1950 to Peter Cazalet

  Buckingham Palace

  Dear Peter,†

  Now that we have recovered a little from the excitement and emotion of Saturday, I feel that I must tell you how pleased we were with the way that Monaveen ran. It really was a creditable performance, because a mistake like that must take a lot of stuffing out of a horse, and to come on to 5th was very good. Of course I had steeled myself for anything! – falling at the first fence, being knocked down, almost any disaster, but I must say that the race was far more thrilling than I could have imagined.

  The next thing is to try and win the National again, if not next year, the year after that! […] I have great confidence in Monaveen – he must be a great hearted horse, and we must hope for next year.