Counting One's Blessings

by William Shawcross

  ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER: birth and family background, 3; childhood and upbringing, 3–5; character and appearance, 4; diary, 5, 9, 15, 18–19, 104–8, 113, 115, 117–19, 125–6, 129, 132, 140, 141, 142, 151, 153, 276; visits to Italy, 5, 9, 18–20; education, 6; mixes with wounded soldiers at Glamis, 6, 25, 29, 36, 39, 41–4, 48–51, 54, 61; childhood interest in horses and riding, 13–14, 20, 96–7; childhood ailments, 15; puts on weight, 18; theatre-going, 24, 30, 34, 65, 125, 408, 419, 486; receives Christmas presents (1915), 29; takes and fails Oxford Local Examination Board exams, 31–2, 36 & n, 38; meets Prince Albert (GVI), 36–7, 71, 82, 96; poetry, 41–3; at whist drive, 44; portrait by de Laszlo, 45n; dancing, 51, 53–4, 118, 125, 421, 478, 567n; called ‘Peter’ by Elphinstone children, 55n; social life, 56, 59, 82, 86–7, 104–6, 113–14, 164, 202, 459n; makes speech at Forfar flower show, 59; sense of duty, 60; receives proposals of marriage, 64, 65n, 81–4, 157; chaperoned, 66; courtship, engagement and marriage, 72–3, 92–110, 112, 118; charitable work, 73, 77, 451; Colonelcies of regiments, 73, 77, 327 & n, 373n; role in Royal Family, 73; visit to Northern Ireland (1924), 73; East African tour (1924–5), 74, 130–41; and birth of daughters, 75–6, 147, 178; visits Australia with GVI (1927), 75–6; and GVI’s accession on abdication of EVIII, 78, 230; presented at Court, 82; rejects GVI’s early proposals, 88, 98–9; family nickname (‘Buffy’), 90n; supposed engagement to Prince of Wales, 104–6; catches colds, 114; chooses wedding clothes, 115–16; reading, 117, 122, 129, 141, 191, 201, 205–6, 209–10, 213, 250, 274, 333, 342, 356–7, 463, 472, 561, 569; wedding and honeymoon, 119; public and press interest in, 121, 171, 179; travels to Belgrade, 122–5; dental treatment, 126; good relations with George V, 126; bouts of influenza, 127, 210, 229n, 251–2, 440; party political views, 127–8, 185–7, 531; likes and dislikes, 128; attends football Cup Final, 129; helps GVI with speech, 130; shooting, 135–6, 512, 545; throat and bronchial trouble, 141, 160n; drinking, 143, 149, 187; pregnancies, 143–6, 171–2, 175–7; tour of Australia and New Zealand (1927), 150–2, 155, 158–60; freedom of City of Glasgow, 162n; travels to Norway and Sweden, 166–7; and brother John’s death, 172–5; belief in homeopathy, 184 & n, 603n; as Patroness of Windsor Wets, 187 & n; occupies Royal Lodge, 190; liking for Americans, 195, 340, 486; views on women working, 195–6; speech to Toc H League of Women Helpers, 197n; yacht racing, 197, 203–4; and EVIII’s affair with Wallis, 198; on bringing up children, 200; love of ballet, 202–3, 336–7; concern for unemployed, 206, 218; pneumonia, 214; and EVIII’s plan to marry Wallis, 224–5; on abdication of Edward VIII, 230; becomes Queen Consort, 230–1; awarded Garter, 232; and art works, 238, 254, 260, 286, 313, 323, 336–7, 358, 365n, 393, 410, 443, 500; crowned, 239; on outbreak of Second World War, 244, 276–7; remains in Britain in war, 244; visit to USA and Canada (1939), 243, 261n, 265–73; celebrates Silver Wedding, 245; and death of GVI, 245–6, 444–7; and post-war political situation, 245; on loss of religious observance, 251; and death of mother, 255–79; and Chamberlain’s peace efforts, 257–8; official visit to Paris (1938), 257 & n; wariness of Wallis, 275, 279, 280; Beaton portrait photographs of, 280n, 310; broadcast to women of Britain (11 November 1939), 281–4; Augustus John portrait of, 286, 402; broadcast to National Convention of American YWCA (13 April 1940), 289–90 & n; broadcast to women of France on fall of Paris (14 June 1940), 292n, 608n; tours bomb-damaged areas in war, 296, 298, 309, 311; wartime tours, 305–6; relations with Churchill, 311; present at GVI’s meetings with Churchill, 312; broadcast to women of America (10 August 1941), 313–15; Gerald Kelly portrait, 322, 381; bequeathed jewellery in Mrs Ronald Greville’s will, 326n, 331; writes Runyonese, 329–30; religious faith, 339n, 342, 348, 375 & n, 492; broadcast to women of the Empire (11 April 1943), 343 & n, 345–8; concern that GVI receive public credit in war, 343, 349; visits American Air Force base, 366; signs official papers, 369; father’s death, 374, 376; supports idea of a study centre for Christian philosophy, later Cumberland Lodge, 375 & n; interest in horse-racing, 385, 425 & n, 431, 434, 452, 475, 478, 480–2, 487, 491, 502, 504–5, 506, 514, 516, 532, 556, 563, 570, 589, 606, 620; on post-war hardships, 386; launches RMS Queen Elizabeth, 392; tour of South Africa (1947), 394–9; kinship with Prince Philip, 401n; attends Britten’s Let’s Make an Opera, 420–1; Simon Elwes portrait, 426; and husband’s death, 444–7; message to the nation on death of husband, 447–8; fondness for Prince Charles, 451, 466, 520, 546; style and title on husband’s death, 451; travels in widowhood, 451–2; buys Castle of Mey, Caithness, 452, 460, 462; social views, 452; eyesight fails, 453; hundredth birthday, 453, 616, 619; leaves Buckingham Palace, 456; at Elizabeth II’s Coronation, 468–9; moves into Clarence House, 468; attends daughter’s Coronation, 469; and Princess Margaret–Townsend romance, 470 & n; statue by Philip Jackson, 473n; gives Fabergé clock to Elizabeth II, 474; tour of Canada and USA (1954), 485–8; concern for Princess Margaret’s future, 489–90; unveils Dunkirk memorial, 497n; visits Rhodesias (1953), 463, 471; (1957), 497–8; visits New Zealand and Australia (1958), 498–503; 503n; fishing, 504, 535, 547, 557; in Rome, 505–6; official tour of Kenya and Uganda (1959), 506–8; and brother David’s death, 508n, 518–19; visits Northern Rhodesia (1960), 511; bequest of clock from Arthur Penn, 514–15; breaks toe, 517 & n; sits to Graham Sutherland, 519 & n; Annigoni portrait, 519n; cancels visit to Australia and New Zealand (1964), 524, 525n; appendectomy, 525 & n; Caribbean cruise (1964), 527; visits New Zealand and Australia (1966), 530n, 532–5; conducts Investitures in Elizabeth II’s absence and illness, 531, 545; operation for cancer of colon, 536 & n; Royal Family visit on annual cruise of Western Isles, 543n; seventieth birthday, 543; grouse driving, 545; gives presents to Fairlawne staff, 550n; as Counsellor of State, 551; honorary degree in music, 552; as Patron of Aldeburgh Festival, 552; reopens Upper Avon River at Stratford, 553n; presents drum horse to Queen’s Own Hussars, 555n; visits Persia (Iran), 557; seventy-fifth birthday, 559n, 760; Charles’s tribute to, 568n; as Warden of the Cinque Ports, 568n; daily routine in old age, 570; 80th birthday gift of log cabin, 574 & n; fishbone lodges in throat, 581n; troubled racing accounts, 589; unveils blue plaque for P. G. Wodehouse, 592; 90th birthday celebrations, 598–9; uses stick, 603; enjoyment of mystical matters, 604n; and Royal Family’s personal troubles, 605; given watercolours of Saloon at Royal Lodge by Queen’s Household, 617; decline on old age, 619; death and funeral, 620–1

  Ellis, Mollie, 133 & n

  Ellis, Osian, 559n

  Elphinstone, Revd Andrew (QE’s nephew), 142 & n, 165, 305, 362, 863n

  ELPHINSTONE, ELIZABETH (QE’s niece), 304, 319, 361; 55 & n, 66, 93; wartime work, 304 & n, 361; return to farming, 362; as deputy at Cumberland Lodge, 375; walks with Prince Philip, 400; visits Royal Lodge, 570

  ELPHINSTONE, JOHN ALEXANDER, 17th BARON (QE’s nephew), 392; 63n, 315, 325, 336 & n, 343–4; military service in Second World War, 280; as POW in Germany, 298n, 305, 335–6; post-war life, 299n; co-authors book with Esmond Lynn-Allen, 335 & n; at Glenmazeran, 392; returns from POW camp, 392n; death, 562–3

  Elphinstone, Margaret (later Rhodes; QE’s niece), 55n, 307, 336 & n

  ELPHINSTONE, MARY FRANCES, LADY (née Bowes Lyon; QE’s sister; May), 10, 157, 165, 227, 288, 298, 349, 399, 400; birth, 3; marriage and children, 6, 10 & n, 16; at St Paul’s Walden Bury, 12, 142; visits David at Eton, 31; gives dress to QE, 32; QE takes tea and lunches with, 32, 35, 864; takes QE to theatre, 34; children, 55; entertaining, 82; at QE’s wedding, 119; sends present of cup to QE, 165; at Cowes, 197–8; QE visits in wartime, 288

  ELPHINSTONE, SIDNEY HERBERT, 16th BARON, 335; marriage to May, 10 & n; children, 16; and proposed change of government in Great War, 29; visits David at Eton, 31; entertaining, 82; QE visits, 113

  Elsie, Lily, 161

  Elton, Godfrey, 1st Baron: St George or the Dragon, 327

  Elwes, Simon, 426 & n

  Empress of Australia, RMS, 261–4

  English Speaking Union, New York, 486

  Epstein, Sir Jacob, 501 & n

&nb
sp; Erskine, John Francis Ashley Erskine, Lord, 59

  Esher, Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount, 144

  Eton College: QE favours for Prince Charles, 516; boys’ response to GVI’s death, 604n; QE attends chapel service, 615

  Eugenie, Princess (daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York), 589n

  European Community: Britain refused entry (1963), 504n

  Evatt, Herbert Vere, 500

  Fairlawne (house), Kent, 425n, 501, 520, 530n, 550

  Fairweather family, 22 & n

  Faisa el Tarabulsi, wife of Regent of Iraq, 417

  FARRELL, LADY KATHERINE, 568, 573, 578, 617

  Fatty (Red Cross chauffeur), 24, 36

  Feisal II, King of Iraq, 417n

  Fellowes, Jane, Lady (née Spencer), 570n

  Fellowes, Robert, Baron, 570 & n

  Fellowes, Sir William and Jane, Lady, 404 & n

  Feola (racehorse), 556 & n

  Ferdinand, King of Romania, 123n, 124–5

  Ferguson, Janet, 297

  Fergusson, Sir Bernard see Ballantrae, Baron

  Fermoy, Ruth, Lady, 378, 536, 542, 559n, 606n

  Fielden, Air Vice Marshal Sir Edward (‘Mouse’), 351 & n, 499n, 500

  First Love (racehorse), 620

  First World War (1914–18): outbreak, 22; Zeppelin attacks on England, 27 & n, 35, 39; conduct, 28, 57; casualties, 50, 63–4; effect on QE, 57; ends, 62

  Fisher, Rosamond (née Forman), 474n

  Flett, Captain (of SS Nasir), 140

  Foch, Maréchal Ferdinand, 57

  Ford, Sir Edward William Spencer, 415 & n

  Fort Belvedere, Windsor, 198 & n

  Foundling Hospital and Museum, London, 170

  Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, 469n

  France: QE and GVI visit (1938), 243; Germans invade (1940), 290n; surrenders to Germany (June 1940), 292n; Allied invasion (June 1944), 364; QE visits (1963), 524; (1981), 577; see also Paris

  Francis, Dick, 481 & n, 493

  Fraser (Lovat) family, 459, 464

  Free Church of Scotland (‘Wee Frees’), 169

  FRENCH, REV. CANON DENDLE, 612

  Freyberg, General Bernard Cyril, Baron, VC, 478 & n

  Frogmore House, Windsor, 116 & n

  Fry, Elizabeth, 339

  Gage, (Alexandra) Imogen, Viscountess (née

  Grenfell), 104

  Gage, Sir Henry Rainald, 6th Viscount (‘George’), 104

  Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma), 341

  Gannochy (shooting lodge), 205

  Garbett, Cyril Forster, Archbishop of York, 355 & n

  Garter, Order of the, 231 & n, 565 & n

  Gaskell, Elizabeth: Wives and Daughters, 357

  Gaulle, General Charles de, 368n, 504 & n

  Gay George (racehorse), 585

  Gee, Captain Robert, VC, 89

  Geelong Grammar School, Australia, 530n

  general elections: (1945), 385; (1950), 424; (1951), 441n; (1966), 531 & n

  general strike (1926), 75

  George II, King of the Hellenes, 308 & n, 391 & n

  George III, King: portrait, 410 & n

  George IV, King, 201

  GEORGE V, KING, 109, 126, 129, 160, 168, 188, 193, 203, 211; accession, 6; changes family name to Windsor, 71; creates Order of British Empire, 71; fear of revolution in Europe, 71; affection for QE, 72, 126; health decline and death, 77, 216; Silver Jubilee (1935), 77, 211 & n; on industrial unrest, 90n; consents to GVI–QE marriage, 107; entertains QE, 117–18, 126, 130; anger at QE’s visiting night club, 126; relations with sons, 126–7; letter from GVI, 142; and GVI’s speech at Empire Exhibition, Wembley (1925), 142–3; ill health, 169; reduces Civil List and encourages MacDonald’s National Government, 185n; QE gives cigarette box to, 188; and GVI and QE’s occupancy of Royal Lodge, 190n; gives screen to QE, 193; yacht racing, 193, 202–4

  GEORGE VI, KING (earlier Prince Albert and Duke of York), 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 105, 112, 114, 115, 116, 121, 143, 156, 179, 180, 182, 200, 326, 328, 343, 351, 352, 369, 392; QE first meets, 33, 71, 82, 86; character and manner, 71; courtship, engagement and marriage, 71–3, 93–110, 96–9, 103–12, 118; visits Glamis, 71–2; East African tour, 74, 130–41; stammer, 74, 142, 150; Logue treats for stammer, 75, 150, 160n, 249n; opens federal parliament in Australia (1927), 75–6; accession on EVIII’s abdication, 77–8, 230–1; at Glamis, 85; gives boxes to QE, 86, 97; QE rejects early proposals, 88, 98–9; visits QE at St Paul’s Walden Bury, 88; shooting, 95, 219, 302; travels to Romania, 100; friendship with Greig, 110n; hunting, 110, 126n, 171n, 185n; tennis playing, 110n; wedding, 119; in Serbia, 122–5; attends 1924 Cup Final, 129; speech at Empire Exhibition, Wembley (1925), 142–3; and birth of Princess Elizabeth, 147; tour of Australia and New Zealand (1927), 150, 154–60; speeches in Australia, 160 & n; Queen Mary sends miniature to QE, 176; belief in homeopathy, 184; injures leg in hunting accident, 184; sells his horses, 185n; note of advice from QE on treating children, 200; and EVIII’s plan to marry Wallis and abdication, 224, 227, 230–1; awards Garter to QE, 232; crowned, 239; activities in Second World War, 244–5; visit to USA and Canada (1939), 243, 261n, 265–73; celebrates Silver Wedding, 245; health decline, death and funeral, 245–6, 409, 411, 413–17, 437–8, 444; opens Parliament, 249 & n; official visit to Paris (1938), 257 & n; visits BEF in France (1939), 285; tours bomb-damaged areas in war, 296, 298, 309; Keith Gordon’s book on, 297; and conduct of war, 308; wartime concerns and interests, 308; relations with Churchill, 312; press coverage in war, 343, 349, 352; visit to Fleet (April 1943), 343; QE promotes role in war, 349; in Malta in war, 350n, 353; visits troops in North Africa (1943), 350–2; gives bracelet to Princess Elizabeth on 18th birthday, 361; performs Maundy ceremony (1944), 361; visits troops in Italy (1944), 369–70; celebrates victory in Europe, 381; and general election result (1945), 385; resumes stalking, 387; relations with Attlee, 391n; tour of South Africa (1947), 394–9; DW visits and accuses, 421; lumbago, 432; lung removed, 438–9; sees Princess Elizabeth off to Kenya, 442; Davidson encourages to persist in courting QE, 458n; Wheeler-Bennett’s biography of, 464; troubled reign, 465; note books, 473; statue, 473 & n

  Germany: QE visits, 166; and outbreak of Second World War, 243, 275; Chamberlain’s peace overtures to, 257; aggressiveness, 261n; anti-Jewish policy, 261n, 332n; invades and defeats France, 290n, 292n; bombing campaign against Britain, 292, 295–6, 303, 309, 340; occupies Greece (1941), 308; and shackling of prisoners of war, 328n, 332; retreat (1944–5), 379; defeated (1945), 382, 384

  Getty, Paul and Victoria, 568n, 617

  Ghana: independence, 506; Elizabeth II visits, 520 & n

  Gibbs, Lyonel, 15

  Gilliat, Sir Martin, 555 & n, 607n

  Giraud, General Henri, 368

  Giuseppina (D’Arcy Osborne’s housekeeper), 523n

  Glamis Castle, Forfarshire: family life at, 4–5; in Great War, 6, 25, 40; cricket at, 11, 21; QE’s fondness for, 15, 114, 164, 339–40; fire (1916), 40–1; celebrations at end of Great War, 62; QE’s father considers shutting up, 190; silver sold, 410–11

  Glasgow: Housing and Health Exhibiiton (1927), 162; evacuees at Balmoral in war, 278; bombed in war, 307

  Glass, Captain, 80–1

  Gloucester, Alice, Duchess of, 321, 530, 572

  Gloucester, Prince Henry, Duke of, 17, 151, 321, 530, 572

  Gloucester, Prince William of, 530

  Goldney, Edward, 408

  Goodman, Margaret (‘Jemima’), 36 & n

  Goon Show (radio programme), 557 & n

  Gordon, Lord Adam Granville, 483 & n

  Gordon, Frank, 247

  Gordon, Keith V.: North America Sees our King and Queen, 297

  Gordon-Lennox, Lady Dorothy see Vyner, Lady Doris

  Gordon-Lennox, Victor, 108

  Gordonstoun (school), 516 & n

  Gorell, Ronald Gorell Barnes, 3rd Baron, 4–5

  Grafton, Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke and Fortune, Duchess of, 479

  GRAHAM, LADY HELE
N, 145, 176, 183, 196, 284, 344, 385; as QE’s lady in waiting, 145 & n, 284; helps QE with draft of talks, 196, 344; illness, 385

  Grant, Arthur, 169 & n

  Grant, Duncan, 286

  Grantham, Tony, 431 & n

  GRANVILLE, ROSE CONSTANCE, COUNTESS OF (née Bowes Lyon; QE’s sister), 137; birth, 3; nursing in war, 25; engagement, 35–6, 37, 39; portrait by de Laszlo, 45; at Glamis, 60–1; in Malta, 83; at QE’s wedding, 119; QE asks to take care of Princesses in event of accident in war, 277; death, 587n

  Granville, William Spencer Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl of (‘Wisp’), 35–7 & n, 39, 58, 60, 138, 587n

  Greece: falls to Germans (1941), 308n; post-war unrest, 379 & n, 391; Princess Elizabeth visits, 432

  Greece, Alice, Princess Andrew of (Prince Philip’s mother): death, 541 & n

  Greene, Graham: The Man Within, 171

  Greig, Sir Louis, 110 & n, 126, 457n

  Grenfell, Hon. (Alexandra) Imogen see Gage, (Alexandra) Imogen, Viscountess (née Grenfell)

  Grenfell, Hon. Ivo, 104

  Grenfell, Joyce, 549 & n

  Grenfell, Hon. Monica (later Salmond), 79 & n

  Greville, Mrs Ronald (née Margaret McEwan), 86 & n, 87, 119, 165n, 324; meets Hitler, 214 & n; death and will, 325 & n, 326, 331, 365

  Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney), 267 & n

  Griffin, Major Sir John, 496

  Griller Quartet, 402

  Grossmith, George, 125

  Grünne, Count Willy de, 52 & n, 79

  Guards Chapel, London: hit by flying bomb, 363n

  Gubbay, Hannah (née Rothschild), 250 & n, 423, 459, 496; death, 538–9

  Guggenheim, Harry, 505

  Guilsborough, Northamptonshire: The Old House, 126

  Guinness, Lady Evelyn (later Lady Moyne), 87 & n