The Queen Mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, was born Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes Lyon on August 4, 1900.
The Queen Mother Was A “Devoted Drinker”
Queen Elizabeth married the Duke of York, Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, in April 1923. The couple had two beautiful children. Princess Elizabeth, born on April 21, 1926, would become the Queen.
Lady Elizabeth gave birth to Princess Margaret on August 21, 1930. Elizabeth was not supposed to take the crown and become Queen Elizabeth I
In one of the biggest scandals in the royal family’s history, George’s brother, King Edward, abdicated the throne in December 1936 to marry a divorced socialite, Wallis Simpson, whom Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Phillip, later compared to Meghan Markle.
Elizabeth’s husband became King George VI when Edward stepped down from the throne. Elizabeth was the first British-born Queen Consort since Tudor times.
In February 1952, King George died of lung cancer, and his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was crowned Queen. Lady Elizabeth officially became known as Queen Elizabeth I, the Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was known for her feisty sense of humor and considerable wit. At a press reception on a trip to Canada, she had the reporters and photographers in stitches when she said coyly, “Ah, gentlemen, have you come over to gather more material for my obituary?”
She was a storyteller and very outgoing, and her signature drink was a “gin and Dubonnet or three.” Due to her ability to handle her liquor with a certain amount of grace and dignity, she was not exactly known as an alcoholic but more of a “devoted drinker.”
The Queen Mother Outlived Her Daughter, Princess Margaret
Many would say she was a woman in charge and “the power behind the throne.” She outlived her daughter, Princess Margaret when she made it to her 101st birthday.
Both of them died in 2002, but Princess Margaret passed on five weeks before the Queen Mother. Queen Elizabeth’s son, King Charles, was closer to his grandmother as a young boy than his mother.
Royal experts have said King Charles had a “miserable childhood” and was often very lonely. He was cared for by nannies and governesses. However, the Queen Mother helped lift his spirits immensely.
Charles’s grandmother showed him affection and was more of a mother figure to Charles. His mother, Queen Elizabeth, had to embark on tours of the Commonwealth, and every time she went away, Charles would stay with the Queen Mother.
The Queen Mother advised her daughter during her impressive reign. She lived through the sordid details of her grandchildren’s marriages falling apart and was there for Queen Elizabeth during her “Annus Horribilis” in 1992.
Although she may not have approved of many of Charles’s changes when he became King, she would have supported him.
When Queen Elizabeth I died on March 30, 2002, Queen Elizabeth II paid tribute,
“She had an infectious zest for living, and this remained with her until the very end. I, too, think that her faith was always a great strength to her.”
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