Childhood and Marriage:

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons, the pick of the debutantes in the early 1920s, only accepted the future king of England's proposal when it was made for a third time.

Despite being the daughter of an Earl she was a commoner and hesitant about being drawn into the protocol-driven world of the Court, although at that stage there was no hint that her husband-to-be, the Duke of York, would one day be king.

The ninth of 10 children she had spent a carefree childhood getting into harmless scrapes with her brothers and sisters often at the family seat, Glamis Castle in Scotland.

Childhood

Some mystery surrounds her birth on August 4 1900, as her father failed to register it for six weeks.

When he did he said that she had been born at the family home in St Paul's Walden Bury, in Hertfordshire, despite it now being accepted that the birth took place in London -- although there is no record of exactly where.

Her education, conducted almost entirely at home by governesses, was cut short by World War I, when Glamis Castle became a hospital and she was drafted in to run errands for the wounded troops.

This experience has been seen as contributing to the common touch the Queen Mother has become so famous for, but also brought tragedy with the death of her brother Fergus during the Battle of Loos in 1915. Another brother Michael was held prisoner for two years.

Despite the lack of formal education she was able to speak fluent French by the age of 10 and was a much sought-after debutante, with Prince Paul of Serbia said to have been among the suitors.

Courtship

The Bowes-Lyons family had long socialised in royal circles and it is said that Prince Albert, the man who would become King George VI, had first met his bride-to-be at a birthday party when she was five.

But it was when they met as adults - - when she was 20 - - that Albert, a shy man with a stammer, determined to marry her, despite her initial reluctance.

She is believed to have accepted his third proposal when walking in woods near the family home in St Paul's Walden Bury and the engagement was announced in January 1923.

On April 26, 1923 the couple were married in Westminster Abbey.

A film of the festivities shown throughout the country proved popular but a radio broadcast was forbidden during the actual service as church authorities feared that "disrespectful people wearing hats might listen in public houses."

Their wedding represented a complete break from the past, says historian David Starkey, in that it was presented for the first time as a royal romance.

Previously royal marriages had been seen as alliances among European royal families.

The new Duchess' popular touch foreshadowed that of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was also the daughter of an Earl.

But, says Starkey, as a Royal "outsider" upon marriage the Queen Mother was to prove more successful at moving to the very heart of the Establishment.

Back to the top