Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Chapter Seven Queen mother (1952-2002)

Widowhood

King George VI died in his sleep on 6 February 1952. Elizabeth began to be styled as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother because the normal style for the widow of a king, "Queen Elizabeth", would have been too similar to the style of her elder daughter, now Queen Elizabeth II.[89] Popularly, she became the "Queen Mother" or the "Queen Mum".[90]

She was devastated by the King's death and retired to Scotland. However, after a meeting with the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, she broke her retirement and resumed her public duties.[91] Eventually she became just as busy as Queen Mother as she had been as Queen. In July 1953, she undertook her first overseas visit since the funeral when she visited the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland with Princess Margaret. She laid the foundation stone of theUniversity College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland - the current University of Zimbabwe.[92] On her return to the region in 1957, she was inaugurated as the College's President, and attended other events that were deliberately designed to be multi-racial.[93] During her daughter's extensive tour of the Commonwealth over 1953-54, Elizabeth acted as a Counsellor of State and looked after her grandchildren, Charles and Anne.

She oversaw the restoration of the remote Castle of Mey, in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland, which she used to "get away from everything"[95] for three weeks in August and ten days in October each year.[96] She developed her interest in horse racing, particularly steeplechasing, which had been inspired by the amateur jockey Lord Mildmay in 1949.[97] She owned the winners of approximately 500 races. Her distinctive colours of blue with buff stripes were carried by horses such as Special Cargo, the winner of the 1984 Whitbread Gold Cup, and Devon Loch, which spectacularly halted just short of the winning post at the 1956 Grand National[98] and whose jockey Dick Francis later had a successful career as the writer of racing-themed detective stories. Peter Cazaletwas her trainer for over 20 years. Although (contrary to rumour) she never placed bets, she did have the racing commentaries piped direct to her London residence, Clarence House, so she could follow the races.[99] As an art collector, she purchased works by Claude Monet, Augustus John and Peter Carl Fabergé, among others.[100]

In February 1964, she had an emergency appendectomy, which led to the postponement of a planned tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji until 1966.[101] She recuperated during a Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht,Britannia.[102] In December 1966, she underwent an operation to remove a tumour after she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Contrary to rumours, she did not have a colostomy.[103][104] In 1982, she was rushed to hospital when a fish bone became stuck in her throat, and had an operation to remove it. Being a keen angler, she calmly joked afterwards, "The salmon have got their own back."[105] Similar incidents occurred at Balmoral in August 1986, when she was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary but no operation was needed,[106] and May 1993, when she was admitted to the Infirmary for surgery under general anaesthetic.[107] In 1984, she had a second operation for cancer, when a lump was removed from her breast,[108] and a second gastric obstruction in 1986 cleared without the need for an operation, but she was hospitalised overnight.[109]

In 1975, she visited Iran at the invitation of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The British ambassador and his wife, Anthony and Sheila Parsons, noted how the Iranians were bemused by her habit of speaking to everyone regardless of status or importance, and hoped the Shah's entourage would learn from the visit to pay more attention to ordinary people.[110] Four years later, the Shah wasdeposed. Between 1976 and 1984, she made annual summer visits to France,[111] which were among 22 private trips to continental Europe between 1963 and 1992.[112]

Queen Elizabeth-known for her personal and public charm[19]-was one of the most popular members of the royal family.[113] Her signature dress of large upturned hat with netting and dresses with draped panels of fabric became a distinctive personal style.

Centenarian

In her later years, the Queen Mother became known for her longevity. Her 90th birthday-4 August 1990-was celebrated by a parade on 27 June that involved many of the 300 organisations of which she was patron.[114] In 1995, she attended events commemorating the end of the war fifty years before, and had two operations: one to remove a cataract in her left eye, and one to replace her right hip.[115] In 1998, her left hip was replaced after it was broken when she slipped and fell during a visit to Sandringham stables.[116] Her 100th birthday was celebrated in a number of ways: a parade that celebrated the highlights of her life included contributions from Norman Wisdom and John Mills;[117] her image appeared on a special commemorative £20 note issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland;[118] and she attended a lunch at the Guildhall, London, at which George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, accidentally attempted to drink her glass of wine. Her quick admonition of "That's mine!" caused widespread amusement.[119] In November 2000, she broke her collarbone in a fall that kept her recuperating at home over Christmas and the New Year.[120] On 1 August 2001, she had a blood transfusion for anaemia after suffering from mild heat exhaustion, though she was well enough to make her traditional appearance outside Clarence House three days later to celebrate her 101st birthday.[121][122] Her final public engagements included planting a cross at theField of Remembrance on 8 November 2001;[123] a reception at the Guildhall, London, for the reformation of the 600 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force on 15 November;[124] and attending the re-commissioning of HMS Ark Royal on 22 November.[125]

In December 2001, aged 101, she fractured her pelvis in a fall. Even so, she insisted on standing for the National Anthem during the memorial service for her husband on 6 February the following year.[126] Just three days later, her second daughter Princess Margaret died. On 13 February 2002, the Queen Mother fell and cut her arm in her sitting room at Sandringham House; an ambulance and doctor were called, and the wound was dressed.[127] She was still determined to attend Margaret's funeral at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, two days later on the Friday of that week,[128] even though the Queen and the rest of the royal family were concerned about the journey the Queen Mother would face to get from Norfolk to Windsor;[129] she was also rumoured to be hardly eating.[130] Nevertheless, she flew to Windsor by helicopter, and so that no photographs of her in a wheelchair could be taken-she insisted that she be shielded from the press[129]-she travelled to the service in a people carrier with blacked-out windows,[131][132] which had been previously used by Margaret.[129][133] On 5 March 2002, she was present at the luncheon of the annual lawn party of the Eton Beagles, and watched the Cheltenham Races on television; however, her health began to deteriorate precipitately during her last weeks after retreating to Royal Lodge for the final time.