The Queen Mother (32 page)
Authors: William Shawcross
The bride and groom had asked Cosmo Lang to give the address. He pleased everyone with his words. ‘Will you take and keep this gift of wedded life as a sacred trust?’ he asked. ‘With all our hearts we wish that it may be happy. You can and will resolve that it will be noble. You will not think so much of enjoyment as of achievement. You will have a great ambition to make this one life now given to you something rich and true and beautiful.’ He commended the Duke for his work in industrial welfare and then, turning to the new Duchess, he said, ‘And you, dear bride, in your Scottish home, have grown up from childhood among country folk and friendship with them has been your native air. So have you both been fitted for your place in the people’s life. The nations and classes which make up our Commonwealth too often live their lives apart. It is … a great thing that there should be in our midst one family which, regarded by all as in a true sense their own, makes the whole Empire kin and helps to give it the spirit of family life.’
115
While the families signed the registers in the chapel of Edward the Confessor, the choir sang an anthem composed by Sydney Nicholson for Princess Mary’s wedding, ‘Beloved, Let Us Love One Another’. After the signing, the principal guests took their places again in the Sanctuary. Then as Mendelssohn’s Wedding March began, the Duke and Duchess of York returned to the heart of the Abbey. They smiled at Lady Strathmore, who had tears in her eyes. She was feeling both moved and saddened by it all; she thought that her daughter looked ‘lovely … so dignified and restful, just her own sweet little self as usual’.
116
The couple then bowed and curtsied respectively to the King and the Queen before walking back through the full length of the nave, and then emerging from the Abbey into a sunnier day. Elizabeth Bowes Lyon had arrived at the Abbey as a commoner; she left as the fourth lady in the land.
She and the Duke stepped into their scarlet and gold coach and drove by a long route back towards the Palace, through Marlborough Gate, St James’s Street, Piccadilly, around Hyde Park Corner and finally down Constitution Hill. All the way they were cheered. When
she arrived at Buckingham Palace, her bridesmaids and her friends, who had returned directly from the Abbey, all curtsied to her. As her sympathetic biographer Dorothy Laird put it, ‘she had stepped across the barrier into the closed circle of the Royal Family for ever.’
117
At the Palace, the wedding breakfast for over sixty people, mostly from the two families, was prepared by the royal chef, Gabriel Tschumi, and included
Consommé à la Windsor, Suprêmes de Saumon Reine Mary, Côtelettes d’Agneau Prince Albert, Chapons à la Strathmore
and
Fraises Duchesse Elizabeth.
118
There was just one toast, proposed by the King. ‘I ask you to drink to the health, long lives and happiness of the bride and bridegroom.’
The wedding cake was cut in the Blue Drawing Room. It was nine feet high and weighed 800 pounds. It was the one that they had helped design on their visit to the McVitie and Price biscuit factory in March, and was a gift of the Chairman, Alexander Grant. Its three tiers were decorated with the coats of arms of the Strathmores and the Duke of York, and surmounted by an ornamental confection symbolizing love and peace. At the couple’s request, Grant arranged that slices of identical cake were distributed at the Duke’s expense to thousands of poor children at wedding tea parties arranged for them in London and other cities.
119
While the Duchess and her family, old and new, lunched at the Palace, other friends and guests at the Abbey were meeting and lunching all over London. Duff and Diana Cooper had ‘skipped out’ by the North Door of the Abbey and got an excellent view of the couple driving away. In the crowd they met Jasper Ridley, and drove him home. ‘In an outburst of confidence he told us that he had long been in love with Elizabeth Lyon and that he was miserable about her marriage. He had never believed she would do it and it had been a very sudden volte face on her part as she had refused the Duke of York several times.’
120
At the Palace, the Duchess changed into her going-away dress, a soft shade of dove-grey crěpe romain, over which she wore a travelling coat wrap. Her brown hat was small, with an upturned brim and a feather on the side. She chose it, apparently, so that the crowds would not find their view of her impeded.
121
As they left for their honeymoon in an open landau, their friends and relations threw rose petals over them. The Duke’s brothers and the bridesmaids ran into the arch of the forecourt after the landau, throwing more petals, and were pushed
against the wall of the arch as the escort of cavalry moved briskly after the carriage – ‘for an alarming moment they were caught between the stone wall and the quarters of the great black horses.’
122
Cheering crowds accompanied the couple to Waterloo where a special train awaited them. Their carriage was, according to
The Times
, ‘upholstered in old gold brocade and decorated with white roses, white heather, white carnations and lilies of the valley’. The train drew out at 4.35 p.m. and after a gentle ride through south London into the Surrey countryside arrived at Bookham at 5.10 p.m. There the newly-weds received bouquets and listened to an address of welcome before they were taken by car to Polesden Lacey, the home of Mrs Ronnie Greville, who had been delighted to offer it to them. One of the first things that the new Duchess did there was to send a telegram to her mother saying, ‘Arrived safely deliciously peaceful here hope you are not all too tired love Elizabeth’.
123
Her diary records her wedding day thus:
Thur 26 Apr. Woke at 8.30. Up by 10. Put on my wedding dress, aided by Suzanne & Catherine. It looked lovely. All the family went off early, also mother. Miss Chard came & talked to me. At 11.12 the carriage came, & father & I started off for the Abbey. Lots of people in B St., & crowds in the streets. Did not feel very nervous. Bertie smiled at me when I got up to him – & it all went off well. We had a long drive home to B.P. Crowds very kind. We were photographed, & also went out on the balcony. Then luncheon. Sat between Bertie & the King. After lunch talked & cut cake etc. Went to change about 3.20. Mother & Anne
*
came – then May & Rosie, Mike & David & father. Awful saying goodbye. B & I drove off at 4.15 & had a special to Bookham. Very tired & happy. Bed 12.
124
*
The
Dundee Advertiser
even claimed prior knowledge: ‘Today’s announcement of the betrothal of the Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, youngest daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, will be received with great gratification throughout the Kingdom and with very special emotions of pleasure in Forfarshire. But, in Forfarshire, at any rate, the news will contain little of the element of surprise. Rumour, which does not always lie, has prepared the public to hear that a very charming romance was maturing which would link the Royal House with the ancient and historic family of romantic Glamis. It is just the kind of wedding which the British public would like – a wedding of free choice yet in every way charmingly right. The Duke, if nobody else, has reason to thank his stars that the war has been fought. Otherwise a dread convention of pre-war Royalty might have sent him to meet his fate in Germany instead of Strathmore.’ (16 January 1923)
*
One of these may have been from the
Glasgow Herald
, which published a well-informed article next day.
*
A journalist on the
Daily Sketch
wrote on 19 January 1923: ‘The interviews granted to the Press, for which, let me add, both Press and public are duly grateful, by Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon are surely without precedent. Never before has the bride-to-be of a prince of the blood-royal established such a link between the teeming millions and the private affairs of the exalted few. But I shouldn’t be at all surprised to find a complete cessation of these interviews in the very near future.’
*
Lance Corporal Norman Jepson had written a sixteen-verse ‘Ode to Glamis’ in Elizabeth’s autograph book, singing her praises as ‘a maiden, charming and rare’.
*
Many years later, in a letter to David Bowes Lyon, Clark Kerr asked him ‘to tell me how the devil you knew that I loved your sister so much. It is quite true. I did … I didn’t tell anyone and I am sure that she didn’t, for she was quite determined that I should not tell her either! I know that it took me seven years to get over it, if ever I really did.’ (10 February 1944, Bowes Lyon Papers, SPW)
*
Lieutenant Commander Clare George Vyner (1894–1989) of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.
†
Major Robert Alexander Abercromby MC (1895–1972), later ninth Baronet.
‡
Horace, first Earl Farquhar (1844–1923), Master of the Household to Edward VII 1901–7; Lord Steward to George V 1915–22; friend of both Kings. He had a house in Grosvenor Square as well as White Lodge, and Castle Rising, near Sandringham, which King George V, who had leased the house and its shooting, sub-let to him.
§
The revue, originally devised by Davey Burnaby, ran for 500 performances from June 1921 at the Royalty Theatre in London. It included songs by Irving Berlin, and among the cast was Stanley Holloway.
*
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) drew her in a single two-hour sitting on 17 February; she commented in her diary: ‘simply marvellous’. He did another charcoal portrait of her on 2 March. One of the two portraits, a profile, belonged to Lady Strathmore before passing into Queen Elizabeth’s collection. Sargent also drew Prince Albert’s portrait, commissioned by the American Ambassador, George Harvey, as his wedding present to the couple. (Susan Owens,
Watercolours and Drawings from the Collection of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
, pp. 66–9)
†
Louis Frederick Roslyn (1878–1940). The bust is now at Clarence House (RCIN 100975), and is illustrated in John Cornforth,
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at Clarence House
, p. 118.
‡
This was for the Countess of Strathmore’s present to her future son-in-law, a miniature framed in diamonds (RCIN 422497). Mabel Hankey also painted a charming watercolour portrait of Lady Strathmore in 1923, which was given to Elizabeth as a wedding present (RCIN 453428). She had painted Elizabeth as a child in 1907 (RCIN 453421). (Owens,
Watercolours and Drawings from the Collection of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
, pp. 64, 62)
*
Frogmore House, set in the private Home Park at Windsor Castle, is famous for its beautiful landscaped garden and eighteenth-century lake. Queen Victoria loved Frogmore and built a mausoleum for herself and her husband, Prince Albert, in the grounds.
*
The Hon. Richard Molyneux (1873–1954), son of fourth Earl of Sefton, decorated for his services in the Tirah Campaign on the North-West Frontier of India in 1897–8, fought under Kitchener in the Sudan in 1898, badly wounded at the Battle of Omdurman. Served in the South African War 1899–1901 and in the First World War. Groom in waiting to King George V c. 1919–36. Extra equerry to Queen Mary 1936–53. He also acted as an unofficial artistic adviser on picture hangs and the arrangement of rooms, to Queen Mary and later to Queen Elizabeth.
*
A morganatic marriage is one between a man of exalted rank and a woman of lower rank in which the wife does not acquire the status of her husband. Such marriages occasionally happened in European royal families but there was no provision for them in Britain.
†
Princess Louise (1848–1939), fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, married the Marquess of Lorne, later ninth Duke of Argyll, in 1871; Princess Louise of Wales (1867–1931), eldest daughter of King Edward VII, married the Earl (later first Duke) of Fife in 1889. Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia of Connaught had also married a commoner, the Hon. Alexander Ramsay, in 1919, and had taken the name Lady Patricia Ramsay.
‡
They were married secretly at Breda in 1659 but publicly in England the following year, after the Restoration. Two of King George Ill’s brothers secretly married commoners of whom the King did not approve (this led to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, under which the sovereign’s approval of marriages of members of the Royal Family, whether or not to commoners, has to be secured). His son (the Duke of Sussex) and grandson (the second Duke of Cambridge) subsequently also married commoners.
*
Audrey Coats, née James (1902–68), sister of Edward James of West Dean, well known for his patronage of surrealist art. One of Elizabeth’s good friends, Audrey had married Dudley Coats in 1922.
*
The dresses made by Madame Handley Seymour for the trousseau were shown to the press on 20 April.
The Times
listed twelve, and remarked on their simplicity; more striking for those remembering their wearer in her later years are the colours: black, navy, beige, very little blue or green and no yellow, although mauve, pink, silver and white appear. Full details of her wedding dress and going-away outfit – which was of a grey/beige tint – were also given to the press in advance. (
The Times
and
Morning Post
, 23 April 1923)
*
Later HMS
Collingwood
became the name of the Royal Navy’s training establishment at Fareham, Hampshire, and in June 1968 Queen Elizabeth presented the ensign to the new HMS
Collingwood
at a ceremony attended by 3,000 sailors. She said, ‘Today I hand you this flag for safe keeping; guard it well, for this White Ensign is a symbol of the loyalty and courage of those who served in the Collingwood during that great battle.’ It was an emotional moment for her. (RA QEQMH/PS/ENGT/1968/11 June)
*
Sovereigns since King George IV have followed the practice of presenting Family Orders, consisting of a portrait of the sovereign set in diamonds and suspended from a ribbon, to female members of the Royal Family.
*
The Illuminated Address from the County of Angus
contained watercolours by the renowned painter David Waterson from Brechin in Angus and a poem specially composed by J. M. Barrie. It remained among her possessions; after her death in 2002, it was sent back from Clarence House to Glamis.
*
Stanley Owen, Baron Buckmaster of Cheddington, later first Viscount Buckmaster (1861–1934), Lord Chancellor 1915–16.
†
Sir John Simon, later first Viscount Simon (1873–1954). Home Secretary 1915–16. Successively Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1931–40, and Lord Chancellor 1940–5.
*
Duff Cooper, later first Viscount Norwich (1890–1954), Conservative politician, diplomat and author. In 1935 he was appointed secretary of state for war, and in 1937 first lord of the Admiralty. He publicly opposed Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and resigned over the Munich Agreement in 1938. In 1940 he became minister of information in Churchill’s War Cabinet; in 1944 he was appointed British ambassador to France, a post which he held with great success until 1947. He had married in 1919 Lady Diana Manners (1892–1986), one of the most beautiful women of her time, a vivid personality who was in her element as ambassadress in Paris.
†
Sir Oswald Mosley, sixth Baronet (1896–1980), and his wife Lady Cynthia, daughter of the statesman Lord Curzon. Mosley was distantly related to the Strathmores through Frances Dora Smith, wife of the thirteenth Earl, who was the great-granddaughter of Sir John Mosley, first Baronet. Although chiefly known as the founder of the British Union of Fascists, in 1923 he was an independent Conservative MP. He joined both the Labour Party and the Independent Labour Party in 1924; he developed his fascist sympathies in the 1930s. In 1936, after the death of Lady Cynthia, he married Diana Guinness, née Mitford.
‡
One of the film companies, Gaumont Graphic, used the wedding as a test for a new developing and printing plant, and boasted that by 9 o’clock that night they had produced 25 million feet of film. (Nigel Arch and Joanna Marschner,
Royal Wedding Dresses
, exhibition catalogue, Historic Royal Palaces, 2003, p. 21)
*
The tomb contains the body of an unidentified British soldier from a European battlefield which was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920, the second anniversary of the end of the war.
*
Elizabeth’s five-year-old niece, daughter of Jock and Fenella.
