View source for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

{{Short description|Queen of the United Kingdom from 1936 to 1952}}
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{{Distinguish|Elizabeth II}}
{{Redirect-several|Elizabeth the Queen Mother|The Queen Mother}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
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{{Infobox royalty
| consort      = yes
| name         = Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
| image        = Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother portrait.jpg<!-- Please do not change. Please discuss on the talk page before making any changes. -->
| alt          = Oil portrait of Queen Elizabeth at half length
| caption      = [[Portrait of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|''Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother'']] (1986)
| succession   = {{br entries|[[Queen consort of the United Kingdom]]|and the [[British Dominions]]}}
| reign        = 11 December 1936 – {{awrap|6 February 1952}}
| cor-type     = [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth|Coronation]]
| coronation   = 12 May 1937
| succession1  = [[Empress consort of India]]
| reign1       = 11 December 1936 – {{awrap|15 August 1947}}{{efn|From the accession of her husband to the abolition of [[British India]] by the [[Indian Independence Act 1947]]. The title was abandoned on 22 June 1948.}}
| birth_name   = Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon{{efn|name=hyphen|The hyphenated version of the surname was used in official documents at the time of her marriage, but the family itself tends to omit the hyphen.<ref>Shawcross, p. 8</ref>}}
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1900|8|4|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Hitchin]] or [[London]], England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2002|3|30|1900|8|4|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Royal Lodge]], Windsor, Berkshire, England
| burial_date  = 9 April 2002
| burial_place = [[King George VI Memorial Chapel]], St George's Chapel, Windsor&nbsp;Castle
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[George VI]]|26 April 1923|6 February 1952|reason=died<!--Please do not link, see [[WP:OVERLINK]]-->}}
| issue        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Elizabeth II]]
* [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon]]
}}
| house        = [[Bowes-Lyon]]
| house-type   = Noble family
| father       = [[Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne]]
| mother       = [[Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck]]
| signature    = Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother signature 1960.svg
}}

'''Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon'''{{efn|name=hyphen}} (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was [[List of British royal consorts|Queen of the United Kingdom]] and the [[Dominion]]s of the [[British Commonwealth]] from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of [[King George&nbsp;VI]]. She was also the last [[Empress of India]] from 1936 until the [[British Raj]] was dissolved on 15 August 1947. After [[Death and state funeral of George VI|her husband died]], she was officially known as '''Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother''' to avoid confusion with her daughter [[Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II]].

Born into a family of [[British nobility]], Elizabeth came to prominence in 1923 when [[Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon|she married Prince Albert, Duke of York]], the second son of [[King George&nbsp;V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]. The couple and their daughters, Elizabeth and [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon|Margaret]], embodied traditional ideas of family and public service.<ref>Roberts, pp. 58–59</ref> As Duchess of York, Elizabeth undertook a variety of public engagements and became known for her consistently cheerful countenance.<ref>{{citation|author=British Screen News|title=Our Smiling Duchess|publisher=British Screen Productions|location=London|year=1930}}</ref>

In 1936, Elizabeth's husband unexpectedly [[Proclamation of accession of George VI|ascended the throne as George VI]] when his older brother, [[Edward&nbsp;VIII]], [[Abdication of Edward VIII|abdicated]] in order to marry American divorcée [[Wallis Simpson]]. Elizabeth then became [[queen consort]]. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of the [[Second World War]]. During the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. After the war, her husband's health deteriorated, and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new monarch.

After the [[Death and funeral of Mary of Teck|death of Queen Mary]] in 1953, Elizabeth was viewed as the matriarch of the [[British royal family]]. In her later years, she was a consistently popular member of the family, even at times when other royals were suffering from low levels of public approval.<ref name=moore/> She continued an active public life until just a few months before [[Death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|her death]] at the age of 101, seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret.

==Early life==
[[File:Elizabeth Bowes Lyon in costume (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Elizabeth in 1909]]
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of [[Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne|Claude Bowes-Lyon]], [[Lord Glamis]] (later the 14th [[Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne]] in the [[Peerage of Scotland]]), and his wife, [[Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck]]. Her mother was descended from British prime minister [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland]], and Governor-General of India [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley]], who was the elder brother of another prime minister, [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington]].{{efn|name=campbell|[[Lady Colin Campbell]] claims Elizabeth's biological mother was the family cook, Marguerite Rodiere, by means of a surrogacy arrangement that was not uncommon in aristocratic families at the time. This theory is dismissed by royal biographers such as Michael Thornton and [[Hugo Vickers]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9177647/Queen-Mother-was-daughter-of-French-cook-biography-claims.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9177647/Queen-Mother-was-daughter-of-French-cook-biography-claims.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Telegraph|title=Queen Mother was daughter of French cook, biography claims|date=31 March 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In an earlier allegation, published by [[Kitty Kelley]] in 1997, Elizabeth's mother is said to have been a Welsh maid.<ref>{{citation|last1=Beck|first1=Joan|title=Royal Muck: $27 Down The Drain|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/10/05/royal-muck-27-down-the-drain/|access-date=16 February 2017|work=Chicago Tribune|date=5 October 1997}}</ref>}}

The location of Elizabeth's birth remains uncertain, but reputedly she was born either in her parents' [[Westminster]] home at [[Belgrave Mansions]], [[Grosvenor Gardens]], or in a horse-drawn ambulance on the way to a hospital.<ref>{{citation|first=Alison|last=Weir|author-link=Alison Weir (historian)|title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised edition|publisher=Pimlico|location=London|year=1996|isbn=978-0-7126-7448-5|page=330}}</ref> Other possible locations include [[Forbes House, Ham|Forbes House]] in [[Ham, London]], the home of her maternal grandmother, [[Louisa Cavendish-Bentinck|Louisa Scott]].<ref>Shawcross, p. 15</ref> Her birth was registered at [[Hitchin]], Hertfordshire,<ref>Civil Registration Indexes: Births, General Register Office, England and Wales. Jul–Sep 1900 Hitchin, vol. 3a, p. 667</ref> near the Strathmores' [[English country house]], [[St Paul's Walden Bury]], which was also given as her birthplace in the [[United Kingdom Census 1901|1901]] and [[United Kingdom Census 1911|1911]] censuses.<ref>1901 England Census, Class RG13, piece 1300, folio 170, p. 5; 1911 England Census, RG14/7611, no. 84</ref> She was christened there on 23 September 1900, in the local parish church, All Saints.

Elizabeth spent much of her childhood at [[St Paul's Walden]] and at [[Glamis Castle]], the Earl's ancestral home in [[Scotland]]. She was educated at home by a governess until the age of eight, and was fond of field sports, ponies and dogs.<ref>Vickers, p. 8</ref> When she started school in London, she astonished her teachers by precociously beginning an essay with two [[Greek language|Greek]] words from [[Xenophon]]'s ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]''. Her best subjects were literature and scripture. After returning to private education under a German Jewish governess, Käthe Kübler, she passed the [[OCR (examination board)|Oxford Local Examination]] with distinction at age thirteen.<ref>Vickers, pp. 10–14</ref>

[[File:Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 1915.jpg|thumb|upright|left|At a charity sale event in 1915]]
On Elizabeth's fourteenth birthday, Britain [[World War I|declared war]] on [[German Empire|Germany]]. Four of her brothers served in the army. Her elder brother [[Fergus Bowes-Lyon|Fergus]], an officer in the [[Black Watch Regiment]], was killed in action at the [[Battle of Loos]] in 1915. Another brother, [[Michael Bowes-Lyon (British Army officer)|Michael]], was reported missing in action on 28 April 1917.<ref>Shawcross, p. 85</ref> Three weeks later, the family discovered he had been captured after being wounded. He remained in a [[prisoner of war]] camp for the rest of the war. Glamis was turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, which Elizabeth helped to run. She was particularly instrumental in organising the rescue of the castle's contents during a serious fire on 16 September 1916.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 79–80</ref> One of the soldiers she treated wrote in her autograph book that she was to be "Hung, drawn, & quartered&nbsp;... Hung in diamonds, drawn in a coach and four, and quartered in the best house in the land."{{Sfn|Forbes|1999|page=74}} On 5 November 1916, she was [[confirmed]] at St John's [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] in [[Forfar]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.royal.uk/earl-and-countess-forfar-visit-forfar |title=The Earl and Countess of Forfar visit Forfar |date=1 July 2019 |publisher=royal.gov.uk |access-date=15 December 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104134723/https://www.royal.uk/earl-and-countess-forfar-visit-forfar |archive-date=4 November 2021}}</ref>

The first love of Elizabeth was considered to be [[Charles Gordon-Lennox, Lord Settrington]], whose sister, Lady Doris, was a close friend of hers. Upon his death, Elizabeth called him "my only true friend", writing: "I was not shy about him and he was so delightful. It's terrible, and his family just adored him.[...] Charlie was the only one I could talk to in a completely natural and simple way – he was dear to me, and I miss him very much".<ref>Shawcross, p.67.</ref> Settrington died of wounds received in action while serving as an officer with the [[Royal Fusiliers]] in the [[North Russia intervention|North Russia Relief Force]] on 24 August 1919.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lieutenant Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/471798/charles-henry-gordon-lennox/ |website=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=18 April 2023}}</ref>

==Marriage==
{{Main|Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon}}
[[File:Wedding of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.png|thumb|upright|Elizabeth and Albert on their wedding day, 26 April 1923]]
[[Prince Albert, Duke of York]]—"Bertie" to the family—was the second son of [[King George V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]. He initially proposed to Elizabeth in 1921, but she turned him down, being "afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to".<ref name="ezard">{{citation|last=Ezard|first=John|title=A life of legend, duty and devotion |newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 April 2002|page=18}}</ref> When he declared he would marry no other, Queen Mary visited Glamis to see for herself the young woman who had won her son's love. She became convinced that Elizabeth was "the one girl who could make Bertie happy", but refused to interfere.<ref>{{citation|last=Airlie |first=Mabell |author-link=Mabell Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie|title=Thatched with Gold|publisher=Hutchinson|location=London|year=1962|page=167}}</ref> At the same time, Elizabeth was courted by [[James Stuart, 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn|James Stuart]], Albert's [[equerry]], until he left the prince's service for a better-paid job in the American oil business.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 133–135</ref>

In February 1922, Elizabeth was a bridesmaid at [[Wedding of Princess Mary and Henry Lascelles|the wedding]] of Albert's sister, [[Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood|Princess Mary]], to [[Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood|Viscount Lascelles]].<ref>Shawcross, pp. 135–136</ref> The following month, Albert proposed again, but she refused him once more.<ref>Shawcross, p. 136</ref> Eventually in January 1923, Elizabeth agreed to marry Albert, despite her misgivings about royal life.<ref>Longford, p. 23</ref> Albert's freedom in choosing Elizabeth, not a member of a royal family, though the daughter of a peer, was considered a gesture in favour of political modernisation; previously, princes were expected to marry princesses from other royal families.<ref>Roberts, pp. 57–58; Shawcross, p. 113</ref> They selected a platinum engagement ring featuring a [[Kashmir]] sapphire with two diamonds adorning its sides.<ref name="Vintage Royal Wedding">{{citation|url=http://www.vintageroyalwedding.co.uk/elizabeth-bowes-lyons-ring|title=Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon's Engagement Ring|access-date=13 April 2014 |publisher=Vintage Royal Wedding |url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031122859/http://www.vintageroyalwedding.co.uk/elizabeth-bowes-lyons-ring|archive-date=31 October 2013}}</ref>

The couple married on 26 April 1923, at [[Westminster Abbey]]. Unexpectedly,<ref>Shawcross, p. 177</ref> Elizabeth laid her bouquet at the Tomb of [[the Unknown Warrior]] on her way into the abbey,<ref>Vickers, p. 64</ref> in memory of her brother Fergus.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8485728/Royal-wedding-Kate-Middletons-bridal-bouquet-placed-at-Grave-of-Unknown-Warrior.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8485728/Royal-wedding-Kate-Middletons-bridal-bouquet-placed-at-Grave-of-Unknown-Warrior.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Royal wedding: Kate Middleton's bridal bouquet placed at Grave of Unknown Warrior|date=1 May 2011|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=20 August 2012|first=Sean|last=Rayment}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Elizabeth became styled ''[[Her Royal Highness]] The [[Duchess of York]]''.<ref>Shawcross, p. 168</ref> Following a wedding breakfast at [[Buckingham Palace]] prepared by chef [[Gabriel Tschumi]], Elizabeth and Albert honeymooned at [[Polesden Lacey]], a manor house in [[Surrey]] owned by the wealthy socialite and friend [[Margaret Greville]]. They then went to Scotland, where she caught "unromantic" [[whooping cough]].<ref>Letter from Albert to Queen Mary, 25 May 1923, quoted in Shawcross, p. 185.</ref>

==Duchess of York==
[[File:Philip de László - Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon 1925.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait by [[Philip de László]], 1925]]
After a successful royal visit to [[Northern Ireland]] in July 1924, the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government agreed that Albert and Elizabeth could tour East Africa from December 1924 to April 1925.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 218–219</ref> The Labour government was defeated by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] in a [[1924 United Kingdom general election|general election]] in November (which Elizabeth described as "marvellous" to her mother)<ref>Letter from Elizabeth to Lady Strathmore, 1 November 1924, quoted in Shawcross, p. 217</ref> and the [[Governor-General]] of [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]], Sir [[Lee Stack]], was assassinated three weeks later. Despite this, the tour went ahead, and they visited [[Aden Protectorate|Aden]], [[Kenya Colony|Kenya]], [[Uganda Protectorate|Uganda]], and Sudan, but Egypt was avoided because of political tensions.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 221–240</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|In [[Queensland]], 1927]]
Albert had a stammer, which affected his ability to deliver speeches, and after October 1925, Elizabeth assisted in helping him through the therapy devised by [[Lionel Logue]], an episode portrayed in the 2010 film ''[[The King's Speech]]''. In 1926, Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, Princess Elizabeth—known as "Lilibet" to the family—who would later become [[Queen Elizabeth II]]. Albert and Elizabeth, without their child, [[Royal tours of Australia|travelled to Australia]] to open [[Old Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]] in [[Canberra]] in 1927.<ref>{{citation|url= http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/QueenElizabethTheQueenMother/Royaltours.aspx|title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother> Royal tours|publisher=Official web site of the British monarchy|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> She was, in her own words, "very miserable at leaving the baby".<ref>Elizabeth's diary, 6 January 1927, quoted in Shawcross, p. 264</ref> Their journey by sea took them via Jamaica, the Panama Canal and the Pacific; Elizabeth fretted constantly over her baby back in Britain, but their journey was a public relations success.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 266–296</ref> She charmed the public in Fiji when, as she was shaking hands with a long line of official guests, a stray dog walked in on the ceremony and she shook its paw as well.<ref>Shawcross, p. 277</ref> In New Zealand she fell ill with a cold and missed some engagements, but enjoyed the local fishing<ref>Shawcross, pp. 281–282</ref> in the [[Bay of Islands]] accompanied by Australian sports fisherman [[Harry Andreas]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54884539 |title=Royal anglers|newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)|The Register]]|location=Adelaide|date=25 February 1927|access-date=1 September 2012|page=9|publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> On the return journey, via Mauritius, the Suez Canal, Malta and Gibraltar, their transport, {{HMS|Renown|1916|6}}, caught fire and they prepared to abandon ship before the fire was brought under control.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 294–296.</ref>

The couple's second daughter, [[Princess Margaret]], was born at Glamis Castle in 1930.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33636 |date=22 August 1930 |page=5225 }}</ref> The couple initially lived at [[White Lodge, Richmond Park]], before moving to 145 [[Piccadilly]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/6327/local_history_white_lodge.pdf|title=White Lodge, Richmond Park|work=London Borough of Richmond upon Thames|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/watercolours-and-drawings-in-the-collection-of-queen-elizabeth-the-0/the-queen-mothers-residences|title=The Queen Mother's Residences|work=Royal Collection Trust|accessdate=29 November 2022|archive-date=29 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129073347/https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/watercolours-and-drawings-in-the-collection-of-queen-elizabeth-the-0/the-queen-mothers-residences|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Queen consort==
[[File:Queen Elizabeth Bowes Lyon in Coronation Robes by Sir Gerald Kelly.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait by Sir [[Gerald Kelly]]. [[Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Her crown]] is on the left.]]
On 20 January 1936, [[George V died]] and his eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, became [[King Edward VIII]]. Elizabeth's husband, Albert, became [[heir presumptive]]. Just months into Edward's reign, the King's decision to marry the American divorcée [[Wallis Simpson]] caused a constitutional crisis that resulted in [[Edward VIII abdication crisis|his abdication]]. Albert reluctantly became king of the United Kingdom and [[emperor of India]] on 11 December 1936 under the [[regnal name]] of George VI. Elizabeth became queen and empress. [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth|Their coronation]] took place in Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937, the date previously scheduled for [[Edward VIII's coronation]]. [[Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Elizabeth's crown]] was made of platinum and was set with the [[Koh-i-Noor]] diamond.<ref>Shawcross, p. 397</ref>

Edward married Wallis Simpson, and they became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but while Edward was a Royal Highness, George VI withheld the style from Wallis, a decision that Elizabeth supported.<ref>Letter from George VI to Winston Churchill in which the King says his family shared his view, quoted by Howarth, p. 143</ref> Elizabeth was later quoted as referring to Wallis as "that woman",<ref>Michie, Alan A. (17 March 1941) ''[[Life Magazine]]'', quoted by Vickers, p. 224</ref> and Wallis referred to Elizabeth as "Cookie", because of her supposed resemblance to a fat Scots cook.<ref name="moore"/> Claims that Elizabeth remained embittered towards Wallis were denied by her close friends; the [[Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton|Duke of Grafton]] wrote that she "never said anything nasty about the Duchess of Windsor, except to say she really hadn't got a clue what she was dealing with".<ref>Hogg and Mortimer, pp. 84–85</ref>

===Overseas visits===
In summer 1938, a state visit to France by the King and Queen was postponed for three weeks because of the death of Elizabeth's mother. In two weeks, [[Norman Hartnell]] created an all-white trousseau for Elizabeth, who could not wear colours as she was still in [[Mourning#White mourning|mourning]].<ref>Shawcross, pp. 430–433</ref> The visit was designed to bolster Anglo-French solidarity in the face of aggression from [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>Shawcross, p. 430</ref> The French press praised the demeanour and charm of the royal couple during the delayed but successful visit, augmented by Hartnell's wardrobe.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 434–436</ref>

Nevertheless, Nazi aggression continued, and the government prepared for war. After the [[Munich Agreement]] of 1938 appeared to forestall the advent of armed conflict, the British prime minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] was invited onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the King and Queen to receive acclamation from a crowd of well-wishers.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 438–443</ref> While broadly popular among the general public, [[Chamberlain's policy towards Hitler]] was the subject of some opposition in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]], which led historian [[John Grigg]] to describe George VI's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".<ref>[[Hitchens, Christopher]] (1 April 2002) [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/01/queenmother.monarchy9 "Mourning will be brief"], ''The Guardian'', retrieved 1 May 2009.</ref> However, historians argue that the King only ever followed ministerial advice and acted as he was constitutionally bound to do.<ref>{{citation|last=Sinclair|first=David|title=Two Georges: the Making of the Modern Monarchy|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|year=1988|page=230|isbn=978-0-340-33240-5}}</ref>

[[File:King George VI and Queen Elizabeth acknowledge the crowds at Toronto City Hall during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada.jpg|thumb|King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at [[Old City Hall (Toronto)|Toronto City Hall]], 1939]]
In May and June 1939, Elizabeth and her husband [[1939 royal tour of Canada|toured Canada]] from coast to coast and back, the first time a reigning monarch had toured Canada.<ref>{{citation |last1=Powell |first1=James |title=The 1939 Royal Visit |url=https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/ottawa-stories/momentous-events-in-the-city-s-life/the-1939-royal-visit |website=The Historical Society of Ottawa |access-date=31 October 2021 |location=Ottawa |quote=It was the first visit by a reigning sovereign to Canada...}}</ref> They also visited the United States, spending time with President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] at the [[White House]] and his [[Hudson Valley]] [[Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site|estate]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Bell|first=Peter|title=The Foreign Office and the 1939 Royal Visit to America: Courting the USA in an Era of Isolationism|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=37|issue=4|pages=599–616|date=October 2002|jstor=3180762|doi=10.1177/00220094020370040601|s2cid=159572988}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Rhodes|first=Benjamin D.|year=2001|title=United States foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918–1941|page=153|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0-275-94825-2}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author-link=David Reynolds (English historian)|last=Reynolds|first=David|date=August 1983|title=FDR's Foreign Policy and the British Royal Visit to the U.S.A., 1939|journal=Historian|volume=45|issue=4|pages=461–472|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1983.tb01576.x}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Rhodes|first=Benjamin D.|date=April 1978|title=The British Royal Visit of 1939 and the "Psychological Approach" to the United States|journal=Diplomatic History|volume=2|issue=2|pages=197–211|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1978.tb00431.x}}</ref> First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] said that Elizabeth was "perfect as a Queen, gracious, informed, saying the right thing & kind but a little self-consciously regal".<ref>Shawcross, p. 479</ref> The tour was designed to bolster trans-Atlantic support in the event of war, and to affirm Canada's status as an independent kingdom sharing with Britain the [[personal union|same person as monarch]].<ref>{{citation|last=Galbraith|first=William|title=Fiftieth Anniversary of the 1939 Royal Visit |journal=Canadian Parliamentary Review|volume=12|issue=3|pages=7–8|year=1989|url=http://www.revparl.ca/12/3/12n3_89e.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703142342/http://www.revparl.ca/12/3/12n3_89e.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-03 |url-status=live |access-date=14 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last1=Bousfield|first1=Arthur|last2=Toffoli|first2=Garry|title=Royal Spring: The Royal Tour of 1939 and the Queen Mother in Canada|publisher=Dundurn Press|year=1989|location=Toronto|pages=65–66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Go5p_CN8UQC|isbn=978-1-55002-065-6}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Lanctot|first=Gustave|author-link=Gustave Lanctot|title=Royal Tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Canada and the United States of America 1939|publisher=E. P. Taylor Foundation|year=1964|location=Toronto}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/politics-government-law/pages/diaries-william-lyon-mackenzie-king.aspx |chapter-url=https://archive.today/20120629064535/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1070.06-e.html|first=William Lyon Mackenzie|last=King|via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|author-link=William Lyon Mackenzie King|title=Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1893 to 1950|chapter=The Royal Tour of 1939|date=23 July 2022 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada|access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref>

According to an often-told story, during one of the earliest of the royal couple's repeated encounters with the crowds, a [[Boer War]] veteran asked Elizabeth, "Are you [[Scottish people|Scots]] or are you English?" She replied, "I am a Canadian!"<ref>Speech delivered by Her Majesty the Queen at the Fairmont Hotel, Vancouver, Monday, 7 October 2002 as reported in e.g. Joyce, Greg (8 October 2002) "Queen plays tribute to Canada, thanks citizens for their support", [[The Canadian Press]]</ref> Their reception by the Canadian and U.S. public was extremely enthusiastic,<ref>Shawcross, pp. 457–461; Vickers, p. 187</ref> and largely dissipated any residual feeling that they were a lesser substitute for Edward VIII.{{Sfn|Bradford|1989|pages=298–299}} Elizabeth told Canadian prime minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]], "that tour made us",{{Sfn|Bradford|1989|page=281}} and she [[Royal tours of Canada#Other royal family members|returned to Canada]] frequently both on official tours and privately.<ref>{{citation|title=Past Royal Tours – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (d. March 30, 2002)|url=http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1445001961355|publisher=Government of Canada|access-date=16 February 2017|date=31 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216152841/http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1445001961355|archive-date=16 February 2017}}</ref>

===Second World War===
[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth in London, England - NARA - 195320.png|thumb|[[Eleanor Roosevelt]] (centre), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London, 23 October 1942]]
During the [[Second World War]], the royal couple became symbols of the fight against fascism.<ref>Shawcross, p. 515</ref> Shortly after the declaration of war, ''[[The Queen's Book of the Red Cross]]'' was conceived. Fifty authors and artists contributed to the book, which was fronted by [[Cecil Beaton]]'s portrait of Elizabeth and was sold in aid of the [[Red Cross]].<ref>Vickers, p. 205</ref> She also broadcast to the nation in an attempt to comfort families during the [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuation of children]] and the mobilisation of fighting-age men.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4h2DN2sQI|title=Queen Elizabeth Speaks to The Nation as World War II Begins|work=British Pathé War Archives|date=16 May 2012|accessdate=18 January 2023|via=YouTube}}</ref> Elizabeth publicly refused to leave London or send the children to Canada, even during [[the Blitz]], when the [[British Cabinet]] advised her to do so. She declared, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave."<ref>{{citation |title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother |url=https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=www.royal.uk}}</ref>

Elizabeth visited troops, hospitals, factories, and parts of Britain that were targeted by the German [[Luftwaffe]], in particular the [[East End]] near [[London's docks]]. Her visits initially provoked hostility; rubbish was thrown at her and the crowds jeered, in part because she wore expensive clothes that served to alienate her from people suffering the deprivations of war.<ref name="moore">{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/queenmother/article/0,,676855,00.html|first=Lucy|last=Moore|title=A wicked twinkle and a streak of steel|newspaper=The Guardian|date=31 March 2002|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> She explained that if the public came to see her they would wear their best clothes, so she should reciprocate in kind; Norman Hartnell dressed her in gentle colours and avoided black to represent "the rainbow of hope".<ref>Hartnell, Norman (1955), ''Silver and Gold'', Evans Bros., pp. 101–102, quoted in Shawcross, p. 526 and Vickers, p. 219</ref> When Buckingham Palace itself took several hits during the height of the bombing, Elizabeth said, "I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face."<ref>{{Citation|author-link=John Wheeler-Bennett|last=Wheeler-Bennett|first=Sir John|title=King George VI: His Life and Reign|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|year=1958}}</ref>

[[File:The Queen and Princess Elizabeth talk to paratroopers in front of a Halifax aircraft during a tour of airborne forces preparing for D-Day, 19 May 1944. H38612.jpg|thumb|left|The Queen and Princess Elizabeth talk to [[paratroopers]] preparing for [[D-Day]], 19 May 1944]]
Though the King and Queen spent the working day at Buckingham Palace, partly for security and family reasons they stayed at night at [[Windsor Castle]] about {{convert|20|mi}} west of central London with their daughters. The palace had lost much of its staff to the [[British Army|army]], and most of the rooms were shut.<ref>Vickers, p. 229</ref> The windows were shattered by bomb blasts, and had to be boarded up.<ref>Shawcross, p. 528</ref> During the "[[Phoney War]]" the Queen was given revolver training because of fears of imminent invasion.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bradford|1989|page=321}}; Shawcross, p. 516</ref>

French prime minister [[Édouard Daladier]] characterised Elizabeth as "an excessively ambitious young woman who would be ready to sacrifice every other country in the world so that she may remain Queen."<ref name="moore"/> [[Adolf Hitler]] is said to have called her "the most dangerous woman in Europe" because he viewed her popularity as a threat to German interests.<ref>{{citation|author-link=Richard M. Langworth|first=Richard M.|last=Langworth|url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-114/hm-queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother-1900-2002|date=Spring 2002|title=HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 1900–2002|publisher=The Churchill Centre|access-date=1 May 2010}}</ref> However, before the war both she and her husband, like most of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] and the British public, had supported appeasement and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, believing after the experience of the First World War that war had to be avoided at all costs. After the resignation of Chamberlain, the King asked [[Winston Churchill]] to form a government. Although the King was initially suspicious of Churchill's character and motives, in due course the royal couple came to respect and admire him.<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=H.C.G.|last=Matthew|author-link=Colin Matthew|title=George VI (1895–1952)|id=33370|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref>Vickers, pp. 210–211</ref>

===Post-war years===
[[File:Rhodesie Sud timbre 1drouge 041947.jpg|thumb|[[Southern Rhodesia]]n stamp celebrating the 1947 royal tour of Southern Africa]]
In the [[1945 British general election]], Churchill's Conservative Party was soundly defeated by the Labour Party of [[Clement Attlee]]. Elizabeth's political views were rarely disclosed,<ref>Shawcross, p. 412.</ref> but a letter she wrote in 1947 described Attlee's "high hopes of a socialist heaven on earth" as fading and presumably describes those who voted for him as "poor people, so many half-educated and bemused. I do love them."<ref>{{citation|first=Andrew|last=Pierce|title=What Queen Mother really thought of Attlee's socialist 'heaven on earth'|work=The Times|date=13 May 2006|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article717201.ece|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110604115803/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article717201.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|access-date=1 May 2009|location=London, UK}}</ref> [[Woodrow Wyatt]] thought her "much more pro-Conservative" than other members of the royal family,<ref>{{citation|author=Wyatt, Woodrow|author-link=Woodrow Wyatt|editor-last=Curtis|editor-first=Sarah|title=The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume I|year=1998|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|page=255|isbn=978-0-333-74166-5}}</ref> but she later told him, "I like the dear old Labour Party."<ref>Wyatt, ''Volume I'' p. 309</ref> She also told the [[Fortune FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton|Duchess of Grafton]], "I love communists."<ref>Hogg and Mortimer, p. 89</ref>

During the 1947 royal tour of [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]], Elizabeth's serene public behaviour was broken, exceptionally, when she rose from the royal car to strike an admirer with her umbrella because she had mistaken his enthusiasm for hostility.<ref>{{Harvnb |Bradford|1989|page=391}}; Shawcross, p. 618</ref> The 1948 royal tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed because of the King's declining health. In March 1949, he had a successful operation to improve the circulation in his right leg.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 637–640</ref> In summer 1951, Elizabeth and her daughters fulfilled the King's public engagements in his place. In September, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 645–647</ref> After a lung resection, he appeared to recover, but the delayed trip to Australia and New Zealand was altered so that Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Duke of Edinburgh]], went in the King and Queen's place in January 1952.<ref>Shawcross, p. 651</ref> [[George VI died]] in his sleep on 6 February 1952 while Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were in Kenya on a Commonwealth tour, and with George's death his daughter immediately became Queen Elizabeth II.<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1802079.stm|title=The day the King died|publisher=BBC|date=6 February 2002|access-date=15 June 2022|archive-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530041904/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1802079.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Queen mother==
===Widowhood===
[[File:QueenMotherCharterDay.jpeg|thumb|left|As guest of honour at the [[Columbia University Bicentennial]] in New York City, October 1954]]
Shortly after George VI's death, 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, Queen Elizabeth II.<ref>{{citation|publisher=CBC News|last=McCluskey|first=Peter|title=Elizabeth: The Queen Mother|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/queenmother|access-date=1 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828142509/http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/queenmother|archive-date=28 August 2013}}</ref> Popularly, she became the "Queen Mother" or the "Queen Mum".<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002170,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022111653/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002170,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2010|title=Elizabeth, Queen Consort, 1900–2002: A Mum for All Seasons|magazine=Time|date=8 April 2002|last=Iyer|first=Pico|access-date=16 February 2017}}</ref> She was devastated by her husband's death and retired to Scotland. However, after a meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, she broke her retirement and resumed her public duties.<ref>Hogg and Mortimer, p. 161</ref> Eventually, she became just as busy as [[queen mother]] as she had been as queen consort. 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 the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland—the current [[University of Zimbabwe]].<ref>Shawcross, pp. 686–688; Vickers, p. 324</ref> Upon her return to the region in 1957, Elizabeth was inaugurated as the college's president, and attended other events that were deliberately designed to be multi-racial.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 710–713</ref> 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 III|Charles]] and [[Anne, Princess Royal|Anne]].<ref>Shawcross, pp. 689–690</ref> In February 1959, she visited Kenya and Uganda.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2001414/queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother-at-the-west-of-kenya-show-eldoret-kenya|title=Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the West of Kenya Show, Eldoret, Kenya Feb 1959|publisher=Royal Collection Trust|access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2602350/visit-of-her-majesty-queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother-kenya-uganda-1959|title=Visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Kenya, Uganda, 1959|publisher=Royal Collection Trust|access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref>

[[File:The Queen Mother arriving at Walker Naval Yard (26833808960).jpg|thumb|The Queen Mother arriving at [[Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne|Walker]] Naval Yard, June 1961]]
Elizabeth oversaw the restoration of the remote [[Castle of Mey]], on the north coast of Scotland, which she used to "get away from everything"<ref>Vickers, p. 314</ref> for three weeks in August and ten days in October each year.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.castleofmey.org.uk/castleofmeyhistory.cfm?PageID=8|title=The Queen Elizabeth Castle Of Mey Trust|access-date=6 March 2013|archive-date=25 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425061723/http://www.castleofmey.org.uk/castleofmeyhistory.cfm?PageID=8|url-status=dead}}</ref> She developed her interest in horse racing, particularly [[Steeplechase (horse racing)|steeplechasing]], which had been inspired by the amateur jockey [[Lord Mildmay|Lord Mildmay of Flete]] in 1949.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 703–704</ref> She owned the winners of approximately 500 races. 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.<ref>Vickers, p. 458</ref> As an art collector, she purchased works by [[Claude Monet]], [[Augustus John]] and [[Peter Carl Fabergé]], among others.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/the-collectors/queen-elizabeth|title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|publisher=The Royal Collection|access-date=31 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921144532/http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/the-collectors/queen-elizabeth|archive-date=21 September 2012}}</ref>

In February 1964, Elizabeth had an emergency appendectomy, which led to the postponement of a planned tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji until 1966.<ref>Shawcross, p. 806</ref> She recuperated during a Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht, [[HMY Britannia|''Britannia'']].<ref>Shawcross, p. 807</ref> In December 1966, she underwent an operation to remove a tumour, after she was diagnosed with [[colon cancer]]. Contrary to rumours which subsequently spread, she did not have a [[colostomy]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8259474.stm|title=Queen Mother 'had colon cancer'|date=17 September 2009|access-date=22 September 2009|publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>Shawcross, p. 817</ref> She was diagnosed with [[breast cancer]] in 1984 and a lump was removed from her breast. Her bouts with cancer were never made public during her lifetime.<ref>Shawcross, p. 875</ref>

[[File:H.M. The Queen Mother Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|left|upright|At [[Dover Castle]], portrait by [[Allan Warren]]]]
During her widowhood, Elizabeth continued to travel extensively, including on over forty official visits overseas.<ref name="royal.uk">{{citation |title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother |url=https://www.royal.uk/queen-elizabeth-queen-mother |website=The Royal Family |date=21 December 2015 |access-date=28 May 2021}}</ref> In 1975, she visited Iran at the invitation of Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]]. The British ambassador and his wife, [[Anthony Parsons|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.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 822–823</ref> Between 1976 and 1984, she made annual summer visits to France,<ref>Shawcross, pp. 827–831</ref> which were among 22 private trips to continental Europe between 1963 and 1992.<ref>Shawcross, p. 835</ref>

In 1982, Elizabeth was rushed to hospital when a fish bone became stuck in her throat, and had an operation to remove it. Being a keen [[angling|angler]], she calmly joked afterwards, "The salmon have got their own back."<ref name="straits">{{citation|title=Queen of Quips|journal=The Straits Times|date=7 August 2000}}</ref> Similar incidents occurred at [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]] in August 1986, when she was hospitalised at [[Aberdeen Royal Infirmary]] overnight but no operation was needed,<ref>Shawcross, p. 878; Vickers, p. 449</ref> and in May 1993, when she was admitted to the Infirmary for surgery under [[general anaesthetic]].<ref>{{citation|work=BBC News|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/262249.stm|title=Queen Mother recovers after operation|access-date=8 August 2013|date=25 January 1999}}</ref>

In 1987, Elizabeth was criticised when it emerged that two of her nieces, [[Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon]], had been committed to [[Royal Earlswood Hospital|a psychiatric hospital in Redhill, Surrey]], in 1941 because they had severe learning disabilities.<ref>{{citation |first=Samantha |last=Vincenty |title=All About Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, the Queen's Hidden Cousins |url=https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a34576867/queen-elizabeth-hidden-cousins-nerissa-katherine-bowes-lyon/#:~:text=Nerissa%20Bowes%2DLyon%20and%20Katherine,subject%20of%20a%202011%20documentary |work=Oprah Daily |date=23 November 2020 |access-date=17 April 2021}}</ref> However, ''[[Burke's Peerage]]'' had listed the sisters as dead, apparently because their mother, Fenella (Elizabeth's sister-in-law), "was 'extremely vague' when it came to filling in forms and might not have completed the paperwork for the family entry correctly".<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9988709.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522210832/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9988709.html|archive-date=22 May 2013|first=Neil|last=MacKay|title=Nieces abandoned in state-run mental asylum and declared dead to avoid public shame|journal=The Sunday Herald|date=7 April 2002|access-date=13 February 2007}}</ref> When Nerissa died in 1986, her grave was originally marked with a plastic tag and a serial number. Elizabeth said that the news of their institutionalisation came as a surprise to her.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/23/queenmother.monarchy|first=Ben|last=Summerskill|author-link=Ben Summerskill|title=Princess the palace hides away|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 July 2000|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref>

===Centenarian===
[[File:Queen Mum Flame July 7 1989.jpg|thumb|At [[Banting House]] during a royal visit to Canada, 1989]]
In her later years, Elizabeth 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 a patron.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 732, 882</ref> 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.<ref>Shawcross, pp. 903–904</ref> In 1998, her left hip was replaced after it was broken when she slipped and fell during a visit to [[Sandringham House|Sandringham]] stables.<ref>Shawcross, p. 912</ref>

Elizabeth's 100th birthday was celebrated in a number of ways: a parade, with contributions from Sir [[Norman Wisdom]] and Sir [[John Mills]], celebrated highlights of her life;<ref>{{citation|publisher=BBC|title=Birthday pageant for Queen Mother|date=19 July 2000|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/841740.stm|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> the [[Royal Bank of Scotland]] issued a commemorative £20 note with her image;<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.rampantscotland.com/SCM/qetqm100.htm|title=Commemorative Bank Note for 100th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother|publisher=Rampant Scotland|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref>Vickers, p. 490</ref> In November 2000, she broke her collarbone in a fall that kept her recuperating at home over Christmas and the New Year holiday.<ref>Shawcross, p. 925</ref>

On 1 August 2001, Elizabeth 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.<ref>{{citation|publisher=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1470869.stm|title=Queen Mother leaves hospital|date=2 August 2001|access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{citation|publisher=BBC |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1473418.stm|title=Queen Mother's 101st birthday|date=4 August 2001|access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref> Her final public engagements included planting a cross at the [[Field of Remembrance]] on 8 November 2001;<ref>{{citation|publisher=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1644906.stm|title=Queen Mother attends memorial event|date=8 November 2001|access-date=15 September 2013}}</ref> a reception at the Guildhall, London, for the reformation of the [[No. 600 Squadron RAuxAF|600 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force]] on 15 November;<ref>{{citation|publisher=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/royalty/6840783/Pictures-of-the-decade-the-Royal-family.html?image=6|title=Pictures of the decade: the Royal family|access-date=15 September 2013|date=18 December 2009}}</ref> and attending the re-commissioning of {{HMS|Ark Royal|R07|6}} on 22 November.<ref>{{citation |title=Queen Mother celebrates ship's return |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1669597.stm |access-date=4 January 2021 |work=BBC News |date=22 November 2000}}</ref><ref>{{citation|publisher=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1785119.stm|title=Queen Mother 'better all the time'|date=27 January 2002|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/30/queenmother.monarchy10|title=Queen Mother dies peacefully, aged 101|date=30 March 2002|work=The Guardian|access-date=28 March 2019}}</ref>

In December 2001, aged 101, Elizabeth 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.<ref>Vickers, p. 495</ref> Just three days later, their second daughter, Princess Margaret, died. On 13 February 2002, Elizabeth fell and cut her arm in her sitting room at Sandringham House; an ambulance and doctor were called, and the wound was dressed.<ref name="bbc">{{citation|publisher=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1818165.stm|title=Queen Mother hurt in minor fall|date=13 February 2002|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> 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,<ref>Shawcross, p. 930; Vickers, pp. 497–498</ref> 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;<ref name="fall">Vickers, pp. 497–498</ref> she was also rumoured to be hardly eating. Nevertheless, she flew to Windsor by helicopter, and so that no photographs of her in a wheelchair (which she hated being seen in) could be taken—she insisted that she be shielded from the press<ref name="fall"/>—she travelled to the service in a [[people carrier]] with blacked-out windows,<ref>{{citation|publisher=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC0SqYYQmIM| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211114/UC0SqYYQmIM| archive-date=14 November 2021 | url-status=live|title=BBC News bulletin after Queen Mother dies|date=30 March 2002|access-date=1 May 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{citation|publisher=The Birmingham Post|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Queen+Elizabeth+the+Queen+Mother%3A+Frailty+fails+to+dim+devotion+to...-a084329033|title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: Frailty fails to dim devotion to duty; Reaching old age.|date=1 April 2002|access-date=30 August 2013}}</ref> which had been previously used by Margaret.<ref name="fall" /><ref name="The Telegraph">{{citation|work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385035/Bell-tolls-for-Margarets-final-journey.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385035/Bell-tolls-for-Margarets-final-journey.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Bell tolls for Margaret's final journey|date=16 February 2002|access-date=22 September 2013|last1=Davies|first1=Caroline}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On 5 March 2002, Elizabeth attended the luncheon of the annual lawn party of the Eton Beagles and watched the [[Cheltenham Races]] on television; however, her health began to deteriorate precipitously during her last weeks, after she retreated to [[Royal Lodge]] for the final time.<ref>Vickers, pp. 498–499</ref>

==Death==
{{Main|Death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother}}
{{multiple image
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| image1    = Queen Mother Carriage.jpg
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| caption1  = The Queen Mother's funeral carriage. The coffin was draped with her personal [[Royal Standard of the United Kingdom#Consorts of the British monarch|standard]], shown below.
| image2    = Royal Standard of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.svg}}

On 30 March 2002, at 3:15&nbsp;pm, Elizabeth died at Royal Lodge, Windsor, at the age of 101. Her surviving daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, was by her side.<ref name=":0" /> The Queen Mother had been suffering from a [[chest cold]] since Christmas 2001.<ref name="bbc"/> At 101&nbsp;years and 238&nbsp;days old she was the longest-living member of the British royal family at the time of her death, and the first member of the family to [[List of longest-living members of the British royal family|live past the age of 100]]. Her surviving sister-in-law, [[Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester]],<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3165309.stm|title=The longest-lived Royal in history|last=Walker|first=Andrew|date=20 August 2003|work=BBC News|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> exceeded that, dying at the age of 102 on 29 October 2004.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1475448/Princess-Alice-the-oldest-ever-royal-dies-at-102.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1475448/Princess-Alice-the-oldest-ever-royal-dies-at-102.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Princess Alice, the oldest ever royal, dies at 102|work=The Telegraph|last=Alderson|first=Andrew|date=31 October 2004|access-date=30 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> She was one of the longest-lived members of any royal family.<ref>{{citation |last1=Coke |first1=Hope |title=The top 10 longest-living royals in history |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/longest-living-royals-top-10-oldest-royalty-in-history |website=Tatler |date=21 April 2021 |access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref>

Elizabeth grew [[camellia]]s in each of her gardens, and before her flag-draped coffin was taken from Windsor to [[lie in state]] at [[Westminster Hall]], an arrangement of camellias from her own gardens was placed on top.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/03/queenmother.monarchy5|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Stephen|last=Bates|access-date=1 May 2009|date=3 April 2002|title=Piper's farewell for Queen Mother}}</ref> An estimated 200,000 people over three days filed past as she lay in state in Westminster Hall at the [[Palace of Westminster]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occasions/lyinginstate/|title=Lying-in-state|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> Members of the [[Household Cavalry]] and other branches of the armed forces stood guard at the four corners of the [[catafalque]]. At one point, her four grandsons–Prince Charles, [[Prince Andrew]], [[Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Edward]] and [[David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon|Viscount Linley]]–mounted the guard as a mark of respect, an honour similar to the [[Vigil of the Princes]] at the lying in state of King George V.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/09/queenmother.monarchy2|title=Grandsons hold vigil as public files past|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 April 2002|access-date=29 June 2017|last1=Bates|first1=Stephen}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1918402.stm|title=Charles returns for second tribute|work=BBC News|date=9 April 2002|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>

On the day of Elizabeth's funeral, 9 April, the [[governor general of Canada]], [[Adrienne Clarkson]], issued a proclamation asking Canadians to honour Elizabeth's memory that day.<ref>{{citation|url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/SP2-4-136-5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414071337/http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/SP2-4-136-5.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-14 |url-status=live|journal=Canada Gazette Part II Extra|volume=136|number=5|last=Government of Canada Publications|title=Proclamation Requesting that the People of Canada Set Aside April&nbsp;9, 2002, as the Day on Which They Honour the Memory of Our Dearly Beloved Mother, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Who Passed Away on March&nbsp;30, 2002|date=4 April 2002|access-date=16 February 2017}}</ref> In Australia, Governor-General [[Peter Hollingworth]] read the [[lection|lesson]] at a memorial service held in [[St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney]].<ref>{{citation|publisher=Sydney Anglicans|title=Memorial Service for HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother|url=http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/mediareleases/23a|access-date=2 March 2011|date=9 April 2002}}</ref>

In London, more than a million people filled the area outside Westminster Abbey and along the {{convert|23|mi|km|adj=on}} route from central London to Elizabeth's final resting place in the [[King George VI Memorial Chapel]] beside her husband and younger daughter in St George's Chapel.<ref>{{citation|publisher=CNN|title=Queues at Queen Mother vault|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/10/uk.queenmum/index.html|access-date=1 May 2009|date=10 April 2002|archive-date=17 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117233757/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/10/uk.queenmum/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> At her request, after her funeral the [[wreath]] that had lain atop her coffin was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in a gesture that echoed her wedding-day tribute 79 years before.<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1920360.stm|publisher=BBC|date=10 April 2002|access-date=1 May 2009|title=Mourners visit Queen Mother's vault}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Known for her personal and public charm,<ref name="ezard" /> Elizabeth was one of the most popular members of the [[British royal family|royal family]],<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/monarchyroyal-family-trends-most-liked-members-royal-family?language_content_entity=en-uk|title=Monarchy/Royal Family Trends – Most Liked Members of the Royal Family|date=19 November 2012|publisher=Ipsos MORI|access-date=9 May 2015}}</ref> and helped to stabilise the popularity of the [[British monarchy|monarchy]] as a whole.<ref name="lawrence">[[Goldman, Lawrence]] (May 2006) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76927 "Elizabeth (1900–2002)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/76927}}, retrieved 1 May 2009 (Subscription required)</ref><ref>Shawcross, p. 942</ref>

Elizabeth's critics included [[Kitty Kelley]], who falsely alleged that she did not abide by the [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|rationing regulations]] during the Second World War.<ref name="kelley">{{citation|first=Kitty|last=Kelley|author-link=Kitty Kelley|title=The Royals|publisher=Time Warner|location=New York|year=1977}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last1=Picknett|first1=Lynn|author-link=Lynn Picknett|last2=Prince|first2=Clive|last3=Prior|first3=Stephen|last4=Brydon|first4=Robert|title=War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|year=2002|isbn=978-1-84018-631-4|page=161}}</ref> This, however, was contradicted by the official records,<ref>The memoirs of the [[Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton|Rt. Hon. the Earl of Woolton C.H., P.C., D.L., LL.D.]] (1959) London: Cassell</ref><ref>Roberts, p. 67</ref> and Eleanor Roosevelt during her wartime stay at Buckingham Palace reported expressly on the rationed food served in the Palace and the limited bathwater that was permitted.<ref>{{citation|last=Goodwin|first=Doris Kearns|author-link=Doris Kearns Goodwin|title=No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|year=1995|page=380}}</ref><ref>Shawcross, pp. 556–557</ref> Claims that Elizabeth used racist slurs to refer to black people<ref name="kelley"/> were strongly denied by Major Colin Burgess,<ref>{{citation|first=Major Colin|last=Burgess|title=Behind Palace Doors: My Service as the Queen Mother's Equerry|publisher=John Blake Publishing|year=2006|page=233}}</ref> the husband of Elizabeth Burgess, a mixed-race secretary who accused members of Prince Charles's household of racial abuse.<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1697526.stm|title=Royal secretary loses race bias case|publisher=BBC|date=7 December 2001|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> Elizabeth made no public comments on race, but according to [[Robert Rhodes James]], in private she "abhorred racial discrimination" and decried [[apartheid]] as "dreadful".<ref>{{citation|first=Robert|last=Rhodes James|author-link=Robert Rhodes James|year=1998|title=A Spirit Undaunted: The Political Role of George VI|location=London|publisher=Little, Brown and Co|isbn=978-0-316-64765-6|page=296}}</ref> Woodrow Wyatt records in his diary that when he expressed the view that non-white countries have nothing in common with "us", she told him, "I am very keen on the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]. They're all like us."<ref>{{citation|author=Wyatt, Woodrow|author-link=Woodrow Wyatt|editor-last=Curtis|editor-first=Sarah|title=The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume II|year=1999|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|page=547|isbn=978-0-333-77405-2}}</ref> However, she did distrust Germans; she told Wyatt, "Never trust them, never trust them."<ref>Wyatt, ''Volume II'', p. 608</ref> While she may have held such views, it has been argued that they were normal for British people of her generation and upbringing, who had experienced two vicious wars with Germany.<ref>Bates, Stephen (1 April 2002), [https://www.theguardian.com/queenmother/article/0,,677159,00.html "Enigmatic and elusive, she lent a mystique to upper-class strengths and failings"], ''The Guardian''; retrieved 1 May 2009.</ref>

[[File:London England Victor Grigas 2011-31 cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial]]: A bronze statue of Elizabeth on [[The Mall, London]], overlooked by the statue of her husband George VI]]
In his official biography, [[William Shawcross]] portrays Elizabeth as a person whose indomitable optimism, zest for life, good manners, mischievous sense of humour, and interest in people and subjects of all kinds contributed to her exceptional popularity and to her longevity. Sir [[Hugh Casson]] said Elizabeth was like "a wave breaking on a rock, because although she is sweet and pretty and charming, she also has a basic streak of toughness and tenacity.&nbsp;... when a wave breaks on a rock, it showers and sparkles with a brilliant play of foam and droplets in the sun, yet beneath is really hard, tough rock, fused, in her case, from strong principles, physical courage and a sense of duty."<ref>Hogg and Mortimer, p. 122</ref> Sir [[Peter Ustinov]] described her during a student demonstration at the [[University of Dundee]] in 1968:{{blockquote|As we arrived in a solemn procession the students pelted us with toilet rolls. They kept hold of one end, like streamers at a ball, and threw the other end. The Queen Mother stopped and picked these up as though somebody had misplaced them. [Returning them to the students she said,] 'Was this yours? Oh, could you take it?' And it was her sang-froid and her absolute refusal to be shocked by this, which immediately silenced all the students. She knows instinctively what to do on those occasions. She doesn't rise to being heckled at all; she just pretends it must be an oversight on the part of the people doing it. The way she reacted not only showed her presence of mind, but was so charming and so disarming, even to the most rabid element, that she brought peace to troubled waters.<ref>Hogg and Mortimer, pp. 212–213</ref>}}

Elizabeth was well known for her dry witticisms. On hearing that [[Edwina Mountbatten]] was buried at sea, she said: "Dear Edwina, she always liked to make a splash."<ref name="straits"/> Accompanied by the gay writer Sir [[Noël Coward]] at a gala, she mounted a staircase lined with guards. Noticing Coward's eyes flicker momentarily across the soldiers, she murmured to him: "I wouldn't if I were you, Noël; they count them before they put them out."<ref name="blaikie">{{citation|first=Thomas|last=Blaikie|title=You look awfully like the Queen: Wit and Wisdom from the House of Windsor|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London, UK|year=2002|isbn=978-0-00-714874-5}}</ref>

After being advised by a Conservative minister in the 1970s not to employ homosexuals, Elizabeth observed that without them, "we'd have to go self-service".<ref name="blaikie"/> On the fate of a gift of a [[Nebuchadnezzar (wine)|nebuchadnezzar]] of champagne (20 bottles' worth) even if her family did not come for the holidays, she said, "I'll polish it off myself."<ref>{{citation|first=Graham|last=Taylor|title=Elizabeth: The Woman and the Queen|publisher=Telegraph Books|year=2002|page=93}}</ref> Emine Saner of ''[[The Guardian]]'' suggests that with a [[gin]] and [[Dubonnet]] at noon, red wine with lunch, a [[Port wine|port]] and [[Martini (cocktail)|martini]] at 6&nbsp;pm and two glasses of champagne at dinner, "a conservative estimate puts the number of [[alcohol units]] she drank at 70 a week".<ref>{{citation|last=Saner|first=Emine|title=Bring back the magic hour|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/25/monarchy.features11|access-date=24 March 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|date=25 July 2006}}</ref> Her lifestyle amused journalists, particularly when it was revealed she had a multi-million [[pound sterling|pound]] overdraft with [[Coutts]] Bank.<ref>{{citation|first=Christopher|last=Morgan|title=The Sunday Times|date=14 March 1999}}</ref>

Elizabeth's habits were parodied by the satirical 1980s [[British television|television]] programme ''[[Spitting Image]]''.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-26329273|title=Spitting Image creator John Lloyd: 'Television lacks satire'|work=BBC News|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref> This was the first satirical depiction on television; the makers initially demurred from featuring her, fearing that it would be considered off-limits by most of the viewing public.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.ft.com/content/52bfb566-77e9-11dd-acc3-0000779fd18c |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/52bfb566-77e9-11dd-acc3-0000779fd18c |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live|title='Spitting Image' fuses politics with puppetry, 1984|work=Financial Times|date=6 September 2008|access-date=4 July 2018|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In the end, she was portrayed as a perpetually tipsy [[Beryl Reid]] soundalike.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jun/24/tvandradio.theguide|title=Dead ringers|date=23 June 2006|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=4 July 2018}}</ref> She was portrayed by [[Juliet Aubrey]] in ''[[Bertie and Elizabeth]]'', [[Sylvia Syms]] in [[The Queen (2006 film)|''The Queen'']], [[Natalie Dormer]] in ''[[W.E.]]'', [[Olivia Colman]] in ''[[Hyde Park on Hudson]]'', [[Victoria Hamilton]] (Seasons 1 and 2), [[Marion Bailey]] (Seasons 3 and 4) and [[Marcia Warren]] (Season 5 and 6)<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1693442/queen-mother-the-crown-season-5|title=Who plays the Queen Mother in The Crown season 5?|accessdate=November 15, 2022|website=Express|date=7 November 2022 }}</ref> in ''[[The Crown (TV series)|The Crown]]'' and in ''The King's Speech'' by [[Helena Bonham Carter]], who was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] and won a [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role]] for her portrayal.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12432378|title=King's Speech reigns over Bafta awards|date=14 February 2011|work=BBC News|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/18/uk.movie.nominations|title='The King's Speech' leads the pack in BAFTA nominations|publisher=CNN International|date=18 January 2011|access-date=1 July 2017|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509095003/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/18/uk.movie.nominations/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Qew-lg.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Queen Elizabeth Way Monument]] in Toronto, with a [[Relief|bas-relief]] of Queen Elizabeth and King George VI]]
The [[Cunard Line|Cunard White Star Line's]] {{RMS|Queen Elizabeth}} was named after her. She launched the ship on 27 September 1938 in [[Clydebank]], Scotland. Supposedly, the liner started to slide into the water before Elizabeth could officially launch her, and acting sharply, she managed to smash a bottle of Australian red over the liner's bow just before it slid out of reach.<ref>Hutchings, David F. (2003) ''Pride of the North Atlantic. A Maritime Trilogy'', Waterfront.</ref> In 1954, Elizabeth sailed to New York on her namesake.<ref>Harvey, Clive (25 October 2008) ''RMS "Queen Elizabeth": The Ultimate Ship'', Carmania Press.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

A statue of Elizabeth by sculptor [[Philip Jackson (sculptor)|Philip Jackson]] was unveiled in front of the George VI Memorial, off [[The Mall, London]], on 24 February 2009, creating the [[King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7906986.stm|title=Prince hails Queen Mother tribute|date=24 February 2009|publisher=BBC|access-date=6 March 2013}}</ref>

In March 2011, Elizabeth's eclectic musical taste was revealed when details of her small record collection kept at the Castle of Mey were made public. Her records included [[ska]], local folk, Scottish reels and the musicals ''[[Oklahoma!]]'' and ''[[The King and I]]'', and artists such as yodeller [[Montana Slim]], [[Tony Hancock]], [[The Goons]] and Noël Coward.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8379979/The-Queen-Mothers-regal-taste-in-music.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8379979/The-Queen-Mothers-regal-taste-in-music.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Queen Mother's regal taste in music|work=The Telegraph|date=14 March 2011|access-date=6 March 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Eight years before her death, Elizabeth had reportedly placed two-thirds of her money (an estimated £19 million)<ref name="Guardian-Overdraft">{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/03/queenmother.monarchy2|title=The gamble that foiled the taxman|first=Stephen|last=Bates|date=2 April 2002|access-date=2 June 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> into [[trusts]], for the benefit of her great-grandchildren.<ref name="Queen Inherits">{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1993665.stm|title=Queen Inherits Queen Mother's Estate|work=BBC News|date=17 May 2002|access-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> In her lifetime, she received £643,000 a year from the [[Civil List]], and spent an estimated £1–2 million annually to run [[Household of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|her household]].<ref name="Tel-Estate">{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1393928/The-will-without-a-bill.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1393928/The-will-without-a-bill.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The will without a bill|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=12 May 2002|access-date=2 June 2018|last1=Alderson|first1=Andrew}}{{cbignore}}</ref> By the end of the 1990s, her overdraft was said to be around £4 million.<ref name="Guardian-Overdraft"/><ref name="Tel-Estate"/> She left the bulk of her estate, estimated to be worth between £50 and £70&nbsp;million, including paintings, [[Fabergé egg]]s, jewellery, and horses, to her surviving daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.<ref name="Queen Inherits"/><ref name="Guardian-Estate">{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/may/18/queenmother.monarchy|title=Palace reveals details of Queen Mother's £50m will|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Stephen|last=Bates|date=17 May 2002|access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref> Under an agreement reached in 1993,<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/may/06/queenmother.inheritancetax|title=Tax loophole will save Queen £20m on her mother's will|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Jamie|last=Wilson|date=6 May 2002|access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref> property passing from monarch to monarch is exempt from [[Inheritance Tax in the United Kingdom|inheritance tax]], as is property passing from the consort of a former monarch to the current monarch, so a tax liability estimated at £28&nbsp;million (40 percent of the value of the estate) was not incurred.<ref>{{citation|title=Queen to escape £28 million inheritance tax|last=Chamberlain|first=Gethin|journal=The Scotsman|date=7 May 2002}}</ref> The most important pieces of art were transferred to the [[Royal Collection]] by Elizabeth II.<ref name="Queen Inherits"/> Following her death, the Queen successfully applied to the High Court so that details of her mother's will would be kept secret.<ref>{{citation|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1974678.stm?storyLink=%23|title=Queen Mother's will to be secret|publisher=BBC|date=8 May 2002|access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref> This brought criticism from Labour politicians and segments of the public, and the Queen eventually released the outlines of her mother's will.<ref name="Guardian-Estate"/>

==Titles, honours and arms==
{{Main|List of titles and honours of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother}}
===Titles and styles===
[[File:Queen Mother plaque Guernsey.jpg|thumb|right|A commemorative plaque displaying Elizabeth's title during widowhood in [[Guernsey]]]]
Elizabeth held numerous titles starting with her birth, as the daughter of an earl and through her marriage to the-then [[George VI|Duke of York]], who later became King-Emperor. She was the last person to be [[Empress of India]], and was [[British queen mothers|Queen Mother]] during widowhood.

===Arms===
Elizabeth's coat of arms was the [[royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom]] (in either the English or the Scottish version) [[impalement (heraldry)|impaled]] with the [[canting arms]] of her father, the [[Earl of Strathmore]]; the latter being: 1st and 4th [[Quartering (heraldry)|quarters]], [[Argent]], a lion [[rampant]] [[Azure (heraldry)|Azure]], armed and langued [[Gules]], within a double [[tressure]] flory-counter-flory of the second (Lyon); 2nd and 3rd quarters, [[Ermine (heraldry)|Ermine]], three bows stringed [[Pale (heraldry)|paleways]] proper (Bowes).<ref>{{citation|last=Brooke-Little|first=J. P.|author-link=John Brooke-Little|title=Boutell's Heraldry|orig-year=1950|edition=Revised|year=1978|publisher=Frederick Warne|location=London|isbn=978-0-7232-2096-1|page=220}}</ref> The shield is surmounted by the imperial crown, and supported by the crowned lion of England and a lion rampant per [[fess]] [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] and Gules.<ref>{{citation|last1=Pinches|first1=John Harvey|author-link=John Pinches|last2=Pinches|first2=Rosemary|title=The Royal Heraldry of England|series=Heraldry Today|year=1974|publisher=Hollen Street Press|location=Slough, Buckinghamshire|isbn=978-0-900455-25-4|page=267}}</ref>
{{Gallery|noborder=yes|width=220|height=200|mode=nolines|align=center
|File:Coat of Arms of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as Duchess of York.svg|Coat of arms of Elizabeth, Duchess of York (1923–1936)
|File:Coat of Arms of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.svg|Coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth
|File:Coat of arms of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Scotland) (2).svg|Coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth (Scotland)
|File:Royal Cypher of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.svg|[[Royal cypher]] of Queen Elizabeth
}}

== Issue ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Name !! rowspan="2" | Birth !! rowspan="2" | Death !!colspan="2"| Marriage !! rowspan="2" | Children !! rowspan="2" | Grandchildren
|-
! Date || Spouse  
|-
| rowspan="4" | [[Elizabeth II]] || rowspan="4" | 21 April 1926 || rowspan="4" | 8 September 2022 || rowspan="4" | 20 November 1947 || rowspan="4" | [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] || [[Charles III]] || [[William, Prince of Wales]]<br />[[Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex]]
|-
|| [[Anne, Princess Royal]] || [[Peter Phillips]]<br />[[Zara Tindall]]
|-
|| [[Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor]] || [[Princess Beatrice]]<br />[[Princess Eugenie]]
|-
|| [[Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh]] || [[Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor]]<br />[[James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex]]
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Princess Margaret]] || rowspan="2" | 21 August 1930 || rowspan="2" | 9 February 2002 || rowspan="2" | 6 May 1960<br />{{small|Divorced 11 July 1978}} || rowspan="2" | [[Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon]] || [[David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon]] || Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley<br />[[Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones]]
|-
|| [[Lady Sarah Chatto]] || [[Samuel Chatto]]<br />Arthur Chatto
|}

==Ancestry==
{{Ahnentafel
|align=center|collapsed=yes|ref=<ref>{{citation|last=Wagner|first=A. R.|author-link=Anthony Wagner|year=1940|title=Some of the Sixty-four Ancestors of Her Majesty the Queen|journal=Genealogist's Magazine|volume=9|issue=1|pages=7–13}}</ref>
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon'''
|2= 2. [[Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne]]
|3= 3. [[Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck]]
|4= 4. [[Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne]]
|5= 5. [[Frances Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne|Frances Smith]]
|6= 6. [[Charles Cavendish-Bentinck]]
|7= 7. [[Louisa Cavendish-Bentinck|Louisa Burnaby]]
|8= 8. Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis
|9= 9. Charlotte Grimstead
|10= 10. Oswald Smith
|11= 11. [[Henrietta Mildred Hodgson]]
|12= 12. [[Lord Charles Bentinck|Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck]]
|13= 13. [[Lady Charles Bentinck|Anne Wellesley]]
|14= 14. [[Edwyn Burnaby (courtier)|Edwyn Burnaby]]
|15= 15. [[Anne Caroline Salisbury]]
}}

==See also==
* [[Household of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]]
* [[List of covers of Time magazine (1930s)]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Citation |last=Bradford |first=Sarah |title=The Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI |date=1989 |publisher=St Martin's |author-link=Sarah Bradford}}
* {{Citation |last=Forbes |first=Grania |title=My Darling Buffy: The Early Life of The Queen Mother |date=1999 |publisher=Headline Book Publishing |isbn=978-0-7472-7387-5}}
* {{Citation |title=The Queen Mother Remembered |date=2002 |editor-last=Hogg |editor-first=James |publisher=BBC Books |isbn=978-0-563-36214-2 |editor-link=James Hogg |editor-last2=Mortimer |editor-first2=Michael}}
* {{Citation |last=Howarth |first=Patrick |title=George VI |date=1987 |publisher=Century Hutchinson |isbn=978-0-09-171000-2}}
* {{Cite ODNB |last=Goldman |first=Lawrence |title=Elizabeth (1900–2002) |date=May 2006 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76927 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/76927 |author-link=Lawrence Goldman}}
* {{Citation |last=Longford |first=Elizabeth |title=The Queen Mother |date=1981 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |author-link=Elizabeth Longford}}
* {{Citation |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |title=The House of Windsor |date=2000 |editor-last=Fraser |editor-first=Antonia |publisher=Cassell and Co. |isbn=978-0-304-35406-1 |author-link=Andrew Roberts (historian) |editor-link=Antonia Fraser}}
* {{Citation |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography |date=2009 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4050-4859-0 |author-link=William Shawcross}}
* {{Citation |last=Vickers |first=Hugo |title=Elizabeth, The Queen Mother |date=2006 |publisher=Arrow Books/Random House |isbn=978-0-09-947662-7 |author-link=Hugo Vickers}}

==Further reading==
* {{Citation |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother |url=https://archive.org/details/countingonesbles0000eliz_e9b4/page/n4/mode/1up |date=2012 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-75496-6 |author-link=William Shawcross}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q10633|c=Category:Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}
* [https://www.royal.uk/queen-elizabeth-queen-mother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother] at the official website of the Royal Family
* [https://www.rct.uk/collection/people/queen-elizabeth-of-the-united-kingdom-1900-2002#/ Queen Elizabeth] at the official website of the [[Royal Collection Trust]]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/004655}}
* {{NPG name}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-roy|uk}}
|-
{{s-vac|rows=2|last=[[Mary of Teck]]}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Queen consort of the United Kingdom]]<br />and the [[British Dominions]]
| years = 1936–1952
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Philip of Greece and Denmark]]
| as = consort
}}
|-
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Empress consort of India]]
| years = 1936–1947
}}
{{s-non
| reason = {{small|Title abandoned on 22 June 1948}}<sup>1</sup>
}}
|-
{{S-aca}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Stanley Baldwin|The Earl Baldwin of Bewdley]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = Visitor of [[Girton College, Cambridge]]
| years = 1948–2002
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[The Baroness Hale of Richmond]]
}}
{{S-bef
| before = [[Elizabeth II|The Princess Elizabeth]]
}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[Royal College of Music|President of the Royal College of Music]]
| years = 1953–1993
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[Charles III|The Prince of Wales]]
}}
{{S-bef
| before = [[The Earl of Athlone]]
}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[University of London|Chancellor of the University of London]]
| years = 1955–1981
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[The Princess Anne]]
}}
{{S-new|institution
}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[University of Dundee|Chancellor of the University of Dundee]]
| years = 1967–1977
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[Simon Ramsay, 16th Earl of Dalhousie|The Earl of Dalhousie]]
}}
{{S-hon}}
{{S-new}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order]]
| years = 1937–2002
}}
{{S-aft
| after = The Princess Royal
}}
{{S-bef
| before = [[Sir Robert Menzies]]
}}
{{S-ttl
| title = [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
| years = 1978–2002
}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce|The Lord Boyce]]
}}
{{S-ref|{{London Gazette|issue=38330|page=3647|date=22 June 1948}}}}

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}}
{{Authority control}}

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