Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 1900 2002

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother 1900 - 2002 presents the life of a remarkable woman. A Canadian perspective on a sovereign who created and cultivated a special relationship with Canada, it is the portrait of a queen who always evoked passionate reactions. Whether it was the anonymous soldier who vowed "to fight for that little lady," Adolf Hitler who described her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe," or the Canadian journalist who coined the expression "the Queen Mum," the Queen Mother seldom left people unmoved. Opening with the royal tour of 1939, during which Canadians first felt her personal magnetism, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother 1900 - 2002 describes Elizabeth’s background and development, relating how she made a marriage that brought her to the centre stage of public life. It traces her tender support of her shy husband, a reluctant king, shows how she began her Commonwealth role, and recalls her shock at the sudden and unexpected call to wear the Crown. Faced with the never-ending duties of a queen, Elizabeth proved capable of providing inspired leadership for a society faced with the stark prospect of destruction in a war to save the world. On the premature death of her beloved husband she became Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, a role that has shaped nearly half her life, and one in which Canada has always played an important part. The authors analyze Her Majesty’s successes and failures, both public and private, against the background of a century of violent disruption, material achievement, and incredible change.

The Illustrated London News, the oldest illustrated magazine of social and historical record, is better placed than anyone to reflect not just on the Queen Mother`s remarkable and long life but on the tumultuous times she lived through. They have been researching and developing this book for nearly thirty years, putting together a specially commissioned text with exclusive photographs from their archives. Chapters on the Queen Mother`s life are interspersed with a photographic record of the century, from the first flight of the Zeppelin to splitting the atom, from the Hillary/Tensing conquest of Everest to the Kennedy assassination and September 11. This commemorative work will be updated to include photos taken at the ceremonial procession to commemorate the lying in state of the Queen Mum and The Illustrated London News will be allowed full access to Westminster Abbey to take photographs of the funeral.

Originally published in 1999, an account of the life of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, which is linked to the events of the twentieth century. It is illustrated with black and white and colour photographs and written by the author of MY DARLING BUFFY: THE EARLY LIFE OF THE QUEEN MOTHER.