Adult Nonfiction 921 EL414 2009 Summary: The official and
definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother:
consort of King George VI, mother of Queen Elizabeth II,
grandmother of Prince Charles--and the most beloved British
monarch of the twentieth century. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite
Bowes-Lyon--the ninth of the Earl of Strathmore's ten children--
was born on August 4, 1900, and, certainly, no one could have
imagined that her long life (she died in 2002) would come to
reflect a changing nation over the ourse of an entire century.
Now, William Shawcross--given unrestricted access to the Queen
Mother's personal papers, letters, and diaries--gives us a
portrait of unprecedented vividness and detail. Here is the girl
who helped convalescing soldiers during the First World War . .
. the young Duchess of York helping her reluctant husband assume
the throne when his brother abdicated . . . the Queen refusing
to take refuge from the bombing of London, risking her own life
to instill courage and hope in other