Counting One's Blessings
-
-
3.0 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
One of the great revelations of William Shawcross's official biography was the Queen Mother's private correspondence. Indeed, the Sunday Times described her letters as "wonderful... brimful of liveliness and irreverence, steeliness and sweetness."
Now, drawing on the vast wealth of material in the Royal Archives, at Glamis Castle, and elsewhere, Shawcross has put together a selection of those letters. A prolific correspondent from her earliest childhood to the very end of her life, her letters offer readers a vivid insight into the person behind the public face.
Full of wit, hilarity, acute observation and a deeply held sense of duty, Queen Elizabeth's letters constitute a chronicle both of her long life and of the twentieth century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
On the eve of WWII, Queen Elizabeth, consort to King George VI, famously declared that she would not leave London: "The children could not go without me, I could not possibly leave the King, and the King would never go." Her stalwart devotion to family and country were why her country loved her, and form the most notable aspect of this collection of many of the letters she composed throughout her long life. (She died at 101 in 2002). Royal watchers will enjoy reading about the Windsors through the Queen Mother's comforting and intimate, although not revealing, voice, such as this observation about her scandal-plagued brother-in-law, the one-time King Edward VIII (David to the family): "David does not seem to possess the faculty for making others feel wanted." Insights into the Queen Mother's character include some surprising glimmers of humor and a deep compassion for the English people but are not enough to mitigate excessive length and the lack of a strong editorial hand. Shawcross covers this material more efficiently in his own biography of the Queen Mother.
