Queen Mother's biography

[paulchen]

I have had a chance today to read some of the biography of HM The Late Queen Mother. Whilst I admire the efforts of the author I had to put the tome down, and not just because it is weighty.

In a description of Her Late Majesty's 100th Birthday celebrations he described the carriage she rode in as being bedecked with flowers in her racing colours, namely "blue and gold". Oh dear...

The Late Queen Mother's racing colours were [light] blue and buff. Not too different to gold but there is a reason it is specifically buff. "Buffy" was her childhood nickname as it was her own first efforts at her own name - as in "Eliza-buff".

I'm afraid if the author hasn't worked that one out, I wonder what else he has wrong...

[wendy]

I have read several articles and reviews concerning this book and I'm trying to decide if I'll buy it or not. My main concern is that, as the "official" biography, the final copy would require the Queen's approval. It has obviously be given (i.e. HM's approval) because I've seen pictures of her holding the book and with the author. Like any loving daughter, I'm sure HM has been very careful about how her mother is presented for posterity.

Anyway...my beef with official royal biographies is that the authors seem to treat many issues with kid gloves. I've read several articles which state that the book is basically mum concerning the Waleses' divorce, the death of the Princess of Wales, the Queen Mother's opinion of Camilla, etc. It seems that the author skirted around any issues affecting living royals. I can see why that would be done but it's disappointing and incomplete.

Perhaps a biography written after the present royals have passed on would be more balanced.

So, it would seem that this is a somewhat idyllic view of her life. Perhaps there's still merit to giving it a read but I don't know if I'll invest in the book. To Shawcross's credit, it must be a thankless task to write the biography of such a well-loved person.

[Boris]

I'll definitely get it - there is after all only one official biography. There must be scores of other biographies if one was looking for something without royal approval - which is a bad thing? The author did have full access to the Queen Mother's papers - which I suppose few, if any, others had. With such a long and full life I suppose the trick was what to leave out, rather than what to put in. One thing the Queen Mother did feel, I read, was that it was a very bad thing to talk about your marriage in public - a thing I wish the Wales and York couples shared - not to mention media and public's lurid facination.