Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother By: William Shawcross
Year: 2009
Genre: Biography
This is the official biography of the Queen Mother. A woman who lived 101 years, spanning a whole century and God knows how much change. A remarkable woman who should never have been Queen, should never have given birth to our current Queen. A woman who should have been a footnote of modern monarchy.
And yet this book leaves something LACKING in it's approach. The author is terribly proud to boast of his unlimited access to royal archives and lack of censorship imposed by the royal family, but somehow it lacks vibrancy. You get the distinct impression all the way through that the Queen Mother really was a remarkable, happy, bright woman, right until her last brief illness, but she never comes to life.
Considering that the Queen Mother was born in 1900 and has already been dead for eight years, there is very little on her life and the scandals that have rocked the monarchy since King George VI died in 1952. There's a lot of minutiae about parties and who went to them, but not much on massive events, like the divorce and death of Princess Diana.
Saying that, the abdication of Edward VIII is immensely interesting and detailed.
Basically, I wanted more scandal and less pages on horses and dead Scottish Lairds.
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