Mum couldn’t bear ional Anthem on TV
. . . and how George V left her black and blue, as revealed in the latest uproariously indiscreet diaries of society writer Kenneth Rose
Mother rather plays down this side of the King’s character, emphasising that he was essentially a Victorian parent, weighed down by a sense of duty: ‘Even the slightest departure from custom would annoy him.
‘I remember a storm at breakfast once because the Prince of Wales was wearing hunting boots with pink tops.
‘He was always angelically kind to me, but then I was never frightened of his gruff ways. He had an obsession about punctuality, and if ever he had to wait for somebody he would stamp about furiously.
‘One reason why he got on so well with his Labour ministers was his early life at sea — weevily biscuits and all that sort of thing. It made it easy for him to understand how other people lived.’
At this point, I say: ‘His attitude towards the Labour Party was all the more remarkable in that he was a Conservative in all other things — perhaps I should say a conservative with a small “c”.’
Queen Mother: ‘I think that most of us are! Of course, the Labour ministers in those days were not the same as today — or even, between ourselves, as they were in the King’s day, my King that is. They were not intellectuals.’ The Queen Mother’s summing up of King George V: ‘He stood for duty and integrity. Those things are born in one. That is why it was so resented when the Prince of Wales took himself off [abdicated].’
As I take my leave, I hear her use the word ‘spiffing’. Did ever a woman in her eighth decade enjoy life so much!
MAY 12, 1977
I TALK with Martin Gilliat about the Queen Mother’s generous style of living, which she continues in the face of all difficulties, particularly expense and scarce servants.
Princess Margaret likes to propose herself to lunch quite often and then the Queen Mother feels she must have some amusing guests. But Princess Margaret often falls into long melancholy silences, which do not add to the success of a luncheon party.
As long as the Queen Mother is alive, nobody, not even that restless reformer Prince Philip, attempts to curb her financial exuberance.
JANUARY 12, 1978
I HEAr the story of the Queen Mother watching on television the burial at sea of Edwina Mountbatten and saying: ‘Of course, dear Edwina always wanted to make a splash.’
JUNE 26, 1978
THE Queen Mother tells me on General de Gaulle: ‘When he went back to France at the end of the war, he said that the King and I were the only two people in England who had been nice to him.’
FEBRUARY 16, 1979
MArTIn GILLIAT to dine. We discuss the Jeremy Thorpe case [the former Liberal leader was about to go on trial for conspiracy to murder his friend norman Scott. He was later acquitted].
Martin tells me that the Queen Mother never knows how Jeremy is going to behave [when he dines at Clarence House] and this makes her uneasy.
MARCH 31, 1979
MArTIn CHArTErIS [Provost of Eton and the Queen’s former private secretary] tells me that John Bratby once came to paint the Queen Mother at Clarence House.
She said afterwards: ‘He kept asking some odd questions — about the size of the dry martinis and about the footman coming in to put coal on the fire. You know, I don’t believe he had ever been in an ordinary house before.’
APRIL 24, 1979
TO CLArEnCE HOuSE at 2.30 for another talk with the Queen Mother. Two corgis accompany her: one friendly which licks my hand, the other unpredictable, which I am warned not to touch. We launch at once into our talk on King George V.
‘It is not true to say that he inspired fear in his children; it was more a sense of awe,’ she says. ‘The upbringing of children in those days was very severe everywhere. When my husband went to Osborne [royal naval College] as a naval cadet, it was real torture.
‘When the King was convalescing at Bognor [in 1929], he said he thought David [later Duke of Windsor] would never take over from him. We were astonished, and hardly understood what he meant.’
This leads us on to some talk about the Windsors. ‘I am afraid David never liked anything English, though he missed it all afterwards [he moved to France after the abdication],’ she says.
On the Duchess of Windsor: ‘When I was last in Paris I tried to see her, but she was guarded by a dragon and I was told she saw nobody.’
I mention all the evidence I have found that the King felt both nervous and inadequate. She replies: ‘I suppose every Sovereign
feels nervous and inadequate: the task is so overwhelming.’
When she speaks of the King’s insistence on the correct clothes, even down to the last button, i say: ‘What a lot of time seems to have been spent in changing one’s clothes in those days. i have read that one even changed for tea at sandringham.’
the Queen Mother: ‘Well, we still do change for tea at sandringham!’
she loved her father-in-law’s jokes. But they had an unfortunate consequence. ‘as he told his stories, he would bang you on the arm. By the end of a visit, it would be black and blue.’
By now it is about 1.30. We lunch at a round table in the small dining room. We have a hot creamy egg and cheese dish, chicken in a tomato sauce with mashed potatoes and courgettes; black cherries and an ice cream (i receive a surprised glance on declining the big silver jug of cream) and cheese. it is served by three men in livery.
the claret is in an enchanting jug, shaped like a bird, with the beak as its spout, ruby eyes and claw feet. the Queen Mother tells me she saw it in a catalogue.
We talk about politics. she makes no attempt to conceal her strong conservative sympathies.
On Margaret thatcher, she is whimsical, particularly about the troubles she has with her voice, but her remarks stop just short of disparagement.
she thinks ted Heath has behaved disgracefully in refusing to say a nice word about Mrs thatcher. ‘if only he had a wife to tell him how to do things in the right way.’ she adds: ‘He never listens to what i am saying — i can see his eyes wandering. the only time i have ever seen him entirely at his ease was when conducting a children’s concert.’
she is upset about the revolution in persia [iran] which has removed the shah and led to the slaughter of his supporters. she will always be grateful, she adds, to have seen persepolis and shiraz before the shah’s regime collapsed.
then in more playful mood: ‘What if such a thing were to happen here . . . i suppose Dickie [Mountbatten] would be the first to be shot.’
On suez she says: ‘the americans let us down. they usually do. it is the same in ireland. We can’t abandon the people in the North who are so loyal to us.’
When i say i have never accepted [former leader of the British Union of Fascists] Oswald Mosley’s claim not to have encouraged violence or anti-semitism, she taps the table and agrees with considerable vehemence: ‘He did, he did.’
What is the secret of this astonishing woman, who attracts more affection than any other living person in the kingdom? Who is on the verge of entering her 80th year yet displays boundless energy? Who is utterly un-intellectual, yet captivates those who are with her with a phrase and a smile?
First, genuine warmth and gaiety of spirit. second, an interest in all that goes on round her.
third, entire self-control: she is never taken unawares or embarrassed or in doubt. Fourth, i suspect, is a determination not to brood on the past, but rather to enjoy every present moment.