The Queen Mother (165 page)

On 11 July her life was celebrated in a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, attended by her entire family and many European crowned heads, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, the King and Queen of Norway, the King and Queen of the Belgians, King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes and King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania. The Archbishop of Canterbury praised her public service – she had entered the hearts of the British people, he told her, ‘and your own heart has been open to them ever since.’ As she left, she paused to greet other centenarians who had been invited. ‘Do you know, they were all in wheelchairs,’ she said, with a touch of mischief. ‘I spoke to them when I walked down the aisle.’
⁹

On 18 July, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, together with other
leaders of the House of Lords, brought to the Queen Mother a message from the House. Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative leader in the Lords, said later that when they made to leave, ‘not wishing to impinge too much on her time or to weary her, she insisted that more drinks be brought and that we should tell her more about politics and in particular your Lordships House.’
¹⁰
Her more formal response to their Lordships stated that ‘I feel fortunate that during the last Century I have been given the opportunity to serve our Country in times of war and peace and I have always been helped and uplifted by the love of my family, by the fortitude and courage of our people, and by my faith in Almighty God.’

In the Commons, the Prime Minister Tony Blair moved a motion commending the Queen Mother on reaching her centenary year – the first time that the Commons had ever considered such a motion. He pointed out that throughout her life ‘she has enthused countless people, for countless good causes, with her familiar smile, her sparkle and, of course, her wonderful hats.’ Speaker after speaker paid tribute to the work she had done for the country since the abdication, her steadfastness during the war, her service to the monarchy and nation ever since.
¹¹

The high point of her birthday celebrations was the pageant in her honour in Horse Guards Parade, described in the Prologue to this book. The organizer, as for her eightieth and nineteenth birthday celebrations, was Major Michael Parker. In the mid-1990s Parker had had tea with the Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother. When the Princess said to her, ‘We’re all so looking forward to your hundredth birthday,’ Queen Elizabeth replied, ‘Oh, you mustn’t say that, it’s unlucky. I mean I might be run over by a big red bus.’ Parker said he thought this was very unlikely, to which Queen Elizabeth replied, ‘No, no, it’s the principle of the thing. Wouldn’t it be terrible if you’d spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn’t want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you’d say “Oh my God, I could have got so drunk last night!” That’s the way you should live your life, as if tomorrow you’ll be run over by a big red bus.’ And that, Parker thought, was exactly the way she did live. Moreover, ‘she treated each day as a lovely surprise that was going to be wonderful.’
¹²

All of her regiments and organizations wished to be included in the pageant, and Parker arranged that they should march past in
motley groups of people, animals and vehicles, each supervised by two Guardsmen. ‘You can have anything in your group, from an Aberdeen Angus bull to a Field Marshal,’ Parker told the Guardsmen; ‘but you are in charge. You must get them to keep up and move at the right speed.’

The plan was that the National Anthem would be played after Queen Elizabeth arrived in Horse Guards Parade, before she got out of her carriage to inspect the troops. Then came a message from Clarence House that Queen Elizabeth insisted on standing up in the carriage for the Anthem. Parker was alarmed, for it would be dangerous if the horses moved. He consulted precedents and found that Queen Victoria had remained seated in a coach while the Anthem was played. But the message came back: ‘Queen Elizabeth is not Queen Victoria. She will stand.’ Eventually he persuaded her that the National Anthem should be played as she drove on to the parade ground, rather than after she had arrived.

As we have seen, the day itself began badly with IRA bomb scares in London, cancelled trains and even the controlled explosion of a suspected bomb in Whitehall. The police were nervous. The officer in charge told Mike Parker that the whole event might have to be cancelled. Parker replied that such a surrender was out of the question, but if that was his considered view the officer would have to go and give the news to Queen Elizabeth himself. The man was horrified. The parade went ahead.
¹³

It was a balmy evening, and on her dais Queen Elizabeth stood a great deal, chatted with Prince Charles, and clearly enjoyed the music and the singing. Beside her stood Major General Evelyn Webb-Carter, the General Officer Commanding London District, who told her what was passing in front of her so that she could react appropriately – and she did. The veteran actor Sir John Mills, aged ninety-two and totally blind, stood up before her in an open vintage Rolls-Royce and made a moving speech in her honour. Few of the thousands of people who took part realized how little of the festivities she herself could see.

Afterwards, Queen Elizabeth wrote to Parker to say that she had loved the contrast between the smart soldiers and the ‘orderly rabble’ which followed them. She said the parade had cheered people up all over the country – ‘I thought it was marvellous.’
¹⁴

*

T
HE CELEBRATIONS
continued, and on 29 July Queen Elizabeth went to Ascot for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. As she drove down the course, children paraded wearing the colours of previous winners of the race and the band played ‘Happy Birthday’.

Congratulations poured in – among them one heartfelt letter from Queen Fabiola of Belgium, widow of King Baudouin, who praised ‘your generous gestures, your unique hats and striking dresses, together with your ever-present and welcoming smile’;
¹⁵
Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, recalled her wartime concern for the people of Stalingrad; Tony Blair said she was being honoured for being ‘a great example to us all of service’. Andrew Motion, who had succeeded Ted Hughes as poet laureate, wrote a long affectionate tribute to her birthday.
¹⁶
It ended:

On the morning of her actual birthday, 4 August, her long-serving page Reginald Wilcock brought her morning teatray to her study as usual. On it was a silver cream jug, a birthday present from her staff. Wilcock was ill with leukaemia but had been determined to see this day. That evening he was taken to hospital and within days he was dead. Queen Elizabeth wrote a tender letter to his partner and friend, William Tallon, who, like Wilcock, had served her lovingly since the 1950s.

After her traditional appearance at the gates of Clarence House and the opening of the telegram from the Queen, came the carriage ride to Buckingham Palace with Prince Charles. She had been nervous about this, fearing that she might have to drive up an empty Mall. Sitting in the hall at Clarence House, she still seemed strangely reluctant. In the end Prince Charles gave her his arm and said, ‘Come on, Granny – remember Hitler said you were the most dangerous
woman in Europe.’ Laughing together they set off in her landau – and to her relief the large crowds in the Mall cheered enthusiastically, particularly when she came out on to the balcony to wave.
¹⁷
After lunch with her family she went to see the team of people recruited to answer all the letters of good wishes that she had received, and in the evening she and the Queen and Princess Margaret went to see the Kirov Ballet perform at Covent Garden.

It was in every way a happy day and Prince Charles wrote to her, ‘I will never forget the magical atmosphere that surrounded you with love, devotion and gratitude for all that you mean to people.’
¹⁸
As for Queen Elizabeth herself, she said to one friend that she could not understand what all the fuss was about. ‘I was just doing my job.’
¹⁹

*

H
ER
101
ST SUMMER
was spent, as usual, at Mey and then Birkhall. Back in London at the end of October, she received one more birthday tribute: the Governor General of Canada came to Clarence House to present her with the insignia of the Order of Canada. The autumn seemed set fair, until on the morning of 3 November she tripped and fell in her bedroom at Clarence House. She had broken her collar bone and had to remain in bed for six weeks. She was looked after principally by her dresser Jacqui Meakin and her page Leslie Chappell; these two cared for her with the utmost devotion in the months ahead.
²⁰

Outwardly, her final year, 2001, followed the pattern of the others which it seamlessly followed. She grew frailer and she suffered more pain, but she was determined to conceal it. Her real sadness was the constant deterioration in the health of her younger daughter. Princess Margaret had frequently been unwell since the 1970s, suffering migraines, laryngitis, bronchitis. She had endured depression, she had had part of her lung removed and in 1998 she had her first stroke. In March 1999 she severely scalded her feet in a bath in her house in Mustique and never really recovered from these burns, nor from a second stroke she suffered there.

In February 2001 Queen Elizabeth made her first public appearance after her collar-bone fracture, at the memorial service for Lady Elizabeth Basset, who had died on 30 November 2000 and with whom she had shared her devout faith. The service took place in the Savoy Chapel and according to the chaplain, the Rev. John Robson, Queen
Elizabeth seemed serious, sad and wistful in remembrance of her old friend. But still lively too – when he showed her to her car, ‘she FLUNG her sticks into it in a most eloquent gesture as if to say, “Let us be rid of these pesky things!” ’
²¹
That same month she presided as usual over the lawn meet of the Eton Beagles. Then she had her annual house party for the Grand Military Race Meeting at Sandown Park in March, but to her disappointment foot-and-mouth disease forced the cancellation of Cheltenham races.

In early June 2001 she lunched privately at All Souls in Oxford, an annual custom she much enjoyed. At the Sandringham Flower Show in July she toured every stall in her buggy and entertained her usual house party, including the Queen and the Prince of Wales. Her grandson, as always, marvelled at her stamina and wrote to her that ‘
no-one
would ever have known that you were actually feeling pretty tired.’
²²

She was even more tired a few days later, during her racing house party at Royal Lodge for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. She insisted on going to the races but when she returned home she almost collapsed. She was taken to King Edward VII hospital where she was discovered to be suffering seriously from anaemia. Blood transfusions were prescribed to make good the iron deficiency. Determined as ever, she demanded that the treatment be carried out overnight so that she could be back at Clarence House in time for her 101st birthday.
²³

In these circumstances, members of her Household expected her merely to wave from the window to the crowd which always gathered on 4 August.
²⁴
But no, she insisted on going to the gate and greeting people in the street as she had always done. She then gave lunch to the Queen, the Prince of Wales and others in the family and that evening she went to the ballet at the Royal Opera House. Then, once again, she flew to her Castle in the north. Prince Charles wrote to thank her for the joy of being with her on her 101st birthday. ‘It was so wonderful to see Your Majesty so transfused and with your iron constitution so comprehensively “re-ironed”.’ He thought that ‘Evidence of the ironing operation was there for all to see when Your Majesty stepped boldly off the aeroplane … The fact that your dogs were
carried
down the steps reinforced the message about your “rude” health!’
²⁵

He was right, but it was to be her last summer in her Castle.
Among the guests were many of those friends who loved her most.
^*
There was the familiar merriment, the jokes, the toasts to favourites high in the air and to unfavourites below the table, the video evenings, the pervading sense of happiness. But behind everything there was a sense of frailty if not finality. In the Guest Book are photographs of her sitting in the sun and walking in the mist, always clad in her familiar blue hat and coat and tartan skirt. Although the weather was unspeakable on the day of the Mey Highland Games she insisted on attending, buttoned up against driving rain and fierce wind.

In September, after saying goodbye with unusual emphasis to her staff, neighbours and friends at Mey, she drove south to Balmoral and Birkhall. And, again as usual, she stopped for lunch at Foulis Castle in Ross-shire, the home of Mrs Timmy Munro, a tradition that had been maintained since 1959. At lunch she engaged in a long conversation with the younger members of the family about the teenage fad for body piercing, a phenomenon of which she may have been aware because her great-granddaughter, Zara Phillips, had a pierced tongue. A few days later a three-page, handwritten thank-you letter arrived for Mrs Munro.
²⁶

At Birkhall she found that the Queen had had a stairlift installed for her. Prince Charles wrote to cheer the fact that ‘you now have a form of mechanized assistance to ascend “les escaliers” without Your Majesty’s feet touching the floor. Thank God for the wonders of science …!’
²⁷
Her guests – many of them Prince Charles’s stalking friends – enjoyed the usual fishing expeditions, picnics and evening videos. One night there was dancing and, twirling her sticks, she took part in an eightsome reel. She went with Prince Charles to Aberdeen for the unveiling of a statue of a bull for the North East Aberdeen Angus Breeders, to the pleasure of them all.
²⁸