by The Laird o’Thistle
March 10 2012
“I am going now into the sleep:
O be it in Thy dear arm’s keep,
O God of grace, that I shall awake.”
According to the account of her niece, Margaret Rhodes, that old Celtic prayer was read to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother by her parish priest shortly before her death at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, on the afternoon of 30 March 2002. Although her eyes were closed, the grand old lady squeezed the priest’s hand, acknowledging the prayer. A while later, with her daughter the Queen, her Snowdon grandchildren, and her niece (Mrs. Rhodes) near at hand she passed through the veil into the “Nearer Presence” of God. She had lived 101 years, 7 months, and 26 days.
The Queen Mother’s death occurred, of course, during the Golden Jubilee year of her daughter Queen Elizabeth II. Her other daughter, Princess Margaret, had died seven weeks earlier, two days after the Queen’s accession anniversary. Princess Margaret’s funeral was the last time the Queen Mother was seen in public. I know of only one rather vague and dim photograph taken on the day, showing her through the car window.
In the days that followed Queen Elizabeth’s death, the world witnessed the solemn splendor of the royal funeral, dignified and poignant all at the same time. The images of those days are especially touching in seeing the very human grief of the Queen, and the images of Prince William and Prince Harry participating in the processions and ceremonies, just five years after the death and funeral of their mother Princess Diana.
At the time there were comments about the funeral being “one of the last great spectacles of empire” and so on. But ten years on the British royal family finds itself on the soundest footing in a long time, and the deep popular respect, if not affection, for the Queen exceeds that enjoyed by any sovereign since Queen Victoria. Last year’s glorious wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge makes clear that the ability to carry off splendid ceremonial remains alive and well.
As is the case in any family, things do change once the older generation passes away. No matter how old one is when it happens, things change after one’s parents are gone as well. In reviewing the videos of the Queen Mother’s funeral it was a bit shocking to see how much younger and more vital the Queen and Prince Phillip were a decade ago… when they were merely 75 and 80 respectively.
The last decade has been a time in which the Queen has come into her own in some new ways, opening some things up in ways that she seemed to have deferred while “Mummy” was still alive. Stylistically she seems to show up with fewer jewels and orders than before, and sometimes she does not even wear a hat! She has been photographed in trouser suits while on holiday, and other little bits here and there indicate that she is rather more relaxed than formerly. But that said, she carries on no less diligently and conscientiously than ever in her official role and duties even, as she is overheard saying in an episode of 2007’s “Monarchy” documentary, “We are getting older and slower!”
In some ways, the change brought on by the Queen Mother’s death was more evident for her grandchildren. Prince Charles not only took over the Queen Mother’s homes at Clarence House and Birkhall, but he also felt free to finally marry the woman he loves. And now the Duchess of Cornwall regularly wears a number of the Queen Mum’s jewels. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, found himself taking on her other home, The Royal Lodge at Windsor. Just recently Princess Beatrice showed off the refurbishment of the little Welsh playhouse in the gardens there, a project she had overseen.
The family has changed and shifted in other ways. The Earl and Countess of Wessex now have their two children. Both of the Princess Royal’s children have married, and she will soon become a grandmother for the second time. And, of course, Prince William and Catherine Middleton have also wed. Princess Margaret’s children, David (Viscount) Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, remain very much a part of the Queen’s family circle. The Linley’s daughter Marguerite was a bridesmaid at last year’s royal wedding, and their son Charles was just recently made a Page of Honour. At the next State Opening of Parliament, he will be one of the trainbearers for his great aunt.
Among the Bowes-Lyon clan the current Earl of Strathmore, the Queen Mother’s grand-nephew, has over these ten years been twice divorced and is now in a third marriage. His eldest son Simon, Lord Glamis, is now twenty-six. (In Scottish usage Lord Glamis is known as “The Master of Glamis”.) Another, much older, Simon Bowes-Lyon is the son of the Queen Mother’s younger brother David. He will turn eighty in June 2002. He lives at St. Paul’s Walden Bury, the “other” home of the Queen Mother’s growing up years.
A number of the Queen Mother’s old servants, such as William (“Backstairs Billy”) Tallon, have also passed on over the last decade. Sir Alistair Aird, her last Master of the Household, died in 2009.
In 2002 the Queen Mother died on the day between Good Friday and Easter. This year the anniversary falls on the day before Palm Sunday, a week off from Easter. Easter itself falls on 8 April, a day before the anniversary of the funeral. On that day the Queen and her family will undoubtedly follow their long tradition of attending Easter services at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, where King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and the ashes of Princess Margaret all lie interred together.
Yours aye,
-Ken Cuthbertson