Queen Mother's 'terrible' Royal Responsibility

16 September 2009

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Britain's Queen Mother found being a monarch "a terrible responsibility".

The royal - whose husband Bertie became King George VI in 1937 after King Edward VIII abdicated so he could marry US divorcee Wallis Simpson - was worried about the impact becoming king and queen would have on her relationship with her husband.

In a letter written to her month-in-law Queen Mary, the queen mother wrote: "I hope the king will see reason and not abandon his people. I am sure that it would be a great shock to everybody and a horrible position for us naturally."

She wrote in another: "I have great faith in Bertie - he sees very straight and if this terrible responsibility comes to him, he will face it bravely."

It does affect me seeing this terrible and senseless destruction. I think that really I mind it much more than being bombed myself.

Shortly after Edward abdicated, the queen mother wrote to him - even though he was refusing to converse with her or her husband.

She put: "We are all overcome with misery and can only pray that you will find happiness in your new life."

Further letters show she came to accept her position when she realised she was definitely going to become queen, and spoke of feeling "inadequate but unfrightened".

The excerpts have come to light in new book 'Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: the Official Biography', which is to be published tomorrow (17.09.09).

Extracts from the tome have been included in US Vogue magazine, including details of the queen's feelings during the Second World War.

The couple were lauded for their refusal to leave London during the period, and the queen mother admits she would the situation hard.

She wrote to her mother-in-law: "I really felt as if I was walking in a dead city, when we walked down a little empty street. All the houses evacuated and yet through the broken windows one saw all the poor little possessions, the photographs, beds, just as they were left.

"It does affect me seeing this terrible and senseless destruction. I think that really I mind it much more than being bombed myself."

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