Elizabeth, “Queen Mum”

Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, or Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900–2002), was the wife (Queen Consort) of George VI, King of Great Britain. The “Queen Mum,” as she was known in later life, was mother to Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. Queen Elizabeth was an iconic figure of 20th-century Western motherhood and grandmotherhood.

Elizabeth was born in England and grew up in Scotland, mostly at her family home in Glamis Castle. She was the ninth of 10 children. Her father became the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and as a child she played with the children of nobility, but technically, she was a commoner. She was educated mostly at home by French and German tutors. Ironically, World War I began on her 14th birthday, and Glamis ...