After learning more about The Queen Mother’s birth and childhood in the 1900s, in this instalment we look at Elizabeth’s later childhood, her education and her teenage years, which were dominated by the outbreak of the First World War.
After the age of eight years old, Elizabeth began a private education in London. She was allegedly very good at scripture and literature, and impressed her teachers when she wrote an essay beginning with greek words from Xenophon’s Anabasis. At the age of 13, Elizabeth was successful in passing the Oxford Local Examination with a distinction after being under the tutorage of Käthe Kübler, a German Jewish governess.
However, like everyone in Britain at the time, Elizabeth’s whole world was turned out of normality in the summer of 1914. On her fourteenth birthday, it was announced that Britain had declared war on Germany.
Along with the call for soldiers across Britain, four of Elizabeth’s brothers fought during the First World War. Fergus was a captain in the Black Watch Regiment and led an attack during the Battle of Loos in 1915 where he was killed, aged 26. He was buried in a quarry at Vermelles, and his name is recorded on the Loos memorial. Elizabeth’s mother, Cecilia, was distraught by her son’s death, and consequently withdrew from public life only until Elizabeth’s wedding day in the 1920s.
Elizabeth’s other brother, Michael, was reported ‘missing in action’ in April 1917. After three weeks, Elizabeth and her family were informed that Michael has been wounded and captured. He was subsequently imprisoned until the end of the war in 1918.
John, who served in the Black Watch, accidentally shot himself in the forefinger in 1915 just before the Battles of Aubers Ridge. His finger was then amputated, and he later joined the Territorial Army in 1916. Elizabeth’s eldest brother, Lord Glamis, was also part of the Black Watch, however left after being wounded during the war.
One can only imagine the heartbreak and fear that the young Elizabeth must have felt with four of her brothers fighting in the conflict abroad.
During the war, Glamis Castle turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers where Elizabeth helped as much as she could with the running of the household and aiding the wounded. One of the soldiers who stayed at Glamis wrote a note in Elizabeth’s autograph book stating that she should be “hung, drawn, & quartered … Hung in diamonds, drawn in a coach and four, and quartered in the best house in the land”.
The Bowes-Lyon family were hit with another shock in September 1916 when Glamis caught fire, and Elizabeth was supposedly involved in the saving of the Castle’s contents.
Following the end of the war, Elizabeth was 18 years old and a popular debutante. She has been remarked as being one of the most beautiful and accomplished debutantes of her day, enjoying playing the piano, singing, and was noted to be very sociable with others.
However it wasn’t until the 1920s when a whole new chapter began in Elizabeth’s life with the introduction of Prince Albert, The Duke of York.
Stay with us for the next instalment on The Queen Mother’s life in the 1920s next week…
Featured Photo Credit: Thomas’s Pics via photopin cc
