GOD BLESS THE QUEEN MUM

Ahead of what would have been her 125th birthday, friends and associates share intimate, surprising and revealing memories of the late royal matriarch

- By Simon Hemelryk

FOR almost the entire 20th century, she was one of the best-known figures in British public. The personification of duty and a symbol of national resilience during the Second World War, the Queen Mother remained a working royal until shortly before her death aged 101 in March 2002.

She could be charming and was famously fond of the odd gin, but has been portrayed as snobbish and austere, too. So what was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, wife of George VI and mother to Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, really like? Monday marks what would have been her 125th birthday. To celebrate, those who knew and worked with her away from the public gaze share their memories.

THE LADY-IN-WATING

Lady Anne Glenconner's parents were close friends of the Queen Mother. Anne then became Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting for more than 30 years.

I KNEW her from when I was young. She was such fun, magical really. We'd go to Glamis Castle in Scotland, where she lived and grew up.

She'd tell us stories about how Glamis was haunted by a ghostly woman with no tongue. “Come on, let’s go down to the bridge,” she'd say if we weren’t doing anything. “We might see a train go by.” And it did, and we were all enveloped in steam.

I grew up at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, which is very near Sandringham. Princess Margaret was my playmate. We'd accompany the Queen Mother - or the Queen, as she was then - and her family to the beach and go swimming.

Later, the Queen Mother liked to walk her corgis near a nudist colony, even though her security would warn her off. “Of course I’m going down there,” she’d insisted. “I hope the corgis bite their bottoms.”

She came to my debutante ball in 1950 and asked if they could play her favourite tunes. She danced and danced, whirling about with my father and other people.

I was on the Buckingham Palace balcony for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.