Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth was born on August 4, 1900, to Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis (later the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne in the Peerage of Scotland), and his wife, Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck.

She had nine siblings and was the youngest daughter of her parents. She had six brothers: David, John, Fergus, Patrick, Michael Claude, and Alexander Francis, and three sisters, Mary, Violet and Rose.

The exact place of her birth is unknown. Some sources state that she was born in her parents' Westminster home at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, while others maintain that her mother gave birth to her in a horse-drawn ambulance on her way to a nearby hospital.

Another possible location of her birth has also been proposed, the Forbes House in Ham, London, which belonged to her maternal grandmother, Louisa Scott. In the 1901 English census, Hitchin, Hertfordshire was named as her birthplace as her birth was recorded there.

Her christening took place on September 23, 1900, in the local parish church, All Saints. Her paternal aunt Lady Maud Bowes-Lyon and cousin Venetia James agreed to be her godparents.

Prince Albert, Duke of York, first proposed to Elizabeth in 1921. She turned him down and later stated that it was because of her fear that she would “never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to".

Albert told his parents that he would not marry anyone else but Elizabeth. He proposed once more at his sister Princess Mary’s wedding to Viscount Lascelles on February 28, 1922, and was rejected again.

She eventually accepted his proposal in January 1923. Albert’s choice of his future bride was quite modern by contemporary standards, as royals used to marry royals from other European nations. Elizabeth, despite being the daughter of a peer, was not a member of a royal family.

The wedding took place on April 26, 1923, at Westminster Abbey. It was an unexpected affair. On her into the Abbey, she put down her bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in memory of Fergus who was slain during the war.

After the wedding and the breakfast at the Buckingham Palace, the newly-married couple left to spend their honeymoon at Polesden Lacey, a palatial house in Surrey.

George VI began his reign at a very tremulous time in history. Another world war was imminent with the rise of the Third Reich in Germany. Elizabeth accompanied her husband on his visit to France to demonstrate Anglo-French solidarity against the ever-growing threat of Nazi Germany.

The royal couple was subjected to some criticism after they invited British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to accompany them on the balcony of the Buckingham Palace to greet a crowd of well-wishers. Chamberlain was quite popular among the British public, but his policies concerning Nazi Germany drew opposition.

In 1939, the king and the queen embarked on a successful tour of North America, visiting Canada first and then making their way to the United States. The crowd greeted them enthusiastically everywhere they went.

If there was any residual feeling that George was a poor substitute for Edward, it mostly dissipated after the visit. In a conversation with Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, Elizabeth correctly remarked, “That tour made us.”

During the World War II, George and Elizabeth emerged as the unwavering symbols in the fight against fascism. In November 1939, ‘The Queen's Book of the Red Cross’ was published to fund the efforts of the Red Cross during the war.