Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain and Ireland 1936-1952,
wife of King George VI
Known as "Queen Mum"
(Born -August 4, 1900-March 30, 2002) nee the Hon. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon
Married Albert, the Duke of York, April 26, 1923 - he later became George VI, King of England
Daughter of the Scottish Lord Glamis who became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; Elizabeth descendent of the Scottish King Robert the Bruce
Married Prince Albert the Duke of York, the second son of George V in 1923 after turning down his first two proposals
(She was the first commoner to legally marry into the royal family in several centuries.)
They had 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, born in 1926 and 1930, respectively
1936 -Albert's brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorcee, and Albert was crowned King as George VI
Elizabeth thus became queen consort
Prince Albert and Princess Elizabeth were crowned May 12, 1937
Elizabeth never forgave the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (the titles of Edward and his wife after the abdication and their marriage).
Because she refused to leave England during the London Blitz in World War II, even enduring the bombing of Buckingham Palace where she lived with the king, many continued to hold her in high regard until her death.
George VI died in 1952 and she became known as the Queen Mother.
Their daughter Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II.
She remained active in the public eye, remaining popular even through the many royal scandals, including her daughter Margaret's romance with divorced commoner, Capt. Peter Townsend and her grandsons' rocky marriages to Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson.
She was especially close to her grandson, Prince Charles, born in 1948.
Plagued with ill health in her elder years, she continued to appear in public regularly til a month before she died in her sleep on March 30, 2002, only weeks after the death of her daughter Princess Margaret at age 71.
Her family's home, Glamis Castle famous as the home of Macbeth of Shakespearean fame.
