Usually when I read a biography, I expect that the author can remain unbiased and objective about their subject. And most of the time, the authors that I read tend to fit into that criteria; they present both the black and white about their topics, and manage to give a fairly even handed account of a life and times.

But in the case of The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the latest biography about the United Kingdom's Royal family, I was torn between trying to finish reading the book, or launching it at the wall in a fit of pique. Lady Colin Campbell (real name: Georgia Arianna Ziadie) may be a member of the aristocracy by marriage, but in this one she sinks to the level of the gutter press as she purports to dish up all of the hidden scandal about one of the most revered figures in British history.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Strathmore, grew up in a loving and supportive family, a lovely young girl who wasn't exactly a scholar, much preferring the more active and fun aspects of life. When she debuted into high society, she was immediately hailed as a bright and lively personage, and destined to marry well. And that is what exactly happened -- in 1922 she became engaged to the Duke of York, the second son of King George V, and a year later she was married in ceremony filled with spectacle and pomp. And the new Duchess took to the spotlight, turning into a popular figure in the press, a devoted wife and mother of two young princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret. But fate only remained kind for so long, and soon she and her husband, Bertie (as the Duke was known to his family), were flung into the greatest royal scandal of the 20th century -- the decision of King Edward VIII, who in 1936, decided to abdicate so that he could marry a divorced American woman, Wallis Simspon. Fortunately for the British Empire, Bertie -- now King George VI and Queen Elizabeth rose splendidly to the occassion, becoming a rather conservative, but extremely popular monarchs, and who provided the British people with stability and courage during the second World War. In 1952 King George VI passed away, and Queen Elizabeth became the Queen Mother, and became famous for her charitable work, and was genuinely mourned when she passed away in 2002, at the great age of 101.

But if we are to believe Lady Colin's account, all of this is a lie. Beneath the genially smiling grandmother is a woman of great cunning, duplicity and lies. First, the author claims that Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was actually the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, her birth covered up in an ambiguous account of her birth certificate that her supposed mother actively participated in. Then when Elizabeth was in her early twenties, her marriage sights were set on the Prince of Wales and when he spurned her, she then turned to the Duke of York. And she led him on, dangling him along with other suitors while she tried to find the man who would give her the best advantage. Then to make it worse, she marries the Duke in a marriage that was one of convenience, and kicked him out of her bed, only supplying her two daughters by artificial insemination. But Lady Colin saves her most vicious attack for showing the Duchess/Queen as the prinicipal mover in the ouster of King Edward VIII and manuvering her way onto the throne. After this, she tones down the spiteful rhetoric and quickly moves through the reign of George VI and Elizabeth II, evidently deciding that there wasn't enough fuel for her vengeful pen.

By the time that I hit the fifieth page, I was furious. Lady Colin describes her subject in the most lurid and hateful language possible, and to compound the matter, tends to use sources that are questionable at best. Primary of them are the diaries and letters of King Edward VIII and his wife, Wallis Simpson, both of whom didn't respect Elizabeth, and never let an opportunity pass without blackening her name. Other sources include those lovers who Elizabeth didn't pick, and some of the story -- such as the sexless marriage, and conception of her children -- seems so preposterous as to be made up by the author herself. I had never heard of those two allegations in any of the biographies of the Queen Mother that I had read before.

Namely by the end of this book, I was annoyed and thoroughly disgusted. I suppose that somewhere in Lady Colin Campbell's life she was snubbed by a member of the Royal family, and this book is her way of getting even in one of the most hateful biographies ever written about the Windsors. It's one thing to hint at scandal, but quite another to pin behaviour of the worst sort onto a person who never seemed to anything but a devoted wife and mother who spend much of a very long life in public service right up until the very end.

The narrative is filled with pejorative adjectives, careful editing of letters and diaries and suppositions of the worst sort. It's not a book that I have any desire to ever read again, and I suspect that I will happily skip over any future works by Lady Colin Campbell in the future.

Two inserts of photographs in black and white and colour are included, along with a bibliography, appendices about various royalties, and genealogical tables. The notes are rather scanty and not very complete.

I can honestly only give two stars to this heap of gutter trash, and it is not at all recommended. 

This is part of a write off that I am hosting to run during 2012 in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Please go here to find out more and how to participate.

Many thanks to Crystall Calderon for adding this title to the database for me!

The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Lady Colin Campbell
2011; St. Martin's Press
ISBN 978-1-250-01897-7

Recommended: No