The passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 30 March 2002 was the passing of an era. She was born in the reign of Queen Victoria on 4 August 1900, and lived to see her daughter, Queen Victoria's great great granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth, in the 50th year of her reign!
Married at 22 to Albert, Duke of York, they were never expected to be King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions. With the abdication of Albert's older brother, King Edward VIII, the Duke of York became King as George VI.
During the 1939-1945 War, she and the King became symbols of the British resolve in the fight against the Axis. When she was advised by Cabinet to leave London, or to send her daughters to Canada for safety, she replied, 'The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave.'
When she and the King visited the East End of London, targeted by the Luftwaffe because it was industrial and a heavily Jewish neighbourhood, at first she was met by hostility because she dressed in expensive clothing. When she explained that when people came to visit her, they dressed in their finest clothes, and she felt she should reciprocate when visiting others, the hostility diminished.
When Buckingham Palace was bombed whilst the Royal Family was in residence, she said, 'I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.'
She lived to see several great grandchildren, but when her daughter The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon died in February 2002, there are those who think the shock of losing a child was too much and she followed her daughter in death just over a month later.
The BBC Announcement
And Her Majesty's speech following mother's death
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