A fascinating read which, to my surprise, I read from cover to cover very quickly. Letters by their nature are personal and written for a particular person, but I was particularly struck by the advice to her daughter not to be intimidated by the great men of history, and the verdict, after deciding she must read "Mein Kampf" to understand what the fuss was about, that it was nonsense. ( )

I adored the first two sections of this collection of letters...from the high-spirited, affectionate missives of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as a child to her mother, governess and friends; and later the jolly escapades of a young woman going out into society, after living through the horrors of WW1; and finally accepting the proposal of Bertie. Apart from her participation in a Big Game Hunt, I defy anyone not to be captivated with her personality.
I felt after that this collection could have done with a lot of pruning. As the Abdication results in them taking the throne, as the War breaks out...it felt like a lot of the letters could have been whittled out. SO MANY thank you letters to people you've never heard of; endless very similar letters to Lilibet (now the Queen), thanking her for a lovely weekend visiting. Many letters to racehorse trainers debating the finer points of an animal's performance.
It also felt like major events didn't seem to get a mention (despite the huge coveage of non-events.) The first thing that struck me was the death of her father. After her constant letters to her mother - and then her death- there's no mention of Father for many years. I thought he must have died too...and then suddenly he gets a brief acknowledgement in a letter. Similarly, after YEARS of writing regular, dutiful, apparently affectionate letters to her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, the death is not mentioned in any letter to anyone.
These are 'selected' letters, and we can never know if letters actually exist on these topics. Certainly this is a pretty anodyne read, the Queen Mother almost unfailingly positive, warm and effusive. The editor does tell us that she didn't commit anything to paper which might be misused, so this (well,the latter half) isn't entirely a stroll through her life - what she actually thought about royal disasters is never revealed.
620 pages was definitely enough. Not unenjoyable, but will be passing it on to a charity shop. ( )

This consists mostly of letters, with some diary entries, over a time-span of nearly one hundred years from her childhood to her death. The letters are charming, very sweet, with lots of underlining. Just the kind of letter you would imagine her writing. I found the letters written during her friendship/courtship with Prince Albert, the Duke of York (later King George VI), as well as those written during the abdication crisis and the war years to be particularly interesting. Arthur Penn gave her a book by American author Damon Runyon that appealed to her. She delighted in using "Runyonese", the accent and phrases coming across hilariously in letters. The book depicts British history of the 20th century from a very different perspective. Her letters in later years became less revealing and those included by Shawcross were more of the "thank you for having me to stay last weekend" type revealing very little of her opinion or feelings. Still, I found the book much more interesting than I thought I would. ( )

I found myself chuckling numerous occasions, though very discreet she could be a tad politically incorrect. It was a love match between Prince Albert & her though it took her awhile to realize that she'd met her soulmate. You did get to see a wee bit of what was going through her mind during the Abdication Crisis and after that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are mentioned in passing only a handful of times. She and George VI had more important things to tend to, like a nation at war. Always an appreciative patron of the arts and a lover of racing because it was unpredictable, risky and the horses looked so noble and lovely. As Queen Mother she could travel to places she had wanted to see for pleasure and did, 101 found her still dancing an eightsome reel. ( )

This selection of the Queen Mother's letters was an enjoyable read which brought a smile to my face many times. The Queen Mother seemed to develop a more humorous personality as the years went on, and this is evident in her letters.

One of the things that struck me most was the Queen Mother's sense of mortality during World War II. In a letter to her eldest daughter, she talks about dividing up her jewels with Princess Margaret should anything happen to her. It serves as a reminder of the difficult and dangerous times she lived through.

This volume will be of immense help to anyone researching the Queen Mother's life. Though it did take me a while to get through it, it was a worthwhile endeavor. ( )