Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother is as old as the century; she was born nearly 100 years ago during the reign of Victoria, when the British Empire covered a quarter of the Earth. She has seen two world wars and 97 years of the most repid progress inmankind's history completely alter her world (and the royal family's place in it), yet she retains the old-fashioned charm, elegance and dignity that epitomised the Edwardian Lady. And, more significantly, she has successfully continued to live the Edwardian lifestyle: Her five-storey London house contains some 40 servants; she does not like to eat alone so dinner is seldom for fewer than sixteen people; her summer migration to her two castles in Scotland involves two army lorries transporting over 200 pieces of luggage. And it costs the queen two million pounds a year to maintain the slow Edwardian existance she loves. Using her unique insight to the Royal Family, Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chef ofMajestymagazine, has written not only a fascinating, perceptive account of the life of Britain's best loved Royal, but also a powerful, important account of the twentieth century.