This is a memoir by a cousin of of Queen Elizabeth II. Margaret is the daughter of the 16th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, sister of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Margaret grew up with the current queen and her sister as playmates. Later she went on to work for MI6 during World War II. She married Denys Rhodes who she met during that time and they spent a lot of time in world travels which occasionally found them in dangerous situations during political unrest in Asia and later, Africa. After the death of her husband she took a position as a "Woman of the Bedchamber", a cross between lady-in-waiting and companion to the Queen Mother, accompanying her at public appearances and assisting with entertaining. The title of the book refers to the last curtsy Rhodes gave the Queen Mum as she left the bedchamber of the dead queen. This is a light read. Rhodes debunks a lot of the commonly held ideas about the royals always being stuffy, prim, and proper with tales of hunts and outings where the entourage was dressed in all manner of scruffy "country clothes" and returning home filthy and mud stained. But this isn't a book about royal scandals. The author goes out of her way to avoid those topics. There are several photographs of Rhodes with the two Elizabeths and her family members.
No comments:
Post a Comment