For 14 years, the couple lived happily yet quietly together. As the Duke and Duchess of York, they were rarely called upon to perform public duties. Elizabeth proved a great support to Bertie, who was a very shy and awkward man, and with a speech therapist helped him to overcome his stutter. In 1926, she gave birth to their first daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the present Queen of England. Four years later, the couple celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Princess Margaret.

But this picture of domestic happiness was not to last. In 1937, Bertie’s brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated in order to be with Wallis Simpson. Bertie, although reluctant to undertake the responsibility of public office, felt he had little choice but to succeed Edward as his natural heir. He was crowned George VI in Westminster Abbey on May 12, 1937, and the family moved into Buckingham Palace.

The Queen Mother never forgave her brother-in-law nor Mrs Simpson, and was instrumental in securing their “exile” from Britain. She had never wanted to become Queen, and George VI was never wholly suited to public office. With her by his side, he seemed to manage quite well; but on the odd occasions when she was absent, he again retreated into the shy and awkward personality he had been as a young man.

The new pressures thrust upon the couple were only exacerbated by the outbreak of World War II. Despite strong advice that the Queen and the two princesses should leave London for Canada, the Queen refused to go. “The Princesses cannot go without me. I cannot go without the King. And the King will never leave,” she said as she resolved to remain at Buckingham Palace. Instead she learned to shoot a revolver, practising her aim in the Palace gardens.

After air raids, the King and Queen – she dressed in the finest satin and furs – would visit the scene of devastation and offer consolation to those who had lost their homes. It was only after Buckingham Palace was bombed, however, that the Queen felt she could really relate to the people of London. “I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face,” she famously said.

As normality slowly returned after the war, the Royal household was again struck by disaster. In 1952, at just fifty-two, the Queen Mother was widowed. Bertie, her dearest companion, died suddenly of a stroke. This was a time of great difficulty. Not only had the Queen lost her husband, but her position too. Her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, took her rightful place on the throne.

Although supportive of her daughter, the Queen Mother withdrew from the public eye. She wore black for an entire year after her husband’s death. It took the cajoling words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to convince her that she could not exist in a permanent state of mourning like that of Queen Victoria before her. She re-entered public life, yet maintained a distance from the matters of the Court.

There was no official role for the Queen Mother, but she nonetheless played a significant part in representing her family and her country. As her grandchildren grew older, she was instrumental in helping “arrange” their marriages. Both Diana, to whom she later referred as “that silly creature”, and Sarah Ferguson left for their weddings from Clarence House, the Queen Mother’s London residence.

She proved herself a lifelong confidante to Prince Charles, whom she adored. Without her it is widely thought that Charles would have been unable to cope with the many stresses with which he has been confronted over the past decade. It is even rumoured that she provided a clandestine telephone line for him from Balmoral on which he could call his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles.

But it was her enduring sense of fun and her boundless energy for which the Queen Mother was perhaps best loved and admired. She was a keen and successful horse breeder and only gave up fishing, a favourite pastime, at 80. Her somewhat extravagant Edwardian lifestyle – she had five homes, a fleet of cars and an unspecified number of staff – was always an accepted and essential accessory for playing host to the nation. Her sense of contentment and a refusal to indulge in regrets, carried her through the good and the bad. It was this combination, together with her steely reserve in times of hardship, that was responsible for producing one of our greatest and much loved icons.

"Queen of Queens" - May She Rest in Peace.