Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes Lyon, the youngest daughter of a Anglo-Scottish Earl was born in 1900 and died in 2002. The first biography of her life was published back in 1927 but William Shawcross has just written her official biography. As part of his research, he interviewed members of her family, household and staff and was given unrestricted access to her letters and diaries. He talks to Jenni about delving into the Royal Archives and what her correspondence reveals. We look at her childhood among the war wounded at Glamis Castle; the part she played within the Royal family as a young married woman, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother; how she responded to personal and public crises in her life and what she contributed to the monarchy. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography by William Shawcross is published by Pan MacMillan ISBN 9781405048590
