Do Let’s Have Another Drink: The Singular Wit and Double Measures of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

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The House of Windsor has been attracting worldwide attention in recent decades with scandals, deaths, weddings, and the birth of royal children. The King, George V, disliked Ann Margaret for her second daughter's name and suggested that Margaret Rose was more in keeping with Scottish princesses. Right from the start, Russell indicates that not only will this book be different from others he has written, but that it is also a 'different kind of biography'. And perhaps even a bit likable, although how likable Queens can be at the end of day, I for one will never find out, and probably you don’t either. This is not a chronological retelling of Elizabeth’s life, but rather many different windows into different times in her life.

It is clear that she really enjoyed an intense drink quite regularly and the way that she forced guests to imbibe was also quite entertaining to read about. William Shawcross’ biography is a time investment for sure…) However, Russell chose 101 different anecdotes from Elizabeth’s life to highlight her wit and levity.Do Let's Have Another Drink tells the story of The Queen Mother, otherwise known as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, in 101 anecdotes. All I can say is she must have had hollow legs as many of her guests left sozzled after being entertained at lunch or dinner. What comes through in Russell's writing is The Queen Mother's wit, humour, compassion, and ability to bear a solid grudge. Educated at Oxford University and Queen’s University, Belfast, Gareth Russell is a historian, novelist, and playwright. She was known by those around her to be charming and lively, but many of her most-defining moments are from the most serious points in her life.

I couldn't contempate reading the standard biographies after Brown's description of one as the author constantly saying the QM was "delighted " to the extent that if one closed the book "delight" would ooze out like too much mayonnaise in a sandwich. This left it sort of unbalanced after the informative chapters of her youth and the middle heavy with war and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Told as a series of 101 stories from the life of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the reader is given a real glimpse of the Queen who is cemented in the popular imagination as a figure of fun and warmth, yet became known as the most dangerous woman in Europe.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.I am sure that this took a great deal of work as many of the sections were from anecdotal stories of people who knew or knew someone who knew Elizabeth. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. The WW1 years are sad with the losses her family experienced ; two brothers dead and the rest severely traumatised. Stepping into the Queen Mother’s rarefied universe is a little like falling through the looking glass.

Her relationship with her trusted footman, Backstairs Billy, himself an extraordinary character, must have been at times a comedy performance. As living symbols of England, the Windsors are seen as an above-average family with numerous jobs and responsibilities. The author clearly has an affection for the Queen Mother, but this is definitely not a saccharine-loaded memoir. She passed away when I was 14 years old - I remember hearing of her passing and feeling saddened at the time but that's it.

There are some fascinating bits about her ancestral home, the much-haunted Glamis Castle in Scotland. So at first I was a little disappointed because I was waiting for the punchlines that weren't coming. Now, Do Let’s Have Another Drink recounts 101—one for each year of her remarkable life—amusing and astonishing vignettes from across her long life, including her coming of age during World War I, the abdication of her brother-in-law, her unexpected ascendance to the throne, and her half-century of widowhood as her daughter reigned over the United Kingdom. For fans of The Crown and Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret , a deliciously entertaining collection of 101 fascinating and funny anecdotes about Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother—one for each year of her life.