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No one living this side of Buckingham Palace railings is better qualified to make an informed guess about Jubilee jitters than Margaret Rhodes. That and the love of the outdoor life. The Queen has great stamina and she is so wonderfully pragmatic. She will go on doing things as long as she can do them. Adventurous, hardy and well-travelled, Mrs Rhodes has enormous staying power herself. Queen enjoys spectacular pageant. Queen meets Jubilee performers. Sixty years of royal tours. She shot her first stag in her teens and her last when she was in her seventies. Stalking alone in the forest one day, she heard a stag roaring.
During the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, she would follow buffalo and rhino on horseback, ignoring warnings not to go riding in dangerous territory. Margaret Elphinstone and Princess Elizabeth were born 10 months apart and played together as girls whenever the Yorks were at Balmoral. A cottage is at her disposal every summer on the Balmoral estate, where she knows every inch of the terrain from summer days spent riding hill ponies with the two princesses.
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In the winter she joins the royal party at Sandringham. During the war, she had the classiest digs in the land: She was a bridesmaid to Princess Elizabeth in , and the Princess returned the favour three years later. As a young wife, living the good life in Devon, she took a jolly take-us-as-you-find-us approach to having the Royal family plus their security men to stay for the weekend. They had strong liberal and anglophile leanings, completely at variance with their eldest son, 'Kaiser Bill', who took Germany into the First World War.
View all 5 comments. A charming reminiscence of a young Queen Elizabeth by her cousin who grew up with her. The stories of the venerated Queen Mother show her as a fun-loving pixie in her private life and gently spreading 'stardust' in her public life. Margaret Rhodes had an eventful life herself as she relates. Quick read, very enjoyable. Jun 11, Vicki rated it it was amazing Shelves: A short book which is a joy to read as the author's character shines through, as does the happiness of her life. One lovely thing about the book is the lack of bitchiness, and the respect that she has for others.
I tire of books that read like a gossip column, and this book is quite frankly charming.
Queen Elizabeth: 'The Diamond Jubilee? She dreads the ship thing’
It may not be great literature but it is a reflection on a life well lived. Those interested in the lives of others. Recommended to Lynda by: Review on The Book Depository.
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She was born in when the large country houses were run like Downton Abbey. She grew up to appreciate and handle outdoor life on large estates, to fish and hunt game, with governesses who taught her history and to speak fluent French. While she was to rue her lack of formal education in later life, she was certainly astute enough to land a job in MI6 during WWII. However her mother's youngest sister Elizabeth caught the eye of a Duke and this was to change the fortunes of the family in remarkable ways years later when the Duke became King of England and her Aunt, Queen Elizabeth.
Her cousin, 10 months different in age and a childhood playmate, was destined to become Queen after him.
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When she leaves home as a young woman to work in London, naturally enough she stays with her Aunt and Uncle and shares a few glimpses of life with the family during the war. She also tells of the treatment of her brother as a prisoner of war with a group of others related to prominent allied figures.
They had to fight for their rights as they were whisked away from the advancing allies. After the war, Margaret marries the man of her dreams and embarks on a year long honeymoon which starts with visiting her husbands relations in New Zealand. Her Father provides a family home and they enjoy a happy family life until sadly her husband dies young. They had been an adventurous couple visiting lands well off the beaten track in Africa and the Middle East where the name Elizabeth II meant nothing, when faced with danger.
In later life Margaret becomes a lady-in-waiting and companion to her Aunt, renting a home just round the corner from Royal Lodge in Windsor Park. She describes this life as not all formality due to the personality of the Queen Mother who inspires loyalty from her aging staff and rewards them with many an evening singing round the piano which was the way they all enjoyed themselves when young.
The final curtsey of the title is made to her aunt on her death.
Thus she shares her family life, how this spills into the life of royalty and the private side of the Windsor's too. Despite her feeling that she lacks a formal education, she writes like a woman of good intellect. Her style is spare, understated and witty. She becomes a woman one warms to and admires for her down to earth, no nonsense ways.
The Final Curtsey: A Royal Memoir by the Queen's Cousin - Margaret Rhodes - Google Книги
She also shows us the mettle needed to reach a fine age. An interesting read all round. Feb 07, Kealani rated it it was amazing. With depth that only comes from family, Margaret shares experiences from her days as playmate to the Princesses of York, the awe of participating in the Queen's wedding, and her days as Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen Mum.
Who else could share correspondence of the Queen at some of the most major milestones in her life? But wait, there's more! Romance, danger, and daring in cloistered Himalayan Kingdoms and tumultuous African nations. Nov 29, Lena rated it really liked it. Dishy but not bitchy, this is a fascinating look into a disappearing lifestyle.
I enjoyed the author's matter-of-fact approach to writing about and experiencing some very dramatic and noteworthy occasions. It's like listening to your rather daring and very well-connected great aunt's reminisces. And if you're at all fascinated by the Royal Family, it's a must read.
Feb 14, Izzy rated it really liked it. An unpretentious and often charming insight into the world of the 20th century aristocrat. Filled with wonderful anecdotes, it is a fascinating account of Margaret Rhodes' life, and her close relationship with the Royal Family.
If you love the Queen as much as I do, this really is a must-read! Dec 24, Ronald rated it really liked it. An interesting autobiography of an interesting woman who grew up in an amazing time and in an unusual family. Quaint but not twee Perhaps a disappearing world, but one of charm and grace; of tough personalities and an insight into the behind the scenes lives of those both belonging to 'The Firm' and those who serve them.
Oh and those corgis! I enjoyed this book written in a gentle manner, with humour and not letting too many cats out of the bag. What did really surprise me was the, apparently, untrained pack of corgis who are the bane of many lives. Three years later the King and Queen attended her own wedding; Princess Margaret was a bridesmaid. In she was appointed as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen Mother, acting also as her companion, which she describes in touching detail. In the early months of , she spent as much time as possible with her ailing aunt, and was at her bedside when she died at Easter that year.
The next morning she went to Queen Elizabeth's bedroom to pray, and in farewell dropped her a final curtsey. This is an enthralling account of a special life, and a unique insight into the intimate moments of the British Royal family. The Queen Mother regarded Margaret Rhodes as her "third daughter", and she has been extremely close to her cousins the Queen and Princess Margaret throughout their lives. The book is full of charming anecdotes, fascinating characters, and personal photographs and is an unparalleled insight into the private life of the British monarchy.
Read more Read less. Add all three to Cart Add all three to List. Buy the selected items together This item: Ships from and sold by Amazon. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. My Years with the Queen Mother. Queen Mary and the House of Windsor. Not In Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains. The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life. My Husband and I: The Inside Story of the Royal Marriage. Here's how restrictions apply. Birlinn March 27, Language: I'd like to read this book on Kindle Don't have a Kindle?
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Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. A very enjoyable look at life as an aristocrat as well as functioning as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother while also being cousin and closest friend of Queen Elizabeth II. The book contains no revelations of anything remotely controversial or scandalous instead we get look into what it was like growing up in a real "Downton Abbey" setting.
Rhodes father never actually worked -- he was a wealthy man who pursued pleasant travel and adventure as a young man and she inherited some of that same wanderlust which she details in the sections of the book that she devotes to travels in India, Bhutan, Africa etc. And she does say that looking back at that time and comparing to today, that way of life seems all but impossible. She tells some interesting stories of her relationship with the two Queens and gives a glimpse into the personality of the Queen Mother particularly who appears to have been a charming, friendly, outgoing woman who liked a joke, enjoyed following horseracing, and was very conscientious about doing her "job" as a working member of the monarchy when as she reached an advanced age she could have retired from it all.
This is a book for people who are interested in the royal family and enjoy a peek behind the scenes of what life is at times when they are on their own. Who could imagine the Queen Mother sitting with a tray eating a meal and watching TV -- but that happened on occasion. I thought one of the most interesting comments that Rhodes makes is in regard to her education and that of her sisters and Queen Elizabeth as well as other women of their station -- which was that the education was very limited and rather scattershot and that she and the Queen were part of the last generation of that kind of woman who did not receive a formal education.