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The echoes linking Queen Camilla with the Queen Mother
When George VI was unwell, his wife steadied the ship, taking on some of his duties. Is history repeating itself?
A few years ago it would have seemed extremely unlikely that Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles would find herself in the role of acting head of state, at least insofar as public appearances are concerned. But ever since King Charles announced he was being treated for cancer, it has fallen to her to keep the show on the road.
The King is receiving treatment but is still operating as head of state behind the scenes. When he gets well again, he will resume his role in public. He must not catch an infection, and he is likely to tire easily. We have seen him carrying on perfectly well at home in reassuring pictures of him with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and on a Zoom call with Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada. Queen Camilla is doing exactly what Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) did between 1948 and 1952 and again between 1953 and 1954.
With her trusty support team around her she attended the Shakespeare evening at Grosvenor House on February 14. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, some younger members of the Royal family, her sister and several of her “companions” meant there was a strong Royal household presence. She accompanied Queen Anne-Marie of Greece to the memorial service for King Constantine at St George’s Chapel on February 27, and hosted a reception for a great many members of the British and foreign royal families afterwards.
Presently she will take on an unprecedented role and distribute the Royal Maundy money in Worcester Cathedral. Normally, in the absence of the sovereign, the distribution of Maundy Money is done by the Lord High Almoner (a senior bishop). The ceremony is an ancient one, but only since 1932 has the sovereign taken part. In 1947 George VI was in South Africa, and so Edward Woods, Bishop of Lichfield, handed out the purses. The Royal family were represented by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (the Duke being the King’s brother) and by Princess Marie Louise (a granddaughter of Queen Victoria). The same thing happened in 1949 when the King was ill – the Lord High Almoner distributed it. That time it was Princess Elizabeth present and Princess Marie Louise again. The echoes are so similar.
In biographies of George VI there are certain well-known images of the King in public during those years – at the 1948 Silver Wedding Service at St Paul’s Cathedral, or opening the Festival of Britain in 1951 – but these are few and far between. For months on end he was not seen at all, though as with the present King, there were occasional snaps of him leaving in a car for Windsor or Sandringham. Like the present King, he was able to function perfectly well behind the scenes. No counsellors of state were needed until the autumn of 1951. Therefore, as with Queen Camilla, to all extents and purposes Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) was – in the eyes of the public – the acting head of state.
In October 1948 George VI cancelled his tour of the Antipodes due to an obstruction to circulation through the arteries in his legs which had become acute, and had caused a defective supply to his right foot. Dermot Morrah, who had been invited on the South African tour the year before (to write about it), heard how serious it was – the King’s foot went black at times and there was risk of gangrene. It was possible that the King could lose his leg. Morrah attributed this problem to the King’s ill-placed reliance on his homeopathic doctor, Sir John Weir – described by Morrah as “a homeopathic quack with a fascination for women”, who, significantly, was deeply disliked by the famous and much more straightforward homeopathic doctor, Margery Blackie.
In those days, details of illness were kept quiet and in this particular case, the King did not want Princess Elizabeth to worry about him, since she was about to give birth to Prince Charles. So even she was kept in the dark.
The King’s health fluctuated but by 1951 Queen Elizabeth was the key figure, just as Queen Camilla is today. She presided over the family party for Queen Mary’s 84th birthday in May. The King cancelled his trip to Northern Ireland so Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret went instead. King Haakon of Norway came on a state visit, but the King could not greet him. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester did so instead, and at the state banquet, Princess Elizabeth was “charged” to read the speech that her father would have delivered. The Princess led the Birthday Parade in June (Trooping the Colour). The King stayed in his room while Queen Elizabeth attended Royal Ascot, nor was he well enough for a garden party, but he was up to taking a Privy Council in July and he undertook an investiture, knighting 34 men including the composer, Sir William Walton.
In August 1951 he and Queen Elizabeth went up to Balmoral. By that time the King had not been seen in public for more than three months. He made an appearance at the Braemar Gathering on September 6, looking pale and ill. Sir John was still in evidence, though it seems he was spending more time shooting with Scottish Dukes than attending to his patient. Only when the King called the local doctor in to see him about a chill and a sore throat did the alarm bells ring. His London doctor, Sir Horace Evans, raced up to Balmoral along with Sir Clement Price Thomas, a leading chest specialist, and others. The King was whisked down to London and his left lung was removed in an operation which had the nation on tenterhooks. At that point all his engagements were cancelled, Princess Elizabeth’s trip to Canada was postponed and counsellors of state were appointed, headed by Queen Elizabeth.
As now, when well enough, the King undertook certain duties at the palace. He presided over the change of Prime Minister from Attlee back to Churchill after the general election in October 1951. Queen Elizabeth was on the Home Office balcony on Remembrance Sunday when the Duke of Gloucester laid the King’s wreath.
He pre-recorded his Christmas broadcast as his voice had not gained its strength back. As we know, King Charles has recorded a message for the Commonwealth Observance though he won’t be there. The doctors and the Royal household all knew that King George VI’s days were numbered, but they clearly did not think he would die quite so soon or they would not have sent Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh off on a long Commonwealth tour at the end of January 1952. As it happens, the King died a week later.
Queen Elizabeth then became the Queen Mother. She was only 51. Having kept the show on the road for the King, she now became a front line representative of the Royal family, stirred from widowhood lethargy by Churchill when he was up at Balmoral in the summer of 1952, and went to call on her at Birkhall.
There is no suggestion that Queen Camilla would take on a similar role if she found herself a dowager Queen, but with so few members of the Royal family operational, she might well have some kind of a role. Under the new Regency Act of November 19 1953, the Queen Mother became eligible to serve as a counsellor of state. The next day she assumed the role and exercised it until the Queen returned from her Commonwealth tour on May 15 1954. Arguably, she was the deputy dead of state.
Counsellors of state operate in tandem and so she usually worked with Princess Margaret, though occasionally with the Duke of Gloucester, and once even with the Earl of Harewood (son of the Princess Royal). She presided over meetings of the Privy Council, issued commissions giving the Royal Assent in Parliament, received addresses from both Houses of Parliament, and undertook six investitures. Newly appointed Ambassadors “kissed hands” when they arrived en poste in London. On two occasions (on March 10 and May 4) she received the Prime Minister Churchill, just as the Queen would have done once a week had she been in London, and she also received the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. Along with this there were the more social occasions – presentation parties for debutantes, taking the salute with the Boy Scouts at Windsor and Christmas parties for the Royal household and staff.
Just now much is expected of Queen Camilla. Clearly the elderly figures who have been chosen to receive Royal Maundy money would much prefer to receive it from her than from a prelate. No problem there. Besides, a feature of the reign of King Charles is that tradition is no longer the yardstick by which they operate. Like the Queen Mother, Queen Camilla has to be not only the public face of the monarchy, but there is much going on behind the scenes. She has a husband undergoing treatment. He will be disappointed, even depressed by this setback – so soon after he succeeded to the throne, with missions and plans, many of which will have been put on hold. As so often in what has turned out to be a happy and successful marriage, she will be supporting him at home, and buoying up his spirits. The Queen Mother did it for George VI. And she does it for King Charles.