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

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NB: This book is released as “ Do Let’s Have Another Drink!: The Dry Wit and Fizzy Life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother” in the United States. Amidst the glut of royal biographies recently released or republished, “Do Let’s Have Another Drink: The Singular Wit and Double Measures of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother” by Gareth Russell has managed to create a book that could spawn a thousand copycats about other famous characters. You don’t need to be a royalist or a monarchist to enjoy this book, it is the perfect story for anyone interested in the history, culture, and traditions of the House of Windsor. I found it to be incredibly insightful, with relevant information on all that has happened within the family throughout The Queen Mother’s life. Anyone who reads it will not only feel like they know her better but will also have a renewed interest in this iconic family.

During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was as famous for her clever quips, pointed observations and dry-as-a-Martini delivery style as she was for being a member of the Royal Family. She was also famed for her fondness for ‘drinky-poos’ – usually a gin and Dubonnet or three. Now, Do Let’s Have Another Drink recounts 101 biographical vignettes – one for each year of her long, remarkable life, including her coming-of-age during World War I, the abdication of her brother-in-law, the truth about her tragic nieces and her relationship with her two daughters over half a century of widowhood. Not unlike Diana, when she first married Bertie, Elizabeth was derided for being too popular and too adored by the public. She was approachable with the ability to talk to and charm whomever she met. I was quite amazed by the similarities although I suspect by the time Diana was at her zenith, the Queen Mum might have had some different views. She was the breath of fresh air in the stodgy world of Royalty after WWI. She and her husband were well matched and in love. It was, by all accounts, a happy marriage. The Queen Mother, of course, needs no introduction. Personally, I remember seeing her in photographs and footage of the royal family as a child. 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. A rather entertaining, eye opening book about English royalty, The Queen Mother lived an extraordinarily long life. Placed in the role of Queen due to the abdication of her husband’s brother, her life changed dramatically. She and Winston Churchill are given honors for keeping the spirit of England encouraged during the years of the blitz of London. It is said of her that she could put anyone at ease, rich or poor. After her husband’s death, she continued to support the reigning Queen, Elizabeth II, faithfully until her death at age 101.When told that Lady Mountbatten was being buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully. 'Dear old Edwina, she always did like to make a splash!' Diana Mitford Mosley and the QM did NOT get along, not only because of their politics but because Diana was great friends with Wallis, "that woman".

I really enjoyed Russell's weaving of Elizabeth's enjoyment of drinking throughout the book. 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. Also, my favourite story had to be the tour where she walked in on a guest in the bathroom. During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was as famous for her clever quips, pointed observations, and dry-as-a-martini delivery style as she was for being a beloved royal. 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 and her unexpected ascendance to the throne, and her half-century of widowhood as her daughter reigned over the United Kingdom. Featuring new revelations and colorful anecdotes about the woman Cecil Beaton, the high society photographer, once summarised as “a marshmallow made on a welding machine,” Do Let’s Have Another Drink is a delightful celebration of one of the most consistently popular members of the royal family.

BookBliss

Elizabeth supported her husband through his stammer that made it difficult for him to give public speeches. His ill health also made it necessary for her to be close by his side. She was unfailing during World War I refusing to leave London to be safe in the countryside. She and their children stayed put to brave the war just as the other people of England did. She believed in solidarity with the people. For fans of The Crown and featuring new revelations, never before published, and colourful anecdotes about the woman the high society photographer Cecil Beaton once described as ‘a marshmallow made on a welding machine’, Do Let’s Have Another Drink is a delightful celebration of one of the most consistently popular members of the Royal Family. The Queen Mother was 101 when she died, having been born in 1900. She grew up in Glamis Castle, Scotland, and married Prince Albert (Bertie), in 1923. Following the Abdication crisis of 1936, Prince Albert was crowned King George VI, and Elizabeth was crowned as Queen Consort. King George VI died fifteen years later, at which point his daughter Elizabeth, became Queen Elizabeth II, and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Gareth Russell’s survey avoids both of these traps. Described by the author as “a skimming-stone biography,” it tells its story in 10 chapters, one for each decade of the Queen Mother’s life, and 101 gossipy anecdotes. By the end, as the last pieces in the jigsaw fall into place, we have a warm, funny, and above all sympathetic picture of a remarkable woman, one who throughout her long life managed to combine self-indulgence with a powerful sense of duty – both traits which are out of fashion today. Any author who sets out to write a biography of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother has to tread a fine line between tell-all vulgarity and the kind of doorstop biography which meticulously records every utterance, every obscure footnote to a life, until one longs for death – either the subject’s or one’s own.