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

Product Information

Gareth Russell brings the Queen Mother’s humanity, courage and spirit to life… a compulsive read’ Nichelle Tramble Spellman, Showrunner Truth Be Told (Apple TV+) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Elizabeth supported her husband through his stammer that made it difficult for him to give public speeches.

The author also debunks the idea (put about by Lady Colin Campbell again) that Elizabeth was desperate to be a royal and a queen. Her kindness to servants who were employed long after they ceased to be able to perform their duties was also mentioned, as was her willingness to take the blame when things went wrong (so people wouldn't lose their jobs). A few years ago, I read “The King’s Speech” about King George VI, and I wanted to learn more about his wife, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.She would have needed both, given that she attracted considerable hostility from the upper echelons almost throughout her adult life. Featuring new revelations and colorful anecdotes about the woman Cecil Beaton, the high society photographer, once summarized 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. I appreciate that he did go out of his way to find new materials, because reading royal biographies gets repetitive very quickly and DLHAD is a breath of fresh air. Not only are well-known sources quoted, but also people who knew or met the Queen Mother and also private letters and diaries were consulted to form a more rounded picture of the QEII's mum -- warts and all.

The more I learn about the Queen Mother though, the more I admire her unwavering ability to connect with people and put them at ease.This book is a totally delightful, humorous, and compelling collection of 101 vignettes about the Queen Mother during her lifetime.

Born in Belfast, he studied history at the University of Oxford and completed his postgraduate degree in medieval history at Queen’s University Belfast. I learned some fun facts about her early life, such as George VI had to propose to Elizabeth three separate times until she said yes, to the relief of George’s mother, Queen Mary. 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. 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. This is not my usual area of interest, especially for my blog, but I have always wanted to learn more about the House of Windsor.With nothing of the entertaining malice of, for instance, Craig Brown’s NINETY-NINE GLIMPSES OF PRINCESS MARGARET, it contains very little worth reading until 2/3 of the way through the book, and even then, it relies on repetitions of all the old stories. The Dry Wit and Fizzy Life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother presents a refreshing and intimate portrayal of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, going beyond the typical formalities and royal protocol.