Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 - 30 March 2002) was the wife of King George VI, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. She was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from her husband's accession in 1936 until his death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter.
The Queen Mother had been suffering from a persistent cold which she caught during Christmas 2001. She was bedridden at Sandringham after her final public engagement on 22 November 2001, when she attended the recommissioning of HMS Ark Royal. However, despite missing many other scheduled events she was determined to attend the funeral of her younger daughter Princess Margaret. On 13th February she slipped in her sitting room at Sandringham, causing considerable concern to her daughter, the Queen, and the rest of the royal family, but she travelled to Windsor by helicopter the following day. She attended the funeral on 15th February 2002 in a people carrier with blacked-out windows shielded from the press according to her wishes so that no photographs of her in a wheelchair could be taken. She then returned to Royal Lodge. On 5th March 2002 she attended lunch at the annual lawn party of the Eton Beagles, and watched the Cheltenham races on television; but her health rapidly deteriorated during her last weeks after retreating to the Lodge for the final time. She weakened further throughout March 2002, and died on 30th March, at 15:15 GMT, with her surviving daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, at her bedside, she was interred in the George VI Memorial Chapel next to her husband, King George VI, who had died 50 years previously. At the same time, the ashes of their daughter, Princess Margaret, who had died on 9th February 2002, were also interred in a private family service.
8 дек 2020
