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Chamberlain pursued his policy of courting the Italian fascist leader Mussolini, Hitler
annexed Austria, began to stir up trouble in Czechoslovakia and, early in May 1938,
undertook a state visit to Rome, which mobilized all the resources of Cinecittà to
produce a full-blown exhibition of militaristic pomp.
None of this would have meant very much to Elizabeth; European realpolitik at this
stage concerned her only because the King and Queen’s first overseas state visit had
been planned against the lowering background of the fascist alliances as a
demonstration of the solidarity of the two democracies, Britain and France. The
imminent departure of her parents for Paris on 28 June was completely overshadowed
for her by the sudden death of her beloved grandmother, Cecilia Strathmore, at Glamis
five days earlier. Elizabeth’s expression of emotion was unusual for her, so much so that
Crawfie reported to a friend: ‘Princess Margaret is too young to realize what has
happened but Princess Elizabeth has felt it deeply.’ Like her father, and even more her
grandfather and grandmother, she bottled up her human emotions. Whereas the death of
a sparrow would bring tears to George V’s eyes and the death of a dog prompt long
letters of condolence from his granddaughter, the loss of a beloved human being aroused
more complicated feelings which they were constitutionally unable to put into words.
‘Only once’, Crawfie reported on the death of Lord Strathmore aged eighty-nine six
years later, ‘did she [Elizabeth] walk right into my arms, thinking of nothing but that for
the moment she had to have a little comforting. That was when she came into my room,
very white and wide-eyed. “Oh, Crawfie, Grandfather Strathmore is dead,” she said and
burst into tears.’ Lord Strathmore, Crawfie wrote, ‘was a most gentle and humorous
person… a countryman through and through. He timed all his movements by country
things – the coming of the migrants, the wild geese on the river, the rising of the sap.’
Somewhat eccentrically, he ate plum pudding every day of his life. Both Elizabeth and
Margaret adored him.
The Queen was devastated by her mother’s death, as she told Neville Chamberlain:
I have been dreading this moment ever since I was a little child and now that it has come, one can hardly
believe it. She was a true ‘Rock of Defence’ for us, her children, & Thank God, her influence and wonderful
example will remain with us all our lives.
She had a good perspective of life – everything was given its trueimportance. She had a young spirit, great
courage and unending sympathy whenever or wherever it was needed, & such a heavenly sense of humour.
We all used to laugh together and have such fun. You must forgive me for writing to you like this, but you
have been such a kind friend and counsellor to us during the last year… 14
Publicly, however, the Queen kept the proverbial stiff upper lip. The state visit went
ahead on 19 July with a new wardrobe designed by Hartnell in white, the alternative
royal mourning colour. It was a resounding success. At the gala night given in their
honour at the Paris Opéra Winston Churchill, with Diana Cooper, Venetia Stanley and
the Duchess of Rutland, watched the King and Queen ascend the staircase, the Queen
glittering in diamonds and a white Winterhalter-style crinoline. ‘I felt proud of my
nation,’ the duchess wrote. ‘The French went mad about the King and Queen. Winston