Review of 'The Final Curtsey The Autobiography Of Margaret Rhodes First Cousin Of The Queen And Niece Of The Late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I was fairly eager to read this as I enjoy learning about the Bowes-Lyon family that the late Queen Mother was born into. Margaret Rhodes, born Margaret Elphinstone, was the youngest child of Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, elder sister of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Margaret was born less than a year before Princess Elizabeth of York (the current queen) and the cousins were childhood playmates. Margaret later lived with her cousins during the WWII while working as a secretary for MI5. In her later years, she served as lady-in-waiting to the queen mother.
On the surface of things, this story seemed fairly dull. There were no grand revelations about the Queen Mother, no mentions of Diana or Fergie, and none of the explosive drama that we've come to expect from tabloid coverage of the royal family. But there are a few hidden gems, such as Margaret trying to find a cool spot to …
I was fairly eager to read this as I enjoy learning about the Bowes-Lyon family that the late Queen Mother was born into. Margaret Rhodes, born Margaret Elphinstone, was the youngest child of Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, elder sister of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Margaret was born less than a year before Princess Elizabeth of York (the current queen) and the cousins were childhood playmates. Margaret later lived with her cousins during the WWII while working as a secretary for MI5. In her later years, she served as lady-in-waiting to the queen mother.
On the surface of things, this story seemed fairly dull. There were no grand revelations about the Queen Mother, no mentions of Diana or Fergie, and none of the explosive drama that we've come to expect from tabloid coverage of the royal family. But there are a few hidden gems, such as Margaret trying to find a cool spot to store her milk bottles while living at Buckingham Palace. She opted to leave them outside on the windowsill… which just happened to be on the front of the palace facade facing the Victoria Memorial, leading to courtiers scrambling to remove the bottles!
Another surprising revelation was that Margaret married a divorced man, Denys Rhodes, in 1950. They married in the same year that his divorce was finalized and King George VI, as her godfather, was in attendance. Her cousin Princess Margaret was a bridesmaid. A few years later, Princess Margaret was unable to marry the man of her choice (Peter Townsend) because he was divorced.
There is a small throwaway mention that Margaret and Denys served as foster parents to two young princes from the Kingdom of Sikkim who attended boarding schools in England. A later chapter covers the couple's visit to Sikkim for the marriage of the crown prince to American Hope Cooke. A year later, the Rhodes were invited to visit Bhutan and found themselves in the middle of a coup. They joined Shirley MacLaine in an adventure to cross the border into safety in India.
In the end, it was a quick enjoyable read. I didn't learn as much as I hoped about the Queen and the Queen Mother, but the stories about visiting a Himalayan kingdom I had never heard of sent me in a new direction of research.