Fifty Years the Queen. Arthur Bousfield
her studies. Elizabeth was precocious and hardworking in the schoolroom.
There were of course many occasions for boisterous high spirits too.
Of all the family, Queen Mary took the closest interest in the intellectual content of Elizabeth's educational programme. She arranged for her granddaughter to have a professional governess, Mrs Montaudon-Smith, to teach her French so that lessons would not be interrupted by Crawfie's holidays. The Princess responded well and became perfectly fluent in a language vitally important in her eventual capacity as Queen of Canada. (Her studies in French were later taken to a more advanced level by Vicomtesse Antoinette de Bellaigue.) Queen Mary also felt that more school room time should be devoted to history and had royal genealogies added to the curriculum. She made sure both granddaughters were thoroughly taught the geography of the Dominions. For Elizabeth's fourth birthday she gave her a set of building blocks made of fifty different woods from around the Commonwealth, maple from Canada, teak from Malaya and so on. The classics of literature were regular gifts from her to her granddaughter. She arranged her own outings—more successfully than Crawfie—for the two Princesses: regular cultural visits to museums, art galleries and historic sites.
Noticing Princess Elizabeth was bored during a performance at Queen's Hall, Queen Mary asked if she would like to go home. “Oh no, Granny” replied Elizabeth, “we can't leave before the end. Think of all the people who'll be waiting to see us outside”. Her grandmother promptly had her taken away unseen and sent home in a taxi. This was education of a different kind than governesses provided but just as essential for the Princess. The lesson, as Robert Lacey who tells the story in Majesty points out, was that “being royal was a matter of living out a role, not acting it”. Princess Elizabeth had now also taken on a responsibility. Integration of her young sister Margaret into family life brought out the protective side of her. Margaret was an amusing extrovert. She needed a good example and had to be saved from the consequences of her own folly when she got into scrapes. This helped Elizabeth grow up too.
Princess Elizabeth's first five years coincided with developments in family and state that settled in advance the framework of her future life and role as Queen. Six months after her birth, her father followed his wife's advice to make one more attempt—his tenth—to overcome his serious speech problem. On 19 October 1926 accompanied by the Duchess, he made his way to the consulting rooms of Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist practicing in London. Daily visits and home breathing exercises followed. The skilful Logue gave his patient hope. Prince Bertie's speech, marred by stuttering, long pauses and the inability to say certain words, slowly showed noticeable improvement. He began to feel confident about the six-month Australian and New Zealand tour that lay ahead. Of more lasting importance, his cure released the latent qualities necessary to the full development of his character. Had this not happened, it is doubtful whether he would have felt able to accept the Crown when it fell to his lot. The other family development was less happy. Princess Elizabeth's uncle David continued unwed, growing daily more bored with his job as Heir to the Throne.
The year 1926 also saw the Balfour Declaration on the status of the Dominions. The second British Empire—the first ended with the defection of the Americans in 1775–1783—came together haphazardly almost reluctantly, and reached its greatest territorial extent following World War I. Larger components of the Empire—Canada for instance in 1867, Australia in 1901, South Africa in 1910—developed selfgovernment and regional union. But was the Empire's destiny to be complete independence of its parts or federation with an Imperial Parliament and Imperial Government? The debate raged for years. If anything, voices for federation were louder from the overseas provinces than from the United Kingdom and in the end it was the British electorate that rejected federation. The Dominions meanwhile had built up sophisticated domestic economies making that option unlikely anyway. World War I spurred the growth of nationalism—Canada certainly felt the stir of nationhood with the sacrifice its troops made to win the desperate victory of Vimy Ridge in 1917—and political independence carried the day.
At the Imperial Conference held in early November 1926, a committee of the Dominion Prime Ministers headed by the former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Earl Balfour, defined what a Dominion was. “They are autonomous communities within the British Empire” it declared, “equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations”. It took five years for the Balfour Declaration to be enacted. This was done by the Statue of Westminster to which King George V gave Royal Assent on 11 December 1931.
The Statute of Westminster transformed the most developed part of the Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. George V became separately King of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland and the Irish Free State, just as he was of the United Kingdom. The Governor-General of Canada became solely his personal representative without reference to the British Government. His coat of arms for the Dominion of Canada became the Royal Arms of Canada. And so on. This new Commonwealth was what Princess Elizabeth would reign over, Queen individually of most of its monarchies and Head of the Commonwealth for all the realms and the parts that became republics. Her reign would largely be the story of the transformation of the Empire that remained into full Commonwealth membership. Though the public did not quite grasp the new relationship for some time, the framework of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II had been established.
On 29 November 1934 Princess Elizabeth acted as bridesmaid at the marriage of her Uncle the Duke of Kent to Princess Marina of Greece, The wedding photo at Buckingham Palace. From left, back row: King George V; Princess Nicholas of Greece; The Bride Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; The Groom Prince George, Duke of Kent; Queen Mary; Prime Nicholas of Greece. From left, front row; Princess Elizabeth and Lady May Cambridge (daughter of Queen Mary's brother the Earl of Athlone, Governor-General of Canada 1940–1946, and his wife Princess Alice).
Before passage of the Statute of Westminster the old state of affairs intervened again. Seeing the future of the Crown lay with the Yorks, the Canadian Government in the second half of 1930 asked to have Princess Elizabeth's father as Governor-General of Canada. Ever since the Princess's great-great-great grandfather Prince Edward the Duke of Kent had lived among them for nearly ten years at the end of the eighteenth century, Canadians had wanted—and repeatedly asked for—members of the Royal Family to come and reside in Canada's fair domain. Several had done so. This time the desire was frustrated by the British Minister for the Dominions, J.H. Thomas. With Princess Margaret just born, the Duchess of York may have been relieved not to have to move her home again, but it remains one of history's might-have-beens to wonder how events would have unfolded if Princess Elizabeth had been reared at Rideau Hall. One thing is certain: Canadians would have been cheered by the Royal Family's presence as they suffered through the bitter years of the Great Depression.
Although the most famous child in the world, Princess Elizabeth still lived a completely unpublic life. This was to change soon. On 29 November 1934, at eight, she was a bridesmaid for her uncle Prince George the Duke of Kent's wedding to beautiful, exotic Princess Marina of Greece. Her real debut in royal public life only came when she was nine however. By temperament and training she was ready for it. King George V and Queen Mary celebrated the Silver Jubilee of their reign, twenty-five years on the Throne, on 6 May 1935. For this great event Princess Elizabeth took her place as the main representative of the third generation of the Royal Family in the moving festivities.
At age 9. Another Marcus Adams portrait photo.
George V's Jubilee was a great Commonwealth event. Princess Elizabeth made her first appearance on a Canadian stamp for the occasion.
Frank Salisbury's famous painting shows the Royal Family entering St Paul's Cathedral for the Jubilee