Elizabeth Angela Marguerite BowesLyon (August 4, 1900 March 30, 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. As George's wife, she was the last empress of India. After her husband died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
Born into a family of British nobility, she came to prominence in 1923 when she married the Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. The couple had two daughters: Elizabeth and Margaret. The Duchess undertook a variety of public engagements and became known for her consistently cheerful countenance.
Elizabeth spent much of her childhood at St Paul's Walden and at Glamis Castle, the Earl's ancestral home in Scotland. When she started school in London, she astonished her teachers by precociously beginning an essay with two Greek words from Xenophon's Anabasis. After returning to private education under a German Jewish governess, Käthe Kübler, she passed the Oxford Local Examination with distinction at age thirteen.
The outbreak of the First World War saw Glamis Castle turned into a reception centre and hospital for the wounded. Lady Elizabeth was too young to work as a nurse, but spent the war years helping with the running of the hospital and aiding the welfare and morale of the patients.
In 1936, Elizabeth's husband unexpectedly became king when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth then became Queen. During the Second World War, the King and Queen became symbols of the fight against fascism. After that, her husband's health deteriorated, and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen. Elizabeth was a consistently popular member of the family, even when other members were suffering from low levels of public approval. In her later years, Elizabeth became known for her longevity. She continued an active public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101 years, 238 days, which was seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret.