A Ma'am For All Seasons

For decades she seemed the fairy godmother of an entire adoring nation. Elizabeth, Queen Consort to King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II, was, historians will doubtless record, the woman who helped restore the majesty of the throne after the abdication of George's brother Edward VIII in 1936. But the Queen Mother's former subjects will be more likely to remember her as the sprightly Queen Mum who seemed almost a part of everyone's family.

Merry and maternal, always ready with a bandage or a bag of sweets, she extended herself so easily and so warmly to her...