Overview

A Times Best Book on the Royal Family of the Year 2022 This is a biography of the Queen Mother with all the dull bits stripped out. When told that Lady Mountbatten was being buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully. ‘Dear old Edwina, she always did like to make a splash!’ During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was as famous for her clever quips, pointed observations and dry-as-a-Martini delivery style as she was for being a member of the Royal Family. She was also famed for her fondness for ‘drinky-poos’ – usually a gin and Dubonnet or three. Now, Do Let’s Have Another Drink recounts 101 biographical vignettes – one for each year of her long, remarkable life, including her coming-of-age during World War I, the abdication of her brother-in-law, the truth about her tragic nieces and her relationship with her two daughters over half a century of widowhood. The book is a skimming-stone biography – the story of a life without the boring bits – and a travel guide to a world that no longer exists. Stepping into the Queen Mother’s rarefied universe is a little like falling through the looking glass. The book rightly celebrates her sense of humour but also explores her enmities and feuds, including the truth about her behaviour towards Wallis Simpson, Nerissa Bowes-Lyon and Diana, Princess of Wales. For fans of The Crown and featuring new revelations, never before published, and colourful anecdotes about the woman the high society photographer Cecil Beaton once described as ‘a marshmallow made on a welding machine’, Do Let’s Have Another Drink is a delightful celebration of one of the most consistently popular members of the Royal Family.

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9780008542627

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Reviews

PRAISE FOR GARETH RUSSELL'S BOOK THE SHIP OF DREAMS 'A fascinating look at life during a doomed era ... Like spending time with an amusing conversationalist aboard what the Edwardians called 'a ship of dreams' ... Russell's social observations are sharp and witty ... the wider history he presents is packed with interesting details.' Times 'Gripping .... the attention to detail is astonishing.' Sunday Times 'Engrossing ... This masterly reconstruction renders the Titanic story vital again' Mail on Sunday 'Russell sets out to look at the night through the experiences of six first-class passengers ... Russell reminds us no one thought the Titanic could sink ... The belief in the infallibility of bigness is the most striking feature of Russell's darksome failing world' Daily Telegraph 'It is a wonderful, multi-angled view of history and grips the reader as compellingly as a pacey historical or epic movie ... Russell has written a wonderful book, full of personalities, history but most of all suspense.' Independent

Author Information

Gareth Russell read Modern History at St Peter's College at the University of Oxford and completed his postgraduate at Queen's University, Belfast with a study of Catherine Howard's household. He has written for the Sunday Times, Tatler and the Irish News and is the author of two novels set in his native Belfast and several books on royal history. He divides his time between Belfast and New York.

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