The Queen Mother

Royalty

Name at birth: Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon

The former Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was the wife of Britain's King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II. She was the daughter of Lord Glamis, later 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; their family was descended from the royal house of Scotland. She married Albert, Duke of York on 26 April 1923; when his elder brother King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, Albert became King George VI and Elizabeth became the Queen Consort. Their daughter became Queen Elizabeth II after the 1952 death of George VI, and the elder Elizabeth became known as the Queen Mother. In that role she often performed ceremonial functions and became a sentimental favorite of the public. She died in her sleep at age 101, less than two months after the death of her daughter Princess Margaret.

Extra credit: Her funeral was held in Westminster Abbey and she was buried next to her husband on the grounds of Windsor Palace... The Queen Mother had two children: Elizabeth (b. 1926) and Margaret (b. 1930)... The Queen Mother was the grandmother of the current heir to the throne, Prince Charles... After the death of her husband, the Queen Mother's official title became Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.