Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother extremely enthusiastic, and largely dissipated any residual feeling that George and Elizabeth were a lesser substitute for Edward. Elizabeth told Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, "that tour made us", and she returned to Canada frequently both on official tours and privately. During the Second World War, the King and Queen became symbols of the fight against fascism. Shortly after the declaration of war, "The Queen's Book of the Red Cross" was conceived. Fifty authors and artists contributed to the book, which was fronted by Cecil Beaton's portrait of the Queen and was sold in aid of the Red
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother After the war, her husband's health deteriorated and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen. From the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth was viewed as the matriarch of the British royal family. In her later years, she was a consistently popular member of the family, even when other members were suffering from low levels of public approval. She continued an active public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101, seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret. Elizabeth