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A letter from the Queen Mother (then the Queen) written to her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, has recently been released which shows that she was very much in touch with her people.

I love nothing more on a Sunday morning than getting my honey nut cornflakes and a cup of tea and spending an hour or two upstairs at my PC trawling the online newspapers and the BBC News website.  A headline on the BBC this morning particularly caught my eye.  Being a lover of history I was immediately drawn to an item that indicated some correspondence had been released into the public domain which took place between the Queen Mother and her mother-in-law Queen Mary during WW2.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8252978.stm

So many people, certainly here in England, say that the Royal Family can’t have no inkling how the common people live, but this letter from the Queen Mother shows that she was very much in touch with her neighbours in London. 

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I know that, when the war began in 1939, the government suggested that King George and his family should move out of London for their own safety, but they refused to go.  It was their opinion that the majority of people in London had no option but to stay and face the music (or bombings!) so they wouldn’t abandon them.  They were often seen speaking to people who had been caught up in the blitz and the pessimists amongst us thought it was just, what we would call today, good PR.  However, having spoken myself to several people who were ‘blitzed’, they have said how wonderfully kind the Royal Family had been in their hour of need and how much it boosted their morale when they’d lost their homes. their belongings and in many cases, members of their families.

And now this letter has come to light it shows me that it hadn’t just been a gimmick to gain brownie points with the people, but they cared very much what was happening to the common man. 

Our current Queen was brought up in a similar vein and again, despite what many people think, I’m sure she’s well aware of what’s happening in her country but, as one would expect of Her Royal Highness, she must be seen to be slightly aloof.  I suspect if she and the Duke of Edinburgh were seen regularly in the Queen Vic downing a pint of ale and eating pie and mash they’d somehow lose some of their respect and charm!