A ROYAL MOTHER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

A ROYAL MOTHER

DEVOTION TO THE FAMILY AND THE PEOPLE

jT'is fitting that on Mother’s Day, the thoughts of British people should turn to a Royal mother now on her way to Canada and U.S.A, to help strengthen the bonds of friendship between the great English-speaking countries of the 'world.

Queen Elizabeth has been a mother since April. 1926, when Princess Elizabeth was born in the London home of the Queen’s parents. Four years later Princess Margaret Rose was born* at Glamis Castle, in Scotland, ancestral home and birthplace of the Queen herself. It is interesting to know that, with characteristic thoroughness, the Queen had, before her marriage, undertaken a course of training in the mothercraft methods of the late Sir Truby King, New Zealand founder of the Plunket Society. As nurse for her babies, she had the one who watched over her own babyhood, and as a modern mother of two princesses of royal blood she differs little from any wise mother of the people. Her hair is very dark brown, and for a long time she wore it parted in the middle with a soft fringe over her forehead. It is said that once she seriously considered having it shingled, but was dissuaded by King George V., who very much disliked short hair. Since her accession, she has changed the style, and now wears it parted on the left temple, and drawn back in soft waves over her ears to a low knot at the nape of the neck, whilst the fringe no longer appears. Her eyes are beautiful and unusual. Rather light blue-grey in colour, they are fringed with long black lashes — true Celtic eyes, which are said to betoken second-sight to their owners. However this may be, it is rumoured that second-sight runs in the Strathmore family, and that it is possessed by the Queen’s brother David. When word came that his brother Michael was “missing,” believed to be killed, during the war, he refused to believe it, and was proved right, for after weary months of waiting for news, Michael Bowes-Lyon was traced to a German prison camp, whence he was safely repatriated at the end of the war.

Secure in the affection of her husband, her children and the people of her Empire, Queen Elizabeth sets out on a life of renewed and consecrated service. Her youth, her wide range of interests, and her democratic interest in the life of the people are omens of good for Britain, and through Britain for the whole world.