Free The Queen Mother by William Shawcross Page B

David Erskine, Lord Hardinge of Penshurst and the Hon. Lady Murray, Mrs Sylvia Hudson, Carol Hughes, Lady May, David Micklethwait, Viscount Norwich, Wilfred Notley, Rev. Jonathan Peel, Lady Penn, the Earl of Rosslyn, the Marquess of Salisbury (whose archivist, Robin Harcourt-Smith, I wish also to thank for his help), Susannah Sitwell, Earl Spencer (whose archivist, Bruce Bailey, I thank likewise), Margaret Vyner and her daughter Violet, Robert Woods and the Earl of Woolton.
    I wish also to express my thanks to those who have given me permission to quote from their letters, or letters from their forebears, among Queen Elizabeth’s papers or in other collections I have consulted. They include Lord Annaly, Sir Toby Anstruther, Bt, Bryan Basset, Winston Churchill, Mrs Alan Clark, the Duke of Devonshire, the Rev. Canon Dendle French, Lord Gage, Lord Gladwyn, Sir Carron Greig and Geordie Greig, James Joicey-Cecil, Candida Lycett Green, Sir Ian Rankin, Sir Adam Ridley, Lady Elizabeth Shakerley, the Earl of Stockton, Sir Tom Stoppard, Viscount Stuart of Findhorn and Baroness Thatcher.
    My thanks are due for assistance with my research and, where appropriate, permission to publish material from the collections in their care, to Allen Packwood and Andrew Riley at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge (Churchill Papers, Lascelles Papers, Lloyd Papers, Norwich Papers), Helen Langley and her staff at the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Attlee Papers, Beck Papers, Isaiah Berlin Papers, Monckton Papers, Bonham Carter Papers, Violet Milner Papers, Woolton Papers), Dr Frances Harris and William Frame at the British Library (Airlie Papers), the staff of The National Archives (Foreign Office Papers), the staff of the National Library of Scotland (Ballantrae Papers), Christine Penney and her staff at Birmingham University Archives (Chamberlain Papers), Michael Meredith at Eton College Library (Diana Cooper Papers), the staff of the Borthwick Institute, University of York (Hickleton Papers), Dr Richard Palmer and his staff at Lambeth Palace Library (Lang Papers, Alan Don Papers), the staff of the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone (Hardinge of Penshurst Papers), the staff of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, in particular Denis Boulé, Bill Russell, Paulette Dozois and Jennifer Mueller, and the staff of the Archives Nationales du Québec, especially Louis Fournier, Pierre Rainville, Jacques Morin and Rénald Lessard. I gratefully acknowledge the permission of Balliol College, Oxford to publish an extract from the Monckton Papers,and that of the Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust to quote from a letter from Sir Isaiah Berlin.
    Many people in the Royal Household, past and present, have helped me in different ways. They include Sir Robin (now Lord) Janvrin, the Queen’s Private Secretary when I was invited to write this book, and his successor, Christopher Geidt. I have benefited greatly from their encouragement. I am also indebted to the Royal Librarian, the Hon. Lady Roberts, for her constant support, her invaluable knowledge and her eye for detail; she and her colleagues, Bridget Wright, Emma Stuart and Paul Carter, helped with enquiries about Queen Elizabeth’s extensive book collection. Sir Hugh Roberts, Director of the Royal Collection, provided much useful information and kind guidance throughout. Shruti Patel, Karen Lawson, Daniel Partridge and Eva Zielinska Millar of the Royal Collection Photographic Services assisted with illustrations. In the office of The Duke of Edinburgh, Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt Davis, the Duke’s Private Secretary, and Dame Anne Griffiths were most helpful. At Clarence House I was greatly helped by Sir Stephen Lamport, Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, and his successor Sir Michael Peat, as well as by David Hutson, Virginia Carington and Paddy Harverson.
    I thank Penny Russell Smith, Press Secretary to the Queen when I began this book, for her help. In the later stages, her successor,