Do Let's Have Another Drink

A Times Best Book on the Royal Family of the Year 2022 This is a biography of the Queen Mother with all the dull bits stripped out. When told that Lady Mountbatten was being buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully. 'Dear old Edwina, she always did like to make a splash!' During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was as famous for her clever quips, pointed observations and dry-as-a-Martini delivery style as she was for being a member of the Royal Family. She was also famed for her fondness for 'drinky-poos' - usually a gin and Dubonnet or three. Now, Do Let's Have Another Drink recounts 101 biographical vignettes - one for each year of her long, remarkable life, including her coming-of-age during World War I, the abdication of her brother-in-law, the truth about her tragic nieces and her relationship with her two daughters over half a century of widowhood. The book is a skimming-stone biography - the story of a life without the boring bits - and a travel guide to a world that no longer exists. Stepping into the Queen Mother's rarefied universe is a little like falling through the looking glass. The book rightly celebrates her sense of humour but also explores her enmities and feuds, including the truth about her behaviour towards Wallis Simpson, Nerissa Bowes-Lyon and Diana, Princess of Wales. For fans of The Crown and featuring new revelations, never before published, and colourful anecdotes about the woman the high society photographer Cecil Beaton once described as 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine', Do Let's Have Another Drink is a delightful celebration of one of the most consistently popular members of the Royal Family.

Gareth Russell is a historian and writer. Born in Belfast, he studied history at the University of Oxford and completed his postgraduate degree in medieval history at Queen's University Belfast. He is the author of several works of royal and social history, including a biography of Catherine Howard called Young and Damned and Fair and The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the end of the Edwardian Era, as well as two novels both of which were adapted for the stage. He has also reviewed for The Times, Daily Telegraph and Belfast Telegraph. He has contributed pieces for BBC Radio, BBC Northern Ireland and the History Channel. He lives in Belfast.