I came to appreciate not only his inquisitive mind, eager to absorb every detail, but also what his postwar Labour prime minister Clement Attlee described as “a good judgment and a sure instinct for what was really vital.” I was taken aback that the King could be bracingly assertive in private. It was the seven years’ worth of diaries that George VI began writing on September 3, 1939, the first day of the Second World War, that yielded the most revelations. One from you I hope darling in xxxxx etc etc & then an ordinary culinary one.” Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon took 12 days to say yes after her future husband proposed for the third time. I also learned that when they were apart, Bertie (as George VI was known to friends and family) and Elizabeth wrote passionate letters to each other-his to “my own little darling one” and hers to “my dear darling.” Once when he was away stalking deer, she longed for his return “sunburnt, manly, & bronzed, bearing in your arms a haunch of venaison roti as a love offering to your spouse.” He replied that on arrival he expected “two lunches of course. I discovered that Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon took 12 days to say yes after her future husband proposed for the third time, and that she spent 20 hours discussing the proposal with her ardent suitor as well as members of her close circle. ![]() The diaries and letters were endlessly intriguing. A fuller view of the man took shape after Queen Elizabeth II granted me special access to the papers of George VI and his wife (later popularly known as the Queen Mum) in the Royal Archives, at Windsor Castle. But I had only fuzzy impressions of him as a loving husband and as a key figure during Britain’s fight for survival during World War II. I learned about him as a father when I wrote my biography of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. But what are the other dimensions of this man, who died in 1952? In it, he’s portrayed, largely accurately, as an earnest young man who overcame a crippling stutter with the help of an unconventional speech therapist and the unwavering support of his wife, Queen Elizabeth. with her husband, Stephen Smith.Most people know George VI from the movie The King’s Speech. ![]() That year, Smith was also the consultant to playwright Peter Morgan on "The Audience," his award-winning drama about Queen Elizabeth II starring Helen Mirren that led to his hit Netflix series, "The Crown." She is the mother of three children and lives in Washington, D.C. Smith's biography of Queen Elizabeth II won the 2012 Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, and the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for best book in history and biography. ![]() The first major biography of Prince Charles in more than two decades, it brings to life the real man, with all of his contradictions, complexities, and ambitions-a man with a fiercely independent spirit, yet who has spent more than six decades waiting for his destined role. Her latest book, "Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life," published on April 4, 2017, was an immediate New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller. Sally Bedell Smith's seven biographies, including New York Times bestsellers "Diana in Search of Herself," "Grace and Power," and "Elizabeth the Queen," have all been about significant figures on the world stage.
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