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 | | Meddelelse fra North Atlantis Salmon Fond | | | Indsendt af: | | | Dato: | 21-11-2005 |
The First Lady of Salmon Dies, 101 Years Young
Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born on August 4th 1900 to the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. Thanks to a close-knit family, the young Elizabeth´s early life was warm and secure. Allowed to roam free in the meadows of Hertfordshire and the glens of Scotland, her childhood was truly idyllic...
The Strathmore ancestors can be traced back to Robert the Bruce, the ancient King of Scotland. Glamis Castle (north of Dundee) has been linked to the family since the 14th century. Elizabeth found her deepest joy there. This ancestral home had a haunting beauty and she would never forget those long summer idylls amongst the heather. With her brother David they were famous for their love of little mischievous tricks and practical jokes that earned her the nickname The Imp.
She was even caught smoking gaspers; - rough Woodbine cigarettes. She recalled: We found the attic of an old building where the household ale was brewed and it soon became our hiding place to escape morning lessons. The tragedy of the First World War brought out the deeply sensitive side of Elizabeths nature. On a chill autumn morning of 1915 she saw a telegram delivery boy cycling up the steps to Glamis. Her handsome brother Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon had been killed while advancing with his men at the Battle of Loos in France.
For Elizabeth´s circle, the Twenties burst in with an abundance of fun and indulgence. At the many house parties and society balls young men flocked to her side. With her dark hair swept dramatically back and her blue eyes sparkling, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was the talk of London. Among her suitors were Prince Paul of Serbia, Sir Arthur Penn and Bruce Ogilvey who had a reputation as a ladies´man. Elizabeth had no favorites until James Stuart arrived at Glamis. On seeing him for the first time in 1919 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon fell instantly in love. He in turn was captivated by Elizabeth´s beauty and paid devoted attention to her.
But there were formidable forces at work behind the scenes. Queen Mary, wife of King George V and the mother of the future King, had other plans. She was convinced that Elizabeth would make an ideal bride for her second son, the diffident Bertie. James Stuart was unofficially told to do the decent thing and keep his distance and was offered a job as a rigger on the oil fields of Oklahoma.
At Glamis she had learned the art of fly fishing and regularly fished the Thursoe River.
Striving to conquer his shyness and stammer, Bertie set out to win this beautiful, articulate creature. He knew that Elizabeth was everything he´d ever wanted.
On April 26, 1923 Elizabeth married Bertie. It was a day of national celebration - a royal wedding and a moment in history. But as the crowds cheered, Elizabeth was only too well aware of how this day would change her life forever. In his brother´s shadow, starved of affection and mocked for his defects, Bertie had a cold and unhappy childhood. He felt that he could never measure up to his charismatic elder brother. But there was a feeling of the ominous; something dreadful was about to happen. Lying on his death bed, the old King voiced his fears about the character of David, his playboy son and heir. Weak and sick with worry, George V was fading fast.
David was crowned Edward VIII. But his role as monarch of a nation that then ruled a quarter of the world was short-lived. It began and ended in 1935. He had little feeling for the affairs of state and he was besotted with American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The British Establishment was quite unwilling to allow their King to marry a divorced foreigner but David was equally determined not give her up. He told his advisers that he was rather give up the Crown and he did so . It was characteristic of him that he failed to consult either Bertie or Elizabeth before deciding to abdicate or to ask hem whether they were willing to take his place.
The Crown is Yours. It was the news that Elizabeth had been dreading. Their happy family life, which she had so carefully nurtured, was to be turned upside down. Now public attention was focussed on them as the new King and Queen. Bertie became George VI. His wife blossomed as she bravely set her fears and regrets aside and embarked on a new role for her country. Buttressed by her love and devotion and her ready and intelligent advice, the King grew in stature until a grateful nation had to admit that in luring his elder brother away Wallis Simpson had performed a great service for Britain.
It was the Second World War that confirmed the love and respect that the British public increasingly felt for the Royal couple. George and Elizabeth refused to leave London during the German blitz even when their home, Buckingham Palace, was hit several times by bombs. The courageous Queen declared: Im glad we have been bombed. Now I can face up to the people in the East End. Most of the very humble homes in this dockland area of London were devastated by German bombing with great loss of life.
The King and Queen dedicated themselves to maintaining home morale, constantly visiting blitzed cities and towns within hours of the air raids, encouraging the firemen and rescue workers and meeting ordinary people face to face - a quite new role for British royalty.
Victory eventually came but the strain of his wartime duties eventually told on King George. A heavy smoker, he developed lung cancer and he died in 1952. As Britain recovered its vitality in the post-war years his widow, now the Queen Mother, became Britains best-loved grandmother. She worked and played hard - undertaking more than her fair share of Royal visits and spending her leisure time on her two great hobbies -- her steeplechasing stable with her string of racehorses and fishing the salmon rivers of her beloved Scotland. Flyfishing was one of the great loves of her life. She bought the Castle of Mey, near Caithness in Scotland. It was the first home she had ever bought and it soon became her refuge from the sadness of the loss of her comparatively young husband and the noise and crowds of London. She became the Patron of the Salmon and Trout Association and was a regular supporter of the sport throughout the country. From time to time she supported the North Atlantic Salmon Fund. Last year she made a donation to the NASF Dinner in Belfast to the cheers of 500 anglers who had paid handsomely to support the great cause.
For a great many years she fished the River Dee near Aberdeen in Scotland. Until her late seventies she put on waders and strode out in the strong currents of the Royal Dee at Birkall near Balmoral. Looking back when she could no longer do it herself, she was delighted to have introduced Prince Charles and her other grandchildren to the pleasures of salmon fishing. She very kindly participated in the NASF book on the World´s Best Flies. Asked to name her favorite fly she replied: It is often dependent on the time of the year, height and clarity of the water. Shrimp, Blue or Green Charm, Munroe Killer - and on occasions a Lion Fly, specially tied using some hair from an African Lion!
In our very different lives we all have to make choices and that includes our choice of fishing the fly. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon had to make some hard choices in the 101 years of her life. But the future of the salmon and the angling culture that depends on its continued existence cannot be a matter of choice. Our determination is to save the resource for future generations.
Easter Day, 2002
Orri Vigfússon
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