Los Angeles, September 27: The Queen Mother was hugely upset by criticism of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, friends have revealed.
Sir Michael Oswald and his wife, Lady Angela Oswald, say the Queen Mother felt angry that her elder daughter was so widely criticised for her actions in the aftermath of the princess’s fatal car crash in Paris in 1997.
Public anger began after the Queen took Princes William and Harry to church at Balmoral a few hours after Prince Charles had told them of their mother’s death.
The move was interpreted as sending a business-as-usual message.
There were also accusations that the Queen remained in Scotland for too long and did not return quickly enough to London, which had become the focal point for public grief.
But Lady Angela told Britain’s The Sunday Telegraph: “The Queen was criticised for two things. One was taking the boys to church. But they wanted to go to church. If you are a Christian and your mother has been killed, it is a comfort going to church.
“The other thing was that people expected the Queen to abandon her two grandsons – whose mother had just been killed – and go to London to mourn with people who had never even met the princess.
“If you stand back and think about it, it is an extraordinarily selfish attitude. Queen Elizabeth was hugely upset by the criticism of her daughter because she has always admired her so much. It was such a cruel criticism and it was unfair.”
Sir Michael was the Queen Mother’s racing manager from 1970 until her death in 2002 aged 101, while his wife was one of her ladies in waiting for 21 years from 1981.
Lady Angela said the Queen Mother’s “life was full of laughter and sparkle” and she could only remember her losing her smile for any length of time once – after learning the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales was effectively over.
“She was so sad, so tense and so obviously unhappy in herself,” Lady Angela said.
“There was a very close bond between Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales. She was of a generation that felt that anything that went on in a marriage was private between the couple.
“So it is certainly fair to say that she would have been deeply shocked when private feelings and thoughts were broadcast worldwide.”
Princess Diana gave a famous interview in 1995, in which she claimed the marriage was “crowded” because of her husband’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his wife.
—Agencies