Queen faced struggles blending Crown and family without ‘role models’ – ‘Very difficult!’ | Royal | News
The 96-year-old Queen marked her 70th year on the throne earlier this year as Brits celebrated her Platinum Jubilee. However, having taken to the throne as a mother-of-two aged just 25 shortly after the death of her father George VI, much has been made of Her Majesty’s role models inside the Firm.
Sally Bedell Smith, the Queen’s biographer, told PEOPLE: “[It] was very difficult for her to blend that role of wife and mother and head of state. She didn’t have any role models.”
She added: “Her mother [Elizabeth] had been a very good Queen Consort and Elizabeth had learned some from her father.
“But in a way, she had to develop her own approach to being Queen.”
Earlier this year, Her Majesty announced her daughter-in-law Camilla Parker-Bowles would also be made Queen Consort once Prince Charles becomes King.
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The Queen described the decision to grant the Duchess of Cornwall the title as her “sincere wish”.
However, during periods of her reign, the Queen relied on nannies and staff to care for her young children.
She also spent long periods away from her husband Prince Philip to embark on royal tours.
Notable occasions in which family life did impact her royal duties came in both 1959 and 1963 when she was forced to miss the State Opening of Parliament due to pregnancy.
