II. Read and translate the text: the queen mother’s legend, a confection of fact and fiction

When the Queen Mother Elizabeth died at 101 she left behind a legend: an airy confection of fact, speculation and fiction spun over nearly 80 years by admirers, detractors and a generally devoted press.

The best-known image, a favorite of the tabloid newspapers, is of the national grandmother who saved the monarchy and rallied London’s bombed-out poor during World War II, and never after made a mistake.

The other image, less often mentioned, is that she was a child of privilege who lived all her life in luxury, cost the taxpayer a fortune and held conservative – if not reactionary – political views.

Many people knew which bits of these were likely and which were dubious – and were free to fill in the blanks from their imaginations and innumerable newspaper articles. Private details about the wife of the late King George VI have always been scarce, just as they used to be about all the royals in her heyday a half century ago, when the monarchy was remote and revered.

There are a few certainties, however, testified by those who knew her and the king in the 1930s and 40s.

She did, through the force of her personality, give crucial support to a husband who was ill equipped for his unexpected kingship at a time when the monarchy was in disarray and world war loomed with Nazi Germany. He was shy, subject to depressions and afflicted with a severe stammer that made public speaking an ordeal.

“Only senior citizens with bus passes can possibly remember the serious role the Queen Mother played in our history”, said 88-year-old journalist Lord Deedes after her death March 30. “To most people she was simply a very old lady with a love of horse racing and expensive tastes who was reported by the news media to enjoy a large overdraft (bank debt).»

On Saturday, an estimated 50,000 mourners braved a chilly wind to line up outside Parliament to pay their final respects to the Queen Mother, whose coffin lay in state inside the 11th-century Westminster Hall.

“She was a star in the truest sense of the word,” said one mourner, Iain McCorquedable of Perth, Scotland. “I’m pleased the queue is as long as it is. It shows how much respect there was for the Queen Mother."

The Queen Mother lived in the opulent style of another age, served in her four homes by an abundance of footmen, maids, chefs and chauffeurs.

Details are vague, but her jewelry collection of diamonds, sapphires and pearls is reputedly worth upward of dlrs 27 million.

Over the years, she acquired a contemporary art collection that includes a Monet purchased in the 1940s for a few thousand dollars and now thought to be worth about dlrs 21 million.

She loved to entertain and did it in lavish style, with fine food and wine.

“She loved picnics,” said longtime friend Sir Nicholas Henderson, who was ambassador to France in the 1970s. ‘Her picnics were rather grand, preceded by Land Rovers taking supplies of food,” he said. She had loved France since her dancing days as a debutante and often visited Henderson in Paris.

“Her entourage was grand; there were only a very few houses in France where she could stay at the end, because she had so many people with her,” he said. But “she was extremely considerate and agreeable as a guest.”

While the rest of the royal family tightened their belts in the 1990s to make the monarchy seem more modern and modest, the Queen Mother carried on in style, insulated from economic reality.

Journalist Jonathan Freedland was one of many to criticize the lifestyle.

The Queen Mother represented outdated privilege, “she with her retinue of 50 servants, footmen behind every chair, people to open and close the curtains for her in the morning or evening, bringing her tea every day”, he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Queen Mother openly had a fondness for gin and passion for the earthy sport of horse racing. She maintained a very successful stable, read The Racing Post newspaper with breakfast and could often be seen trackside in her pastel finery with binoculars raised to her china-blue eyes.

Her gin and Dubonnet cocktails became part of popular legend and she sometimes played to the legend, with wry asides and mischievous looks.

A superb socializer, she took evident pleasure in meeting people.

“One of the great confidence tricks, in a way, of the Queen Mother was always to be and appear enormously people-friendly when she in fact had political views and social views that many people would consider old-fashioned if not reactionary,” royal biographer Robert Lacey told the BBC.

Though she was conservative, he said, there was “an instinct for social justice, for social reform in an old-fashioned way.”

Exercises:

Ш. Insert the necessary words inside each sentence. You can find the appropriate words below:

1. P…….. details about the w…….. of the late King George VI have always been s………..

2. He was shy, subject to d………….. and afflicted with a severe s……….. that made public speaking an o……...

3. The Queen Mother lived in the o………… style of another age, served in her four homes by an abundance of f………, maids, chefs and c………….

4. The Queen Mother openly had a f………… for gin and passion for the earthy sport of horse r……….

5. The Queen Mother carried on in style, insulated from economic reality.

6. She could often be seen trackside in her pastel f………. with binoculars raised to her china-blue eyes.

7. She did give crucial support to a h………. who was ill-equipped for his u……….. kingship.

8. Only senior c………. with bus passes can possibly remember the serious role the Queen Mother played in our history.

(Style, citizens, ordeal, unexpected, chauffeurs, racing, depressions, opulent, private, scarce, shy, husband, footmen, fondness, stammer, wife, finery, reality)

4. Tell whether it is true or false.

1. Many people knew which bits of these were likely and which were dubious – and were free to fill in the blanks from their imaginations and innumerable newspaper articles.

2. Some fairy tales about the wife of the late King George VI have always been as clear as day, just as they used to be about all the royals in her heyday a half century ago, when the monarchy was abolished.

3. He was a perfect public speaker, subject to admiration that made public speaking a real event.

4. To most people she was simply a very beautiful middle-aged lady with a love of horse racing and expensive tastes who was reported by the news media to enjoy a large overdraft (bank debt)

5. On Saturday, an estimated 50,000 mourners braved a chilly snow to seat down outside Parliament to listen to the Queen Mother’s speech.

6. Over the years, she acquired a contemporary art collection that includes a Monet purchased in the 1940s for a few thousand dollars and now thought to be worth about dlrs 21 million.

7. While the rest of the royal family tightened their belts in the 1990s to make the monarchy seem more democratic and severe, the Queen Mother carried on in style, insulated from social reality.