Otto English is the pen used by London-based author and playwright Andrew Scott. LONDON — Like Oscar Zoroaster, the eponymous Wizard of Oz, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, who has died aged 96, led a strange double life. On the one hand, she played the role of Queen Elizabeth II – a revered figure who wore crowns, opened parliaments and asked people who they were and what they were doing at garden parties. She was the one who looked like the Mona Lisa from banknotes and became the head of state of 150 million people, from Papua New Guinea to Canada, and one of the most famous people of her time. The queen was an icon, in the literal sense. It has inspired Andy Warhol’s screen prints, tea towels, Beatles hits and the poor efforts of prize-winning poets from John Masefield to Simon Armitage.
“God save the queen!” the Sex Pistols sang in 1977. “She ain’t no human being!” And they made a convincing point.
Universally praised — it stood with the Dalai Lama and the Pope as one of those rare definitive articles that seemed to be above scrutiny. So much so that even die-hard republicans would temper their calls for an end to the monarchy by saying: “But the Queen has done a fantastic job”.
He succeeded in this job, in large part, by making a virtue out of silence. He stubbornly refused to be interviewed, examined or tested. While the younger kings broke the fourth wall of the monarchy, the queen remained quiet and unchanged.
Indeed, by keeping her official alter ego as vague as the unwritten British constitution and her private persona completely hidden, Elizabeth II became the most successful monarch since Victoria, bringing importance to a feudal institution that was 200 years after its sale -by date. But because of this, in writing the story of her life, it is almost impossible to know who she really was under the hats, gowns and jewels.
The Queen was an abstraction: a role, like any other – and it was the person behind her, Elizabeth Windsor, who played the role expertly.
The newspapers of the world will be filled with obituaries of the Queen today.
This is the life of Elizabeth Windsor.

She was born by caesarean section on 21 April 1926 to her mother, also Elizabeth, Duchess of York. As was customary at the time, Home Secretary Sir William Joynson-Hicks was present — in case she was swapped for someone not of royal descent. As Princess Elizabeth, she was third in line to the throne, with her uncle Edward the heir presumptive.
Official biographers want to make much of her “ordinary childhood” and the very normal speech of the York family at 145 Piccadilly in the heart of London. In reality, the address was not a shared house or terraced house. It was a remarkable palace, with 25 bedrooms, a ballroom, a library and a huge garden. Photographs of the time depict Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret being adored by their mother and father, but in reality, they were raised by an army of servants and rarely saw their parents. The care of the children was left to two nannies: Clara Knight, a strict disciplinarian who instilled fear and good manners, and Margaret MacDonald.
MacDonald was the only person outside the royal family who was allowed to call Elizabeth by her family nickname of Lilibet and shared a bedroom with her as a punishment until she was 11 years old. Lilibet’s first word, “Bobo,” was addressed to MacDonald — and the nickname stuck. Every morning, MacDonald brought Elizabeth a cup of tea, laid out her clothes and gave her her daily bath. MacDonald virtually devoted her life to the Queen until her death in 1993, effectively forbidden from marrying – doing so would cost her her job. “In her later years Bobo held a unique position at Buckingham Palace, having her own suite, no duties and enjoying a closer personal friendship with the Queen than almost anyone else, including some of the Queen’s closest relatives,” he wrote. Douglas Kay, author. of ‘The Queen: A Revealing Look at the Private Life of Elizabeth II’. But we don’t know anything more. The faithful servant never gave an interview, never discussed her relationship with her mistress, and died with her secrets intact. Admirable, perhaps. But it’s deeply disappointing if you’re trying to get an insight into Elizabeth Windsor’s early life. Bobo wasn’t the only “audience” who played a key role in the future queen’s formative years. In addition to the nannies, there was a governess, Marion Crawford, whom the girls nicknamed “Crawfie”. Croffy was Mary Poppins of York herself, guiding her charges through their changing circumstances when their uncle abdicated and their father unexpectedly became king. If Bobo was a surrogate mother, Crawfie was an older sister, role model and friend. But by 1947, neither Elizabeth nor Margaret needed a governess, and aged just 39, Croffy had retired. Two years later she accepted the offer to write a book entitled “The Little Princesses”, which caused a sensation when it was published in 1950. Despite approving the work, the Queen Mother declared that Crawfie was “out of her head” and the woman who had devoted the first part of her life to the monarchy were unusual ghosts.
The incident was all the more remarkable given that the book was a thoroughly affectionate memoir and showed the royal family in a very good light. Her fate was probably sealed by a stanza or two that hinted at the king’s bad mood during the war.
However, “to do a Crawfie” became royal slang for treason. Stripped of her grace and favor, Crawford disappeared from official records and narratives in a manner that would have put Soviet propagandists to shame.
The impact on Crawfie cannot be understated. Attempted suicide twice. Later in her life, she moved near the Balmoral estate in the hope that one day she might come to terms with her old charge and that amends could be made. But the moment never came. When he finally died in 1988, the royal family sent not so much as a wreath to the funeral. We don’t know how this affected Elizabeth. Nor do we know how much of a role he played in perpetuating Crawfie’s misery. But this brutal and cruel mission of such a close trusted and loyal friend speaks volumes for the family sometimes referred to as ‘The Firm’.
The soul of monarchy is self-preservation. No one is necessary. No one is bigger than the machine. Throughout the queen’s reign, this ruthless self-preservation – so at odds with her image – would rear its head again and again.
Eventually, it will extend to members of the family itself.

In 1939, in the shadow of war, the 13-year-old princess met her Prince Charming during a visit to Dartmouth Naval College. Philippos, then 19 years old, was exotic Eurotrash. An exiled Greek prince who had grown up in Paris became estranged from his family. His three surviving sisters had married into the Nazi regime. His father lived the life of an old playboy in Monte Carlo. His mother had been declared insane.
In Britain he found a home. In Elizabeth he found devotion. In a letter to a cousin, she declared that she had met a “Viking God” and for the rest of the war the two exchanged letters.
Like almost everything else in the Queen’s private world, we know nothing about what they said to each other. The Queen Mother distrusted Philip and nicknamed him “the Un”, but Elizabeth got her way, finding in Louis Mountbatten, Philip’s uncle, a Machiavellian ally. In 1947 the couple became engaged.
In a rare gushing letter to author Betty Shew written that same year, we get a tantalizing glimpse of Elizabeth’s feelings. Over four exciting pages. Elizabeth talks about nightclubs and dancing and how she was once excitedly chased by a photographer through the streets of London. It is the letter of a woman who is deeply in love.
Their wedding in November was the subject of national celebration. Billed as a ‘marriage of austerity’, it was really nothing of the sort. The union was the occasion for pan-Hellenic celebrations. Thousands of people descended on London for the event. There were 2,500 gifts — including a shawl woven by Gandhi and a diamond and platinum Cartier necklace by the Nizam of Hyderabad. The war had given the royals a new raison d’être as a “national family,” and the marriage of the beautiful young princess to the handsome young prince seemed to encompass new beginnings and a new hope for a better world to come. They had two children (Charles and Anne) in quick succession and between 1949 and 1951 they lived in Malta, where Philip served as a naval officer on HMS Cheques.
Once again, official biographies portray this era as a period of “normalcy”. It’s not entirely true. They lived in a six-bedroom mansion, and in addition to Bobo, they had an army of staff. Any attempt at a normal life was short-lived anyway. In 1952, Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, died and the 27-year-old woman became queen. Although her life was a long rehearsal for the role, it came sooner than expected and seems to have caused significant marital strife. The dynamic immediately changed, with Philip turning into, in his own words, a “blood-soaked amoeba” while his wife fully surrendered to her new duties. Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law Princess Diana once said there were “three people” in her marriage to Prince Charles. After the coronation in 1953, there were 150…