Stuttering and bad-tempered, George VI was no 広大な／多数の／重要な looker - and his pretty bride had... 疑問s. But they tied the knot on this day in 1923 and Britain should be very 感謝する that they did!

He was the 気が進まない king - she was his decidedly 気が進まない bride.

Yet together they led the nation through World War II and enjoyed a 実行するd and happy married life which lasted nearly 30 years.

King George VI, known as Bertie, had been given the 肩書を与える Duke of York before his marriage to Lady Elizabeth 屈服するs-Lyon in 1923. It was said he 貿易（する）d in his 事件／事情／状勢 with Sheila, Lady Loughborough, in return for a home and income of his own.

He had to get away from his overbearing father, King George V.

A striking portrait of Lady Elizabeth Bowes_Lyon in her teens

Lady Elizabeth later became the Queen Consort as wife to George VI - and grandmother to King Charles III

On her social 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs in 1921,? Lady Elizabeth bumped into James Stuart (above), a Scottish aristocrat and equerry to Bertie, and fell すぐに in love

Queen Mary, mother of George VI, above - and a woman who enjoyed 干渉 in 王室の 連絡事務s - engineered Stuart's 除去 to a 職業 in the Oklahoma oilfields. By the time he got 支援する in 1923, the 未来 king, known to his family as Bertie, had got his girl

Lady Elizabeth was a startlingly pretty girl from a family which had lived in the same 城 for five hundred years. But にもかかわらず the fact Bertie was the spare to the 相続人, she was very much in two minds about 存在 sucked into the 王室の machine.?

Or maybe, at the time, she just didn't fancy the stuttering and often bad-tempere d Bertie - he was no 広大な／多数の／重要な looker.

Certainly the 未来 king 手配中の，お尋ね者 her more than she 手配中の，お尋ね者 him ? he 提案するd marriage after they first met at a Knightsbridge wedding in 1921, and she turned him 負かす／撃墜する.

Not short of admirers, Elizabeth was in no hurry to settle 負かす／撃墜する ? even though at 21 she was getting a little long in the tooth to be a spinster. Aristocrats and 王族 like to get 未来 同盟s tied up 早期に on.

'She was 率直に doubtful, uncertain of her feelings,' wrote 王室の confidante the Countess of Airlie, while Bertie was, she 観察するd, '深く，強烈に in love but so humble'.

Whatever Elizabeth's feelings に向かって her 25-year old suitor, they will 必然的に have been coloured by her father ? Claud, the 14th Earl of Strathmore.

'Lord Strathmore disapproved of 王族,' 令状s the celebrated 伝記作家 Hugo Vickers in his vivid portrait of Elizabeth's life.?

'He thought Edward VII was too stout ? and 宣言するd, "If there is one thing I have 決定するd for my children, it's that they shall never have any 地位，任命する about the 法廷，裁判所".'

Elizabeth's life was 城s and balls and high society, while Bertie preferred 狙撃 grouse. On her social 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs in 1921 she bumped into James Stuart, a Scottish aristocrat and equerry to Bertie, and fell すぐに in love.

'He was the love of her life,' said one intimate. 'He was an 絶対の heart-throb and they fell for each other in a big way. They were madly in love.'

Queen Mary, consort of George V and a woman who enjoyed 干渉 in 王室の 連絡事務s, engineered Stuart's 除去 to a 職業 in the Oklahoma oilfields. By the time he got 支援する in 1923, Bertie had got his girl.

'That bitch Queen Mary, that cow, she 廃虚d my life!' Stuart later exclaimed.

But 逮捕（する）ing the 手渡す of Lady Elizabeth was still an 上りの／困難な struggle. Bertie 提案するd marriage again in 1922 - and yet again she turned him 負かす／撃墜する. Some thought by now she her 注目する，もくろむ on David, the Prince of むちの跡s.

But stammering Bertie 兵士d on, determinedly 提案するing for the third time in 1923 when, worn 負かす／撃墜する by his passion, Elizabeth 受託するd.

And so there were no 広大な／多数の／重要な hopes that this marriage would be a 継続している love-match ? more a dutiful 協定 which would produce children who'd 追加する to the stable of 王室のs ますます called upon by the British public to …に出席する their events up and 負かす／撃墜する the country.

The couple married on this day [26 April], 1923. Up to the last moment, によれば 伝記作家 Hugo Vickers, Elizabeth 'veered between feeling happy and daunted'. Indeed, as she left for Westminster Abbey from her parents' London home, Elizabeth felt the need to hide her 手渡すs under her dress because she had nervously forgotten her gloves.

But as a bride she was radiant, wearing flowers in her hair and …に出席するd by bridesmaids wearing gowns of ivory-lined chiffon. It was the perfect day.

And she had made the perfect choice for a husband. Lady Strathmore had 予報するd of Bertie, a couple of years before, that 'He is a man who will be made or marred by his wife.'

Bertie York, the spare not the 相続人, was made by Elizabeth - 存在 transformed just in time to save the nation at the time of its deepest pre-war 危機, the Abdication.

He didn't want the 王位 ? but Elizabeth did. Steely, 堅い, ambitious and ready to 得る，とらえる the 王室の family by the scruff of its neck, she 始める，決める to work to 回復する its 損失d 評判.

Her favourite photographer Cecil Beaton called her 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine.'

After 会合 her, the socialite Stephen Tennant said, 'She looked everything that she was not ? gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, 冷静な／正味の, 井戸／弁護士席-bred, remote. Behind this 隠す, she 計画／陰謀d and vacillated, hard as nails.'

The new king had had a 猛烈に unhappy childhood ? unloved by his mother, いじめ（る）d by his father. Now Elizabeth was able to 供給する a home life which would 許す him to gather strength for the war years ahead. She helped him 征服する／打ち勝つ his stammer and 深遠な 恐れる of public speaking.

And she could always be relied on to find the 権利 words when he could not. When Buckingham Palace took several 攻撃する，衝突するs during the 高さ of the 爆破, she 宣言するd, 'I'm glad we've been 爆弾d. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the 直面する.'

Elizabeth,? 未来 Queen Consort of King George VI, whom she married in 1923 when he was still Duke of York

Lady Elizabeth was so nervous she kept her 手渡すs hidden when she 出発／死d the house so that no one could see her 手渡すs shaking

The 公式の／役人 wedding day pictures of the Duke and Duchess of York taken on this day in 1923

King George and Queen Elizabeth 調査する the 爆弾 損失 in 1940 に引き続いて a （警察の）手入れ，急襲 which destroyed the Buckingham Palace chapel. She said: 'I'm glad we've been 爆弾d. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the 直面する'

The Queen Mother's reward for giving up her first love was the undying love and devotion of a nation which celebrated every year of her long life until she died, 老年の 101, in 2002

The people loved her for it.

She gave 慰安 to her husband, and guided him 堅固に through his kingship. She gave him two daughters who were the apple of his 注目する，もくろむ ? sons would never have done, he didn't have the 権利 temperament to 扱う boys ? and he saw his 年上の daughter grow in majesty so that she was ready, and more than able, to take his place when the time （機の）カム.

Bertie sacrificed little in marrying the woman of his dreams. Elizabeth. we now know, sacrificed the love of her life.

Her reward, though, was the undying love and devotion of a nation which celebrated every year of her long life until she died, 老年の 101, in 2002.