The Queen Mother's Century

Born on August 4,1900, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became a public figure in 1923 with her engagement and marriage to Bertie, the shy, stammering Prince Albert, Duke of New York. Now, on the eve of her hundredth birthday, and as the world awaits the new millennium, the Queen Mother is a steadfast symbol of the best and bravest in Britain's recent past. She is a fascinating, woman who has lived an extraordinary life and remains a bastion of enduring values -- courage, civility, duty and grace.