When the Queen Mother partied her way into debt

Born in 1900, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon met Prince Albert of York (the man who would become King George VI) at a dance hosted by Lord and Lady Farquhar in 1920 London. They were married in 1923 and had two daughters, Elizabeth (the current British Monarch as of 30 March 2022) and Margaret. When she was widowed on 6 February 1952, Elizabeth the Queen Mother was no longer allowed to reside in Windsor Castle as per royal protocol and had to move to a granny annex called the Royal Lodge, just 3 miles/4.8km south from the castle. It was there where she could do something that was not easily able to do as Queen, throw parties. As queen, she had to go through rigorous stipulations to have a party but when she was just the widowed mother of the reigning monarch, she could do it and no one could say no. These parties were an invitation to excess and it was through these parties that the Queen Mother's fondness of alcohol came out, a contrast to her saintly appeal in most depictions of her. Among the beverages including vintage champagne, there was haut couture and racehorses. These parties usually started with guests coming down at around 7:30PM GMT for drinks where the Queen Mother would have gin (a lot of it which was implemented on a nice and lemony champagne) and herb. Vintage krueg at $300 a bottle was also one of the many beverages consumed at her parties. The Queen Mother was one of the largest private customer of Veuve Clicquot due to the tremendous amount of it at her parties.
These parties were not only extravagant but the budgets they carried were way too big! In fact, the Queen Mother had partied her way to debt to the tune of $8 million dollars when she died at 3:15PM on 30th March 2002 at the age of 101 and a 1/2, she left a huge amount of debt that her surviving daughter quietly paid off. The Queen Mother was interred in King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle on 9th April 2002 alongside those of her husband and her daughter Margaret's ashes. When Elizabeth dies, her remains and her husband Prince Philip's remains (currently in the Royal Vault) will also be interred in the memorial chapel.