WORLD EXCLUSIVE
A friendship unfolds: Rupert Dent.
He was an Australian army officer educated at Shore Grammar with blue eyes and fair hair.
She was 18, a mature young woman ''beautiful, charming, even coquettish'', according to her royal biographer.
A picture of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon taken by Dent.
Discovery of letters from the future queen to a 2nd Lieutenant from Stanmore reveal details of an extraordinary wartime relationship.
The friendship between Rupert Octavius Dent of the 53rd Battalion and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon began after he was hit in the right shoulder by German machinegun fire on the Somme in 1918.
The 28-year-old, a fraction over 180 centimetres, was sent to recuperate at Glamis Castle in Scotland, converted to a convalescent home.
Copies of the letters written by the Queen Mother. Photo: Janie Barrett
It was there that he met Elizabeth, future queen and queen mother, ninth child of Lord and Lady Strathmore. She was later to marry the stammering Prince Albert, who became George VI upon the abdication of his brother. Her duty was to visit the wards, run errands and play cards with the wounded soldiers. She knew first hand the horror of war having lost a brother, Fergus, killed in action at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
As the friendship developed in the turreted, candlelit castle, he took photographs of her, made her laugh out loud and, as he later admitted to his family, escorted her on long country walks. He said he was the only officer there at the time and was ''treated like one of the family''.
The handwritten letters from Elizabeth, her mother Lady Strathmore and others were discovered several years ago in a second-hand chest of drawers purchased as a restoration project in Sydney.
The Queen Mother celebrating her 100th birthday. Photo: Reuters
The owner, who asks not to be identified, said: ''At first I thought they were love letters from the Queen Mother. I thought 'this is terrible' and put them away. She was obviously very fond of this guy.''
In one of the early letters dated December 9, 1918, at the age of 18 from London, Elizabeth thanks Mr Dent for his photos and letter.
''I still laugh out loud when I think of that evening don't you? It was funny - Ha Ha (that's laughter, loud and continuous)!''
She goes on in familiar fashion: ''Can you tell people's character by their ears? How very funny! Ha! Ha! (more laughter). If they are large it means brains doesn't it? I must then be in the unfortunate position of having NO BRAIN as my ears are very small! Isn't it sad? I hope you sympathise.
''Can you also tell character from handwriting? And do you still judge people by their faces? Oh what a nasty shock you'll get some day!''
''I hate arguing by letter - one can't go round and round the point can one?!!! Not that I ever do, no, of course not! - but you are dreadful in that way aren't you?''
She closes the letter saying: ''I can't write properly this evening, I've been dashing about all day and can not stay awake much longer! yours v sincerely Elizabeth Bowes Lyon.''
In a note in 1918 she writes: ''There is no need really for me to write this, except that I want to see if I can write your lengthy address on the envelope neatly!''
In another she writes: ''I was so very sorry not to have been in time to say goodbye when you left … I was annoyed!''
She adds: ''I laugh whenever I think of that evening! … even the most serious person without the slightest sense of humour would have laughed when you got under the table and chuckled!!!''
After his recent return to Australia Elizabeth wrote: ''I am now a confirmed liar you will be pleased to hear, I lose no opportunity to tell an untruth!! As a matter of fact I quite agree with you about lying, but of course I couldn't possibly agree with you when you gave me that lecture in London. I simply had to argue!''
Affection for Mr Dent evidently extended to Elizabeth's mother, Cecilia Strathmore. In a farewell letter she says: ''I want to thank you for the good advice you gave my Elizabeth. I profited by it even more than she did. I needed it more than she does.'' She closes: ''Do let us hear from you from time to time. We shall never forget you.''
When Fairfax Media contacted the family of Mr Dent they confirmed that they were aware of the friendship but thought that all correspondence had been destroyed.
The officer's grandson David Dent, 62, said his grandparents settled in Lane Cove and knew them very well.
Of the letters, he said: ''My dad thought Rupert had burnt them so nobody would be embarrassed. I am absolutely incredulous that they have come to light.''
Of his grandfather's time at Glamis, he said: ''He did talk finally about that time. He mentioned that he had been there for some time. My wife and I sat down at one stage in his later years and said to him, sort of quietly: ''Rupert, you were obviously very friendly with Elizabeth, how friendly did you get? He said, 'Well, we took lots of long walks together. A gentleman doesn't tell.' But he was obviously very fond of her.''
The officer's only surviving daughter, Judy Fydler, said her father had been introduced to the theatre in London by Elizabeth.
''She was very educated in the arts - theatre and music. He was just a boy from Stanmore. She took him to the theatre many times. They had a pretty good relationship, I would think.''
Mr Dent returned to Sydney after the war and married his first love, a woman from Cremorne called Elsie Chadwick. Their first child was called Elizabeth. The correspondence continued, there was a Christmas card with Glamis Castle in the snow and a tin arrived with what is thought to have been cake for the christening of the duchess' first child, Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth ll.
When the Duke and Duchess of York visited Sydney in 1927 a car was sent to Cremorne to take Mr and Mrs Dent to meet them. In a report from the time, Mr Dent says the two ladies started talking babies and he couldn't get a word in.
Now the letters are to be sold at auction by Noble Numismatics in Sydney next month. John O'Connor of Noble said: ''When I read the first letter by Elizabeth I got the impression that it was flirtatious and maybe there was something going on between her and Rupert. She seemed quite infatuated with him. As I read further letters and then those of her mother and sister it became obvious that there was a strong bond of friendship for Rupert throughout the family. He must have really made a good impression. I was left wishing that I could have read Rupert's letters to Elizabeth and her family.''
David Dent added: ''I guess for my dad and for his sisters they probably had the view point of, well, Rupert was a good Christian lad who went to Shore school and a good upstanding man. I take the viewpoint that they were difficult times. There may be more but who knows. They were obviously very, very fond of each other and there was a very strong friendship.''
tbarlass@fairfaxmedia.com.au
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