Britain's Queen Mum dead at 101

The Queen Mother on August 3, 1997, on the eve of her 97th birthday.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The Queen Mother, the creator of the modern British monarchy, died Saturday at the age of 101.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died in her sleep at Royal Lodge, Windsor, Buckingham Palace announced.

Britain's royal matriarch brought the royal household -- previously a stuffy institution -- far closer to the people.

"She brought a particular kind of charm and public appeal the like of which no authentic member of the royal family ever quite seems to have had," said historian David Cannadine.

But the Queen Mother also had a tough, steely side, which she often had to draw upon after entering the royal family as Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

Born a commoner on August 4, 1900, she was pushed into the limelight when her shy, stuttering husband became king on the abdication of his older brother, Edward VIII, in December 1936.

She found it hard to forgive the American divorcee Wallis Simpson for inflicting the unwanted role upon her.

At the time she told one of her household: "We must take what is coming and make the best of it."

What was to come was a war and a series of family scandals that was to threaten the stability and respectability she had helped build up for the royal household.

Spirit of a nation

Britain's Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, poses with her husband King George VI, and their two daughters, Princess Elizabeth, left, and Princess Margaret, in this 1937 file photo.

During World War II she rallied the nation in the fight against Adolf Hitler and was famous for saying she could look East Londoners in the eye after part of Buckingham Palace was bombed by Germany's Luftwaffe.

Hitler had branded her the most dangerous woman in Europe for her spirited resolve during the blitz.

She was a devoted wife of King George VI and was consort for 16 years. Afterwards the Queen Mother was an unfailing support behind her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen frequently consulted her mother -- ensuring a rock of female solidity at the heart of an often-troubled modern monarchy.

Duty was important to the Queen Mother and despite illness and various operations she was still one of the hardest-working royals, carrying out 130 engagements in her 80th year.

It was this human touch that allowed her to get away with a recent £4 million overdraft, a result of her extravagant, Edwardian lifestyle -- she had five homes, a fleet of cars and an unspecified number of staff.

Crowds would always gather outside Clarence House on her birthdays waiting for the Queen Mother, usually dressed in her uniform of pastels and pearls, to show her trademark smile.

Family travail

She set the scene for the typical royal marriage and was a firm believer that marriage should be for life. But she also witnessed the matrimonial mess experienced by three of her grandchildren.

Queen Mother 1900~2002    IN DEPTH • Queen Mother 1900 - 2002 BIOGRAPHY • Childhood and marriage • Life as Queen Consort • UK's favorite grandmother FEATURES • Queen Mum 'full of life' • Of marriage and divorce • Her world at war • A love of racing • World tributes RESOURCES • Gallery: Life in pictures • Reflection on funeral • Text of funeral sermon • Hymns and prayers • Funeral: Britain's lament • Funeral routes map  • Westminster: Hall of history • E-mail tributes • Timeline • Family tree CNN NewsPass VIDEO  • Queen pays thanks  • Lining up to say goodbye  • Queen 'Mum' dead  • Britons pay tribute  NEWSBANK • Queen Mum at 100 • News search • Related sites

Her favorite grandchild, heir to the throne Prince Charles, separated from Diana, Princess of Wales, after 11 years of marriage, and the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, separated from the Duchess -- Sarah Ferguson, popularly known as Fergie -- after six. Both couples were to divorce.

The Princess Royal, Anne, divorced her first husband, Capt. Mark Phillips, and within six months married her second, Cmdr. Tim Lawrence.

And the Queen Mother's other daughter, Princess Margaret, caused a constitutional stir over her relationship with Group Capt. Peter Townsend, a divorcee.

The Queen Mother also was to offer support and comfort to her great-grandchildren William and Harry after the death of their mother, Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997.

Yet her ready smile and sense of duty remained a constant, even as her health finally waned and she turned to a golf buggy, the so-called Queen Mum Mobile to keep up a life's work of public engagements.

A fun-loving royal, the Queen Mother was known as a congenial and sometimes feisty character with a love for salmon fishing, only outstripped by her passion for horse racing.