ASK the mature man in the street about the Queen Mum and the retort will be something along the lines of "God bless 'er". Ask the mature woman and you are likely to get "Isn't she marvellous" or "Doesn't she do well for her age".

Many a time the response will be "Well, she's a bloomin' lot better than the young royals, look at the mess they've made of their lives" or "She's the only royal I've any time for".

It's an image of dignified monarchy the Queen Mother has personified through the decades of her public life and one that's gone largely unchallenged until now, when the cynicism of the 21st Century has finally broken through the royal carapace.

But it should be remembered that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother is of a different era, a time when spin was something that happened only on the cricket pitch, when the stiff upper lip remained clamped to the lower one and the common folk were left to think the best, not the worst of people.

In the North-East, the Queen Mum has always been close to people's hearts as she is a member of the Bowes-Lyon family. Not many people know the whys and wherefores, they think it's something to do with Bowes, near Barnard Castle, or perhaps they link her with Bowes Museum, but it doesn't really matter which as it's a claim to fame for the region.

Born 100 years ago today, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon arrived at a time when the whole nation loved and respected the royal family. Such affection was drummed into the public psyche by a dominant ideology perpetuated by the royals, the government, schools and the Church.

People also had no reason to feel any ill towards the royals because they had no idea what was going on behind the palace gates. Communication was limited. There was no gutter press, no cable television, no means to dish the dirt and no populace hungry for it.

The Queen Mum has been of the opinion that mystery in the monarchy provided it with a ring of protection. She appeared to have taken the principal too far, however, when she was accused of retreating too deeply from public life following the death of King George VI. The monarchy did suffer in the popularity stakes.

But mostly it was an era where the washing wasn't displayed until it had been scrubbed clean and put through the mangle.

So the public face of the then war-time Queen, and later the Queen Mother, was one of maternal concern for her subjects; the fixed smile, the caring look, the practised wave; the hat securely fixed where once the crown sat, the words carefully rehearsed and projected with skill; no gaffs to sully the image, unlike her foolhardy son-in-law, Prince Philip.

And when the family is stricken with crisis, better to say nothing, it's safer that way.

It's easy to see then why the biographers have only glowing words to say about Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon from the moment the teenage debutante met, courted and married Bertie, Duke of York.

"Her love and support of the diffident prince helped him conquer his stammer and meet the unexpected challenge of kingship, following the abdication of Edward VIII," writes Grania Forbes in her book Elizabeth The Queen Mother, A 20th Century Life.

The books itself is a benevolent history of the Queen Mother as an inspiration to the whole country during the Second World War. It traces her "visits to comfort the surviving residents of a devastated East End and her stoic refusal to move the royal family out of London".

No mention here then of the battleship which was on permanent standby to take the royals to Canada if the Third Reich crossed the Channel.

As well as being an inspiration, the book claims the Queen Mother "shaped" the direction of the monarchy, the biographer painting a picture of her as a wise and diplomatic member of the Royal Family, a warm-hearted and down-to-earth human being.

She would "take responsibility" for Prince Charles and Princess Anne when the young Queen Elizabeth was "distracted by affairs of state".

And when her favourite grandson wed his princess: "As Prince Charles's beloved Granny and herself a former royal bride, she helped prepare Lady Diana Spencer for her new life and remained sympathetic in troubled times".

Her popularity was such that in 1998, while the Government contemplated "the mother of all wars" with Iraq, the Queen Mother's hip operation pushed the conflict into second place on the television news and Her Majesty was pictured soldiering gamely on.

It's taken until her autumn years for the critics to emerge, the most stinging irreverent portrayal ironically coming in her 100th year. In this hyper-critical world "shaping" becomes "meddling", "taking responsibility" becomes "dictating".

Critics claim she hasn't supported the monarchy, she has held it back, perpetuating a feudal system based on privilege, that she is spoilt and selfish, aloof and autonomous.

Instead of supporting her husband, she stage-managed his every move with clinical determination. Instead of supporting a nation at war she tried to appease the enemy.

Commentators suddenly report rifts, how she wouldn't let Princess Margaret marry the man she loved, Group Captain Peter Townsend, because he had been an equerry, a member of staff and therefore beneath her; how she disliked Prince Philip's uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, a rival in the affection stakes for her precious Charles; how she treated Wallis Simpson so cruelly, blaming her and the shame the abdication brought on the Royal Family for the death of her husband King George VI; how she condoned her favourite nephew's adultery with Camilla, taking his side against the girl she'd conspired to marry him, her best friend's granddaughter at that; how she had buried her head when the dysfunctional young royals began to mess up their lives; how she prolonged an institution with its roots in empire, which thrived on class distinction, which saw her cosseted in the most luxurious comfort at the taxpayers' expense and which had no place in the modern world.

The floodgates were open and with a life this long those waters run deep. From everyone's favourite granny to the root of all ills, virtually overnight. That sweet, doddery old woman with the smile and the hat.

But the truth is that nobody but she really knows her motives, nor should they judge her apparent sins.

The dirt doesn't come from the Royal Family but from the hangers-on who lived for a time downstairs.

It's human nature to exaggerate, and anecdotes seldom resemble the truth. While undoubtedly privileged, she does, after all, remain flesh and bone.

And the harsh words will be ignored anyway by a nation which needs role models to adore. If for nothing else, the Queen Mother has to be admired for her discretion and for reaching this milestone birthday.