The Queen sneaked out of Buckingham Palace as a teen to dance the conga on VE Day – and saw couples having sex in public
THE QUEEN sneaked out of Buckingham Palace as a teen to celebrate VE Day - and saw couples having sex in public.
A former lady’s maid of the Queen lifted the lid on a wild night which saw her majesty, then 19, and her 15-year-old sister Princess Margaret smuggle herself out of the palace disguised as ordinary teenagers.
Jean Woodroffe, who died in 2017, was with the royal siblings during their rare night of freedom in 1945, going incognito to celebrate Britain's victory over the Germans.
In 2015 she revealed how the girls threw caution to the wind – dancing the conga through the Ritz, partying with rowdy revellers in seedy Piccadilly Circus and spying people "kissing" and "making love" in parks.
Jean said nobody recognised the princesses, mistaking them for "drunk
young people".
And her extraordinary account painted a never-before-seen picture of the
cheerful young woman who was to become Queen of England just seven years later.
Jean, who was an aide to the Queen for nine years, previously told The Sun: “It was a very young and carefree experience. They were always very cheerful, jolly girls.
“My favourite memory is standing outside the Palace with them, chanting, ‘We want the King’ with everyone else, which was very funny to us at the time.
“We were incognito and no one recognised the Princesses. We were cheek by jowl with everyone in the crowd, with people just roaring really amazing.
“The atmosphere was lovely, there was a lot of hugging and kissing. We were shouting to each other about the crowd, but I could only hear snatched words.
“We danced all the way from the Mall to the Ritz, where we did the conga
through a side entrance into the reception where there were people having
tea.
“We just went straight through and out of the other side. By that time it was
about 11.45pm so we all went back through St James Park and Green Park.
“One would have never walked through those parks at night during the War, but there we were. There was the usual thing of people hugging and kissing, and even making love.
“I was quite shocked by it, because I had never experienced anything like that in public.”
Jean, 93, went on: “I always think it was a great privilege, and very lovely,
to have been able to be there and do that on that night. It is a special
memory.
THE ROYAL NIGHT OUT TIMELINE
8pm - Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret ask the King and Queen if they can join the party. After some cajoling, their parents agree.
9pm - The royal party slips out of the palace, and joins the crowd at the
railings, before being carried along The Mall in the throng.
10pm - The royal party carry on down the Mall and onto Horse Guards Parade.
10.30pm – They arrived at Trafalgar Square, which was “jammed from end to end.”
11pm – They arrived at Piccadilly Circus, which then had a seedy reputation thanks to the prostitutes that frequented there, picking up customers at the Eros statue.
11.15pm – They arrive at The 400 Club.
11.30pm – They dance their way down Piccadilly, and do a conga through the Ritz.
11.45pm – They approach Green Park on their way back to the Palace.
12pm – They arrive back at the Palace railings and see the King and Queen emerge on the balcony after sending a message inside.
“The Queen has described it as the most memorable night of her life, and I
think it must have been a very unique experience for her indeed.
“She had never been out before and has not been out since, I don’t think – not without the proper protection and security that she has to have around her.
“But in nine years, she never complained about it. If I had to describe her to
somebody else, I’d say that she was charming. I really liked her very much.”
The queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes, who died in 2016, told how, with the approval of King George VI, the Princesses slipped from the Palace via a side door with a collection of pals and royal staff
members.
They included Group Captain Peter Townsend, who was tasked with keeping the girls safe, and who later went on to have an affair with Princess Margaret.
Princess Elizabeth was wearing the uniform of the Auxiliary Territorial
Service, after serving as a mechanic, and Princess Margaret wore glamorous civvies.
Margaret previously revealed: “We crossed the forecourt at Buckingham Palace and got to the railings and there were these masses and masses of people.
“There was a general thing of, ‘We want the King and Queen’, which we all
frantically joined in with and were amazed when, five or ten minutes later,
the windows opened and they came out on to the balcony.
“It was like a wonderful escape for the girls. I don’t think they’d ever been
out among millions of people. It was just freedom – to be an ordinary
person.”
From the Mall, the party moved away from Buckingham Palace down Horse Guards Parade, before reaching a Trafalgar Square packed full of people.
Margaret said: “Trafalgar Square was jammed from end to end. It was a scene of joyful whoopee – full of people kissing policemen and other people.
“It was complete mayhem but rather nice mayhem.”
The group then made their way to Piccadilly Circus, then a favourite haunt for prostitutes and American GIs who gathered around the statue of Eros.
And shortly after 11pm they passed The 400 Club, which had a reputation for illicit encounters.
Margaret said: “It had a tiny little dance floor which was lit with a
spotlight. It had a very dusty vase with pink flowers which had been there
for an eternity.
“But it had a little dance floor where we all danced hugger-mugger. I mean you lived in a very dusty atmosphere where it was hard to see very clearly who else was there.
“But there was one famous moment where we all noticed that there were at least four Dukes present – and not with their Duchesses.”
From Piccadilly Circus, the party headed to the Ritz – upsetting the hotel’s
clientele with a rowdy conga line straight through the reception area.
Margaret said: “For some reason, we decided to go in the front door of the
Ritz and do the conga. The Ritz has always been so stuffy and formal – we
rather electrified the stuffy individuals inside.
“I don’t think people realised who was among the party – I think they thought it was just a group of drunk young people. I remember old ladies looking faintly shocked.
“As one congaed through, eyebrows were raised.”
After the excitement of the conga, the royal group finally headed back to
Buckingham Palace, where they once again joined the crowd outside the gates.
But this time, the Princesses were to see their parents appear after Elizabeth sent a message inside that they were waiting at the railings amid the throng.
Margaret said: “We joined the huge crowds that were jammed up against the railings and managed somehow to wheedle our way to the front.
“The crowd was shouting and we joined in with: ‘We want the king, we want the king.’ Then they came out and we joined the crowd in shouting:
‘Hooray, hooray.’”
Jean added: “When we got back into the palace, the King and the Queen were there. We weren’t exhausted after it all. We were thrilled to have been part of it.”
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