CALL OF DUTY
The shy daddy’s girl who dedicated her life to her country after tragedy made her Queen
SHE was never meant to be Queen.
Born April 21, 1926 in a central London townhouse (now posh Chinese restaurant Hakkasan), Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was the heir to the spare.
9
9
A much-loved first child to the Duke and Duchess of York, Albert and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her grandfather George V was still on the throne. The next king would be her uncle Edward, known as David to the family.
So Elizabeth, and sister Margaret who was born in 1930, grew up in a far more relaxed way than if their father was next in line.
The Queen Mother refused to adhere to protocol, spending as much time as she could with them instead of having them shut away in the royal nursery.
Their father was even less strict, spoiling them at every opportunity.
Read More On The Queen's Death
He referred to his family as “us four” and insisted on a weekly trip to the cinema, sitting in ordinary seats and munching on popcorn.
Weekends were spent at White Lodge in Richmond Park where blonde Elizabeth, known as Lilibet, and Margaret loved to play.
When she was six, the family took over Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park as their country home.
The princesses adored the lodge and even had their own playhouse in the grounds called Y Bwthyn, the Little Cottage.
She started riding ponies aged three, with her first reported lesson at Buckingham Palace Mews in January 1930.
The princesses were schooled at home by their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford.
All you need to know after Queen Elizabeth II dies aged 96
THE nation is in mourning after beloved Queen Elizabeth dies aged 96 - here is all you need to know about Her Majesty's glorious life and what's next.
- When is the Queen's funeral?
- What happens now the Queen has died?
- How old was the Queen when she died?
- What is the new line of succession?
- Will there be a bank holiday on the day of the Queen's funeral?
- When can royal fans visit the Queen's coffin?
- Where will the Queen be buried?
- What is D-Day?
- Who were the Queen's grandchildren?
Most read in News
Known as , she educated both girls at home in history, language, literature and music.
Much to the dismay of the Royal Family, she later published a book in which she revealed how close the family were and how their father joined in the fun.
The book also describes Elizabeth’s love of horses and dogs and her attitude of responsibility.
Winston Churchill described the two-year-old Elizabeth as “a character”, adding: “She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.”
9
9
She was nine when George V died in January 1936. Her beloved Uncle David became Edward VIII, but George had always worried about him inheriting the crown.
According to one of Queen Mary’s ladies-in-waiting, he said: “I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne.”
Shock abdication
Edward abdicated in December 1936 after the UK government refused him permission to marry US divorcee Wallace Simpson.
Albert became George VI and Elizabeth’s life changed overnight. The family had to leave their Piccadilly home and move into Buckingham Palace. There the young heir received tuition from the Vice-Provost of Eton, Henry Marten.
A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with girls her own age.
During World War II, as London was pummelled during the Blitz, the two princesses were evacuated to Balmoral and Windsor Castle.
Public duties had begun at the age of 12, when Elizabeth became president of the Children’s League of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Shadwell, East London.
That year she appeared in public in uniform for the first time when she and Margaret took the salute of 1,000 Girl Guides at Windsor.
9
9
The Princess was in uniform again before the end of the war when she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and took a driving course, ensuring the Royal Family was identified with the war effort.
On VE-Day, May 8, 1945, she stood on the balcony of a bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace as 250,000 people turned out to celebrate with their King and Queen.
Later Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret slipped into the throng unobserved to experience scenes among ordinary people.
In 1947, Elizabeth accompanied her parents to South Africa.
In a radio broadcast to the Commonwealth, she pledged: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
But the stress of the war had taken its toll on George VI, who developed lung cancer.
A Queen is made
Elizabeth and Prince Philip, whom she married in November 1947, took on more royal duties.
On January 31, 1952, Elizabeth and Philip left for a mammoth Commonwealth tour of Australia and New Zealand, via Kenya, in place of the King and Queen.
On February 6, 1952, George died of a heart attack in his bed at Sandringham, Norfolk, aged 56.
9
A devastated Elizabeth, who was one of the last to hear the news as she had been staying at the remote Treetops Hotel in Kenya, returned to the UK as Queen Elizabeth II.
Aged just 21, the Queen publicly dedicated her life to her country.
Through triumphs and disasters — both public and personal — her inscrutable persona and incredible service meant she was Britain’s rock.
That vow, in a radio broadcast from Cape Town, was her driving force through 70 years on the throne.
She earned the love and respect of millions through her dutiful service to the nation.
In the words of her 12th Prime Minister, David Cameron, she was “a fantastic exemplar of what a constitutional monarch can be... probably the finest ever.”
But such a thought would probably have never crossed her mind.
She came as a rather shy 25-year-old to the throne of a nation that had lost its power in the world and of an empire that was crumbling fast.
But Elizabeth surprised many by emerging stronger than ever from the winds of change, steering the monarchy safely through an era of storm as well as calm.
She served as a focus of national pride through conflicts such as the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, when British heroes laid down their lives in her name.
And she was the ultimate “soft diplomat” as the UK struggled with different political governments, coalitions and a threat to break up the British union of which she was so proud.
Although steadfastly politically neutral, she did her best to keep the United Kingdom together.
On the eve of the Scottish Referendum in 2014, in an apparently off-the-cuff remark, she urged people to think “very carefully about the future”.
It was widely interpreted to support the “No” to Scottish independence camp — and she was delighted when they won.
One of the most difficult, but arguably successful, visits of her reign was to Ireland in 2011 — the first time a British monarch had visited for 100 years.
9
That and 2012 in Belfast, where she shook former IRA commander Martin McGuinness’s hand, were seen as instrumental in securing Anglo-Irish peace.
And although not a natural football fan, she shared the nation’s delight at England’s stunning World Cup victory against West Germany in 1966. Grinning with obvious glee, she handed the solid gold Jules Rimet trophy to captain Bobby Moore.
Pioneering legacy
At home, she pioneered social change — it was the Queen who first introduced the idea of “walkabouts” to meet her people.
She pioneered the haphazard but hugely popular meetings with those in the crowd who had come to cheer on the royals at official visits and refused to drop them despite security concerns.
She ended the “coming out” debutantes presentation at Buckingham Palace in 1958 and ensured garden parties, receptions and lunches were extended to as many Brits as possible.
Abroad, she also handled with great skill and statesmanship the massive social and political upheavals of the post-War world.
She steered the transition of the British Empire into a looser grouping of Commonwealth nations bound by ties of friendship and tradition.
Many newly independent states chose to drop her as Queen, but she undertook the role of Head of the Commonwealth and attached great importance to its work.
Like the 15 prime ministers who served her, dozens of Commonwealth heads of state drew on her unparalleled experience, gathered over decades of overseas trips, for help and advice.
As communism collapsed, Russian presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin were desperate to win the seal of approval of the British monarchy and urged the Queen to undertake the first state visit since the murder of the Tsar and his family in the 1917 Revolution.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More on The Sun
In June, millions turned out to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which culminated in an emotional appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
In 2015 she broke all records to become Britain’s longest-reigning monarch when she overtook Queen Victoria’s record of 63 years, seven months and two days.
9
Topics