Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth II was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926, to parents, the Duke & Duchess of York, who later became King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother). As The Queen,, she has been served by 14 UK Prime Ministers, Including Winston Churchill & Margaret Thatcher.

Princess Elizabeth was just 13 years old when war broke out on September 3, 1939. Like many children living in London, Elizabeth & her sister Princess Margaret were evacuated to avoid the dangers of bombing raids. They were sent to Windsor Castle, approximately 20 miles outside of London.

On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Princess Elizabeth undertook her first inspection of a military regiment, during a parade at Windsor Castle. She had been given the role of Honorary Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, which symbolised her military involvement in the war effort. When Princess Elizabeth turned 18 in 1944, she insisted upon joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s branch of the British Army. For several years during the war, Britain had conscripted women to join the war effort. Unmarried women under 30 had to join the armed forces or work on the land or in industry. King George made sure that his daughter was not given a special rank in the Army.

Rumour has it… On a recent low-key trip to Scotland, she met some American tourists while walking. When the tourists asked if she lived locally, she mentioned that she had a house nearby, & when asked if she’d ever met The Queen, she simply pointed at her security and said, “No, but he has!”