What Really Happened On The Queen s Big VE Day Night Out

There was one outright tearjerker in the Queen's broadcast to the nation last month. Who couldn't be moved by the photograph of her, aged 14, in the very same spot at Windsor Castle 80 years ago, making another address to the country next to her little sister Margaret?

What other head of state can refer to a speech they gave 80 years ago? And what other head of state can refer to the Second World War, having served in the Forces during it? In February 1945 she became a mechanic and driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. 

Then three months later, on 8 May, 1945, she joined in one of the greatest celebrations in our history - VE Day.






VE Day was the only known occasion when she escaped the royal cocoon and partied among her future subjects. Pictured, the celebrations as imagined in the film A Royal Night Out which depicts Elizabeth (left) and Margaret kicking up their heels on VE Day







George VI and Queen Elizabeth, let their daughters leave the palace in a group of 16 including the Hon Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's first cousin, and Jean Woodroffe, her lady-in-waiting. Pictured, Elizabeth (left), the Queen, King George VI and Princess Margaret on VE Day


That night was particularly remarkable for the 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth. It was the only known occasion when she escaped the royal cocoon and partied among her future subjects. Her parents, George VI and Queen Elizabeth, let the girls leave the palace in a group of 16 including the Hon Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's first cousin, and Jean Woodroffe, her lady-in-waiting. 

The group also included Lord Porchester, later to become the Queen's racing manager, and kynghidongduong.vn Peter Townsend, the king's equerry who caused a national crisis a decade later when, as a divorcé, he won the heart of Princess Margaret.

The two princesses slipped easily into the crowd - Princess Elizabeth was in her ATS uniform, like so many others, and tour hà giang từ hà nội Margaret, then just 14, was in smart civilian clothes. HARRY MOUNT spoke to some of those involved that night...

COUSIN WHO JOINED THE FUTURE QUEEN IN A CONGA






With the princesses on their outing was the Queen's cousin, the Hon Margaret Rhodes, 19, daughter of the Queen Mother's elder sister Mary. She was just under a year older than the Queen, and the pair (pictured) remained friends until Margaret died in 2016, aged 91 


With the princesses on their outing was the Queen's cousin, the Hon Margaret Rhodes, 19, daughter of the Queen Mother's elder sister Mary. She was just under a year older than the Queen, and the pair remained friends until Margaret died in 2016, aged 91.

She served as Woman of the Bedchamber to her aunt, the Queen Mother, and in 1980 when her husband Denys was ill, the Queen asked them if they'd like to leave their Devon home and move into one of the Queen's houses in Windsor Great Park, if they could ‘bear to live in suburbia', which they duly did.






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In 2015 on the 70th anniversary of VE Day Margaret was interviewed by Channel 4 about the celebrations. She told the programme how the royal party slipped out of Buckingham Palace at 9pm.