Amid the jubilant throngs celebrating VE Day outside Buckingham Palace, a teenage Princess Elizabeth, just 19, danced unnoticed, later recounting it as "one of the most memorable nights of my life."
Joined by her 14-year-old sister, Princess Margaret, the future Queen Elizabeth II slipped into the crowds on May 8, 1945, experiencing the historic moment alongside thousands of revellers.
The princesses joined in the revelry, dancing the hokey cokey and the Lambeth Walk, and even participating in chants of "We want the King" at the Palace railings.
Their evening's adventure extended beyond the Palace gates, walking for miles and even dancing the conga through the Ritz hotel in Piccadilly.
The Queen, speaking in 1985, recalled: “My sister and I realised we couldn’t see what the crowds were enjoying… so we asked my parents if we could got out and see for ourselves…”
She added: “I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, and all of us were swept along by tides of happiness and relief.”
The Queen said: “After crossing Green Park we stood outside and shouted ‘We want the King’, and were successful in seeing my parents on the balcony, having cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside.
“I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life.”
‘I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.’
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 8, 2020
The Queen was 19 years old on VE Day. More than thirty years later, she recorded her memories for a unique BBC Broadcast. #VEDay75 pic.twitter.com/jWf4bebj2e
She described how she was terrified of being recognised on the streets “so I pulled my uniform cap well down over my eyes” but was told off by a Grenadier officer who was part of their group.
Three-quarters of a century later in 2020, the Queen, by then the UK’s longest-reigning monarch, addressed the country to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
She urged the nation to “never give up, never despair” echoing the message of VE Day – poignant words which resonated during the Covid-19 lockdown.
As part of the official celebrations in 1945, King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth made eight appearances on the Palace balcony in 10 hours – on one occasion accompanied by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Here's Winston Churchill & the Royal family greeting the public from Buckingham Palace balcony, #VEDay, 8 May 1945 pic.twitter.com/Dtx58arzLU
— Science Museum (@sciencemuseum) May 8, 2015
Elizabeth and Margaret appeared six times with their parents throughout the day and evening.
In an unprecedented and spontaneous breach of royal protocol, they also hurried out of the Palace after dinner to join the crowds, accompanied by a group of Guards officers, who were friends of the princesses.
It was Margaret’s idea and the King and Queen agreed to the excursion, with the monarch writing in his diary that day of his daughters’ lack of social life: “Poor darlings, they have never had any fun yet.”
Under the cover of darkness, the royal teenagers went unnoticed in the throng.
Jean Woodroffe, one of the Queen’s first ladies in waiting, once recalled how Elizabeth delightedly joined in the celebrations.
“What was amusing is that we went into the Ritz hotel through one door and out of the other door, the other end, doing the conga,” Ms Woodroffe told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme in 2006.
“The extraordinary thing was that nobody seemed to take much notice.
“Then we stood outside Buckingham Palace with the crowd and we all shouted ‘We want the King’ with everybody else until the King and Queen came out onto the balcony.”
Elizabeth, who in February 1945 at the age of 18 had undertaken National Service in the Auxiliary Transport Service, wore her ATS uniform on the day.
She had been registered as No. 230873 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor and took a driving and vehicle maintenance course at Aldershot, qualifying as a driver.
Margaret described the war years as “black and gloomy”, but said VE Day came as a “wonderful sunburst of glory”.
The royal family had led by example and lifted morale during the conflict.
On the outbreak of hostilities, it had been suggested that Queen Elizabeth and her daughters should be evacuated to the safety of Canada or the United States.
But she declared: “The children won’t go without me. I won’t leave the King. And the King will never leave.”
Elizabeth and Margaret moved to Windsor Castle during the war, just as the Queen did during the coronavirus pandemic.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, slept at Windsor but won praise for spending their days at Buckingham Palace during the Blitz.
After German bombs fell at the palace, Queen Elizabeth said: “I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the east end in the face.”
The east end of London was just one of the badly-hit areas the royal couple visited during the war to show support.
The princess became Queen just seven years after the end of the war when her father died in 1952.
