Escape plans
HOLIDAY DEALS
ANNE Elizabeth Alice Louise became Britain’s newest princess almost 70 years ago. Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter was born at 11.50am at Clarence House on August 15, 1950, and weighed exactly 6lbs. Details of her arrival were promptly posted on the gates of the royal residence, on a board outside the Home Office in Whitehall and at Mansion House in London.
The royal baby was also welcomed with a 21-gun salute at Hyde Park and her father Prince Phillip is said to have happily announced to one and all: “It’s the sweetest girl”.
He also toasted her arrival in champagne with his staff.
Work was being carried out at Buckingham Palace following damage it had suffered during the Second World War so home for the new baby for the first three years of her life was Clarence House.
She was named Elizabeth for her mother and grandmother, Alice for her father’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, and Louise for her great-great-grandfather King Edward VII’s oldest daughter.
Her father was presented with a ration book, his newborn daughter’s identity card and bottle of cod liver oil and orange juice when he signed her birth certificate.
Her grandfather George VI was out shooting when Prince Philip telephoned Balmoral Castle to give him the good news and a special messenger was sent out to find him. Anne’s big brother Prince Charles was almost two years older than her and she was baptised in the music room at Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York. She was too young to attend the coronation of her mother in 1953.
Outfits worn by the young princess set fashion trends, while Russia sent her a little bear cub called Nikki as a present and he made his home at London Zoo.
A Girl Guides Company called the 1st Buckingham Palace Company was reformed in 1959 so that Anne could spend time with girls her own age. The company had also been in place for her mother and Princess Margaret when they were young.
The blonde-haired royal, unlike her brothers, was educated at home at Buckingham Palace by royal governess Catherine Peebles, who also taught Prince Charles before he went to boarding school.
She became the first British royal female to go to school when she was enrolled at Benenden School in Kent in 1963. She spent the next five years