GREATEST MO

SETTING AN EXAMPLE:

Aged 14, Elizabeth, with sister Margaret, gave her first-ever radio broadcast on Children’s Hour to boost wartime morale for children, especially evacuees: “My sister, Margaret Rose, and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all.”

THE WAR:

Aged 19, Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, training as a driver and mechanic. Then on VE Day, May 8, 1945, she and Margaret secretly took part in the celebrations.

HER DUTY VOW:

In a radio broadcast from Cape Town, on her 21st birthday on April 12, 1947, Princess Elizabeth dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth: “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.” This was echoed by her son last week in his first speech as King.

BECOMING QUEEN:

Grief-stricken at the death of her beloved father, the new Queen rushed back from a Kenyan holiday to Britain and her people. She impressed the whole world and was later named Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year.

THE CORONATION:

Many church and state leaders were appalled at the idea of the 1953 coronation being televised live, but the Queen is said to have told PM Winston Churchill: “All my subjects should have an opportunity of seeing it.”

COMFORTING ABERFAN:

After 116 children and 28 adults were killed when a colliery spoil tip collapsed on a primary school in the small Welsh village of Aberfan on October 21, 1966, the Queen was visibly moved during a visit to the mourning parents in their darkest hour.