CAP THAT GOT HER TICKED OFF

Elizabeth II is the last living head of state to have served in the Second World War. She wore her Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) uniform on VE Day when she joined her parents, sister and prime minister Winston Churchill on the Buckingham Palace balcony to acknowledge the jubilant crowds. Forty years on she recalled her cap was a useful disguise when she joined the revellers in the streets of London. She said she pulled it ‘well down over my eyes’ to stop herself being recognised. But, she added, she was reprimanded by a fellow officer. ‘A Grenadier officer amongst our party of about 16 people said he refused to be seen in the company of another officer improperly dressed, so I had to put my cap on normally.’