Queen Elizabeth II did not have any inkling that one day she would ascend the throne when her uncle King Edward VIII ascended to the throne in Jan 1936.

The dark clouds of war were gathering over Europe, and then in Dec 1936 Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, who had deep relations with Herr Hermann Goering and Hitler’s Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop…

Elizabeth’s dad King George VI ascended the throne as the war got closer.

Then France fell, and Britain stood alone in face of the Nazi onslaught in 1940.

Luftwaffe planes bombed Buckingham Palace in Sept 1940, and the young princess endured the Luftwaffe Blitz on London and surrounds for 57 days from Sept 1940 as the Battle of Britain raged over the skies of Britain.

On October 13, 1940, Princess Elizabeth gave her first address from the drawing room of Windsor Castle as part of the BBC’s Children’s Hour in an attempt to boost public morale.

She spoke directly to the children who had been separated from their families as part of the evacuation scheme.

“Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes and be separated from your fathers and mothers. My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you, as we know from experience what it means to be away from those you love most of all. To you living in new surroundings, we send a message of true sympathy and at the same time we would like to thank the kind people who have welcomed you to their homes in the country.” ( source https://lnkd.in/gJArSGbh)

When Princess Elizabeth turned 18 in 1944, she insisted upon joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s branch of the British Army.

The Princess became the people’s princess through WW2. The rest as they say is history.

Vale Queen Elizabeth RIP.https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/queen-elizabeth-ii-during-world-war-ii