Pink tutu and a carefree childhood – this is how II lived. Elizabeth before becoming heir to the throne

II would celebrate his 98th birthday today. Queen Elizabeth, of whom we may not know so much about the period of her life when she lived her life as a carefree princess.

Happiness without a palace

How fate shapes our lives in a special way, perhaps II. Elizabeth’s life is the best example. She became the longest-reigning queen in British history without even being born an heir to the throne. “Lilibet” and her sister Margit lived with their parents in the Mayfair house at 145 Piccadilly. The building’s corridor was lined with pale green pillars and a soft brown carpet covered the floor. Most of the windows looked out on the garden, and in the living room there was a huge gramophone, many books and family photographs. On the ground floor was Erzsébet’s father’s study, as well as a dining room, which could accommodate 30 guests. In addition to these, the house also had a ballroom, a library and at least 10 bedrooms. “The family spent most of the year here, but in the summer they preferred to retire to the Royal Lodge at Windsor” Jane Dismore wrote in Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II.

“Every step of the way in the house, one came across servants and lackeys, of course there was a housekeeper, a cook, a kitchen maid, a night watchman, a policeman, a telephone operator, as well as Erzsébet and Margit’s nanny” Dismore continued. The nanny of the little princesses was Clara Knigh from Scotland, whom the girls nicknamed “Allah”. And their maid was Margaret MacDonald, who was nicknamed “Bobo” and lived next to the future queen for 60 years.

The 10-year-old heir to the throne

She was described in the books as a somewhat withdrawn, rather quiet princess who took good care of her toys. She was two-and-a-half years old when she first met Winston Churchill at Balmoral, although we don’t think the Duchess remembered it. In 1935, at the age of 9, Erzsébet and her sister enchanted the London crowd when she greeted people on the balcony in a pink dress by her grandparents’ side. By the way, the girls called their grandfather, King George V, “Grandpa England“. Half a year later, the king died, and his eldest son, VIII. Eduard followed. However, he was not even ruler for a year, as the government did not allow him to marry his American lover, who had been divorced several times, and Wallis Simpson was rumored to be a Nazi sympathizer. (Just a year after his resignation, Eduárd and Wallis met Hitler in Germany – ed.) This is how Elizabeth’s father, King Elizabeth VI, became king. George. The family had to leave their beloved Mayfair house and move to Buckingham Palace. By the way, the Mayfair house was bombed in 1940.

His grandmother brought him up hard

The adolescent Elizabeth already understood the essence of the monarchy, the duties and responsibilities that come with it. Her grandmother, Queen Mary, made sure that the monarchy was everything to Elizabeth. It is believed that Mary herself was the chief apostle of the British monarchy and the keeper of the royal flame. He required the two princesses to study history and the geography of the British Empire. He took the children to a museum or other cultural program at least once a week. It is also not to be neglected how Erzsébet’s personality was shaped by her relationship with her parents and her sister: they had an alliance of protection and defiance, theirs was a very close-knit and happy family. The penniless Greek-Danish Prince Philip “arrived” in this family, whom the courtiers did not find suitable, but VI. György said yes to Fülöp’s request for a daughter, and the family accepted him. Finally, in 1947, he married Erzsébet, who was 21 years old at the time.

Their first child, Károly, was born a year later, but he could not take his father’s surname Mountbatten. This took a toll on Fülöp, but many, many years later, this changed, so that, for example, Prince Edward’s daughter and son, or Harry’s children became Mountbatten-Windsor. As for the young mother, Erzsébet, she may never have forgiven her uncle for making her first heir to the throne and then queen in 1952, at the age of just 26, thanks to him…