Tons of people all around the globe are obsessed with the British Royals and we finally have access to these rare photos of five generations of the most famous family in the world. Read on to find out more!
Like Mother Like Daughter
The Queen mother and her daughter were close. Growing up, the Queen mother even taught her daughter how to read by the time she was five years old.
WSL – Spurs
She made sure young Elizabeth knew domestic duties even though they lived a lavish lifestyle.
The Queen Mother
Before the Queen became the Queen Mother as we know her, she was a sweet little girl named Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Here is a rare photo of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1909 as a young girl practicing her curtsy. She was 9 years old when the photograph was taken.
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was one of ten children. She was the youngest daughter and the 9th child. As a young girl, Elizabeth loved to play at St Paul’s Walden and at Glamis Castle.
Smiling Duchess
During World War II, the British people found her to be a great moral support during the turbulent times. Many advised Elizabeth to leave England and to stay in North America with her children during WWII. However, Elizabeth had no intention of evacuating at all.
She responded to the advice strongly and said, “The children will not leave unless I do. I shall not leave unless their father does, and the King will not leave the country in any circumstances whatsoever.”
A Stroll With Mom
After Elizabeth married George VI in 1923, the couple had two girls, Princess Margaret Rose and Princess Elizabeth. Actually, first King George proposed to Elizabeth three times. The first two times, she rejected his proposal because she did not want to be a member of the royal family, but George did not want to marry anyone else.
Even his mother, Queen Mary, said that Elizabeth was “the one girl who could make Bertie happy.” Finally, they decided to marry at Westminster Abbey on April 26, 1923.
Coronation
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation ceremony was the first ceremony that was broadcast on live television. People all around the world were able to watch the event at the same time. Queen Elizabeth wore a silk white gown embroidered with the floral emblems of the countries of the Commonwealth at the time.
The coronation ceremony, which lasted one day, took 14-months of preparation! Queen Mary died a couple months after the coronation ceremony but sill insisted in her will that the ceremony should continue as scheduled even if she died before.
WWII
Princess Elizabeth was around the age of 14 when World War II broke out. At her young and vulnerable age, she was already showing maturity and wisdom during the stressful times. Princess Elizabeth started the first of her famous radio broadcasts.
Over the radio, young Elizabeth helped to comfort and reassure the children who had been evacuated from their homes. The princess said over the radio, “that in the end, all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace.”
Princess Elizabeth
Before Queen Elizabeth II was officially the queen, she never imagined that she would be the heir to the throne. Her father, Prince Albert, was the second son of King George V, so she got to grow up as Princess Elizabeth without the pressure of becoming queen of Great Britain.
In 1936, when her father became King instead of her uncle, the course of her life completely changed.
Accession to the Throne
Here is a sweet photo of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip’s new family in 1951, taken right before Elizabeth’s accession to the throne. While Prince Charles and Princess Anne were still young, Elizabeth’s father’s health began to decline.
Elizabeth started to stand in for George VI at public events. While Elizabeth and Phillip were on their way to Kenya in 1952, she found out that her father had passed and that she would need to immediately begin her accession to the throne. Right after her return home, she and Phillip moved into Buckingham Palace with their children.
Princess Anne
Princess Anne is the only daughter to Queen Elizabeth. Growing up Anne loved horseback riding. She was a very talented rider and ended up going into competitive equestrian riding. She won many medals at the European Eventing Championships.
Princess Anne rode on the British Equestrian Team and was even the European cross-country champion in 1972. Princess Anne has mostly stayed out of the public eye as an adult. After she was the victim of a kidnapping attempt in 1974, the royal family increased their security significantly.
Mountbatten
Queen Mary was adamant about passing on her husband’s surname after his death. Churchill even wrote in his diary, “What upsets me…is the Prince’s almost brutal attitude to the Queen over all this.”
Finally, in 1960, Phillip was able to pass on his name to his children. Once Queen Mary died in 1953 and the British Prime Minister resigned in 1955. Phillip’s surname, Mountbatten, was finally added to his children’s last names. Actually, only the male-line descendants who did not carry royal titles were able to take on the name, Mountbatten-Windsor.
