Here's a great historical article from The Scotsman, giving us a background just in time for the upcoming commemorations of the end of WWII which are coming up soon...
Royal Family Led A Nation's Jubilation on Ve-Day
The Royal Family was the focus of national unity when Victory in Europe was proclaimed.
An estimated quarter of a million people descended on The Mall and Buckingham Palace to celebrate the defeat of Nazi tyranny.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – later the Queen Mother – appeared several times on the Palace balcony to acknowledge the cheering crowd.
In an unprecedented breach of the strict protocol of the times, Princess Elizabeth – now the Queen – and her younger sister Princess Margaret slipped out of the Palace to mingle and join in the revelry.
And, on the marking of each significant anniversary since VE-Day, the Royals have played a central role.
Notably in 1995, the 94-year-old Queen Mother led VE-Day 50th anniversary commemorations.
May 8, 1945, went down in history as the day when victory over Hitler’s Germany was declared official.
On VE-Day, Second World War Prime Minister Winston Churchill, renowned for his resolute leadership, bulldog looks, fat cigars and “V”-for-victory salutes, was driven to the Palace for lunch with the King.
“We congratulated each other on the end of the European War,” the King wrote in his diary.
“The day we have been longing for has arrived at last and we can look back with thankfulness to God that our tribulation is over.”
It was hot and sunny, and large crowds had begun to form outside the Palace, hoping the King and Queen Elizabeth would appear on the balcony.
The happy crowd was well-behaved and disciplined, united in comradeship and victory.
Later, Churchill returned to the Palace as the King had asked him to look over the text of the royal VE-Day radio broadcast.
At 6pm the King spoke to the nation. For millions of listeners, it was the highlight of the evening.
“Much hard work awaits us in the restoration of our own country after the ravages of war, and in helping to restore peace and sanity to a shattered world,” the King said.
One newspaper reported: “Women and men fainted at a rate of about 10 a minute in the enormous crowd gathered at London’s Victoria Station to listen to the King’s broadcast. Police estimated that there must have been 100,000 people there.”
Playwright Noel Coward wrote in his diary that the Palace was floodlit on VE night and described the crowd outside as “stupendous”.
“The King and Queen came out on the balcony, looking enchanting,” wrote Coward. “We all roared ourselves hoarse. I suppose this is the greatest day in our history.”
Late in the afternoon, King George and Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth, 19, and Princess Margaret, 14, were joined on the balcony by Churchill.
According to first-hand accounts of the occasion, they were greeted by cheers and genuine warmth and affection. Overtaken by emotion, some people shed tears of joy.
The Royals made eight balcony appearances in 10 hours, responding to the chants of “We want the King”.
On the outbreak of war it had been suggested that Queen Elizabeth and her daughters should be evacuated to the safety of Canada or the United States.
To this Queen Elizabeth made her famous reply: “The children won’t go without me. I won’t leave the King. And the King will never leave.”
So the family endured the London Blitz, including the bombing of Buckingham Palace in September 1940, which endeared them to the public.
After German bombs fell at the Palace, Queen Elizabeth said: “I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.”
The East End of London was just one of the badly-hit areas the royal couple visited during the Blitz.
The King and Queen Elizabeth went among the shell-shocked people offering words of comfort and sympathy, inspiring a communal will to win.
“The destruction is so awful and the people so wonderful,” wrote Queen Elizabeth. “They deserve a better world.”
Princess Elizabeth who, in February 1945 at the age of 18, had undertaken National Service in the Auxiliary Transport Service, wore her ATS uniform for the balcony appearances.
She had been registered as No. 230873 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, and took a driving and vehicle maintenance course at Aldershot, qualifying as a driver in April.
At 11pm on VE-Day, the King and Queen Elizabeth and the two Princesses made their sixth appearance on the centre balcony, waving for 10 minutes to the cheering crowd below.
The Princesses, in an unprecedented and spontaneous breach of royal protocol, had slipped out of the Palace to join the crowd accompanied by two Guards officers.
Under the cover of darkness, the royal teenagers were unnoticed in the throng.
The King wrote in his dairy: “Poor darlings, they have never had any fun yet.”
Half an hour after midnight, the King and Queen Elizabeth appeared on the balcony again. The crowd was as large and enthusiastic as before.
The revellers waved Union Jacks and sang patriotic songs. They danced and drank, the alcohol fuelling their good humour.
Elsewhere in London there were open-air street parties, and celebrations in hotels and restaurants.
Immediately after VE-Day, the royal couple began a series of victory tours around the country and the scenes of jubilation were repeated.
If Churchill had provided the stirring rhetoric which lifted the nation to victory, the King and Queen Elizabeth had led by example.
Their keen sense of duty inspired the country to unite against Hitler and the fascist Axis powers.
It was only fitting, therefore, that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother should take centre stage for the historic 50th anniversary of VE-Day.
In a sombre but uplifting ceremony in London’s Hyde Park, she called on the nation to remember with pride and gratitude the courage and fortitude of the wartime generation who defeated the Nazis.
Her grandson, the Prince of Wales, made a VE-Day 50th anniversary radio broadcast in which he said that acts of remembrance for the sacrifices and horrors of the Second World War were a safeguard for civilisation.
Despite half a century of peace, modern man had not conquered the dark side of the human condition, he said.
“That is why the simple conscious act of remembering is so crucial to our continued survival as civilised human beings,” the Prince said.
The Queen will remember the dark days of war and the elation of victory, which she experienced as a teenager, when she leads the nation in a series of events to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
While there will be VE and VJ-Day (Victory in Japan on August 15, 1945) national commemorations, the principal events will take place on Sunday July 10.
