80 years ago today, Churchill and the Royal Family gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to celebrate V-E Day

by MonsieurA

4 comments

  1. This is the same day that Elizabeth and Margaret went partying in London. [More on that here:](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a46068670/queen-elizabeth-princess-margaret-ve-day-ritz-true-story/)
    >After appearing on the balcony with their parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the two princesses left the Palace to go out in London. As the Imperial War Museum explains, on V-E Day, the King and Queen’s “daughters were secretly mingling with the jubilant crowds below them. The future monarch, Princess Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret had been allowed to leave the palace and take part – anonymously – in the party-like atmosphere.”

    >”I think we went on balcony nearly every hour, six times,” Queen Elizabeth would later recount to the BBC in 1985. “And then when the excitement of the floodlights being switched on got through to us, my sister and I realized that we couldn’t see what the crowds were enjoying so we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves.”

    >[…]

    >Rhodes recalls their group ended up the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly that evening (as The Crown shows), and, “for some reason, we decided to go in the front door of the Ritz and do the conga. The Ritz has always been so stuffy and formal – we rather electrified the stuffy individuals inside.” She added, “I don’t think people realized who was among the party – I think they thought it was just a group of drunk young people. I remember old ladies looking faintly shocked. As one congaed through, eyebrows were raised.”

    I also posted about this on /r/80yearsago, for those interested in this time period.

  2. There is something very David Firth about this photo.

  4. Great picture I love how it looks like everyone is photoshopped onto the balcony

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