HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II: 1926-2022
During Queen Elizabeth’s long reign, the Armed Forces were an integral part of her life, both as sovereign and in private. Words: John Ash
For more than 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II functioned as the Commander-in-Chief of the British military, and while she was only the ‘constitutional head’ of the armed forces, she nevertheless held the military in high esteem and devoted much of her time to it.
Such closeness and affection meant that, by necessity and by choice, the military echelons were an encompassing and ever-present consideration in all walks of the Queen’s public and private life, each as sovereign, commander-in-chief and as a family member to servicepersons deployed on operations.
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1 QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE THEN PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAND WITH BOMBER COMMAND CREWS FROM 15 AND 622 SQUADRONS DURING A VISIT TO RAF MILDENHALL IN SUFFOLK ON JULY 5, 1944. THEY HAD JOINED KING GEORGE VI ON THE VISIT TO THE STATION TO MEET AIR CREWS ON STAND-BY FOR OPERATIONS THAT EVENING. VISITS FROM MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY THROUGHOUT THE WAR, WHETHER TO CIVILIAN CENTRES OR MILITARY BASES, HAD A PRONOUNCED EFFECT ON MORALE ALAMY
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2 DRIVEN BY A PERSONAL INSISTENCE TO SERVE…
