Young Prince Philip by Philip Eade

Author:Philip Eade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2011-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

By March 1945, just short of her nineteenth birthday, Elizabeth had her own suite of rooms in Buckingham Palace, her own footman and housemaid and two ladies-in-waiting. That spring, she was at last allowed to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service, enrolling on a six-week course at Aldershot that aimed to make her not only an expert driver and map reader but also capable of stripping and servicing an engine. It is often cited as her first foray into ‘ordinary’ life. By the time she completed her training in mid-April, the war in Europe was virtually over, although pictures of the princess in overalls earnestly dismantling engines and changing tyres briefly became part of British propaganda. She also proudly wore her ATS uniform on V-E Day on 8 May, which she celebrated by slipping out of the Palace with Margaret and several young Guards officers and joining in with the singing in the streets. Virtually no one recognized the two princesses in the crowd. ‘Poor darlings,’ wrote the king in his diary later that evening. ‘They have never had any fun yet.’48

By the time the princesses next took to the streets on 15 August, V-J Day, Philip was back at sea, having finally left Sydney in late July to escort the flotilla’s flagship, Duke of York. They were on their way to assist in the intended invasion of Japan when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, on 9 August, just as they reached the American-held island of Guam, east of the Philippines, another bomb devastated Nagasaki. When Whelp became one of the first Allied ships to enter Japanese waters, escorting the US flagship Missouri into Tokyo Bay on 2 September, it was to attend the formal Japanese surrender, the signing of which Philip witnessed aboard the American flagship.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.