'My dad secretly danced with the Queen on VE Day'

Daily Mirror

05-05-2025

A teenager who looked like a young Prince Philip had a secret dance with the Queen after she sneaked out of Buckingham Palace on VE Day
A TEENAGE Prince Philip lookalike secretly danced with the Queen as she mingled with crowds on VE Day - but nobody believed him. In what has been described as a 'Cinderella in reverse' moment, Princesses Elizabeth was given permission by their dad King George VI to leave Buckingham Palace in secret and join the celebrations.
She'd made appearances on the balcony with the family but along with her sister Princess Margaret, the pair were allowed to quietly slip away flanked by a party of 16, including many Grenadier Guards. That was when Ronald Thomas, aged 15, a blond, good looking working class lad from the Rhondda Valley in Wales, literally bumped into the princess and their 'eyes locked'.
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His step daughter, Joanne Kavakeb, 60, from Welwyn, explained how her late dad had moved to live with his aunt and uncle in Harrow, as his mother had consumption during World War II. He had been working hard as a teenager, clearing the bomb debris with wheelbarrows in the capital. When the war finished he got on a bus with a pal to join the party in Trafalgar Square. He eventually followed the crowds down Whitehall when he had a brief encounter with royalty.
'As a child he mentioned, very coyly, that he'd danced with the Queen,' Jo recalled. 'But he was a bit ashamed to mention it before because he'd been ridiculed. He rarely talked about it, just once or twice in his lifetime because he'd mentioned it at work in his 20s and people just mocked him and laughed at him, saying 'that's not true'.
'And he also didn't talk about it much because he told the Queen at the time that it was a secret and he was going to keep that secret.' He did however share his story with his close family, explaining how on VE Day he took the bus to the city and had the 'time of his life' and even danced with the future Queen on Whitehall.
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Ronald, she said, was over 6ft tall at the time and 'extremely handsome' with blond hair and a chiselled jaw. 'His resemblance to Prince Philip is remarkable. If she had a type he was her type. He looked very similar to Prince Philip, with blond parted hair and he had similar facial features, his nose and eyes.
'She'd obviously seen this handsome young man and thought; 'Oh, he's just my sort!' Describing his close encounter with royalty, he told his family: 'There she was and we locked eyes and I said to her; 'Ooh I know you don't I?' And she said; 'No, no, no, no, you don't'. But the teen stood his ground and said: 'Oh, I do. You're Princess Elizabeth' and the Princess, who was 18 at the time, replied; 'Well don't tell anyone, it's a secret!'.
'She had her green ATF uniform on and her cap was tucked down quite low over her face in an attempt at a disguise. They locked eyes and did this little dance together,' Jo said. 'They had this little turn around little dance and she was whisked away by a group of minders who were with her. He was like 'that was fun'. He was only 15 at the time. '
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The family admit they had their doubts until the Queen herself spoke about that day then a film came out about it in 2015 and 'everything fell into place'. The Queen told the BBC in 1985: "I think we went on the balcony nearly every hour, six times. 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."
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To blend in with the crowds, the future Queen wore her Auxiliary Transport Service (ATS) uniform, as she'd served as a driver and mechanic.
"We cheered the King and Queen on the balcony and then walked miles through the street. I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief,' she said.
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Queen Elizabeth added that she and her sister Margaret were "terrified of being recognised, so I pulled my uniform cap well down over my eyes. A Grenadier officer among our party of about 16 people said he refused to be seen in the company of another officer improperly dressed. So I had to put my cap on normally."
Among their secret party was Jean Woodroffe, who became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Rhodes, their first cousin. Later Margaret Rhodes said of that evening, "It was like a wonderful escape for the girls. I don't think they'd ever been out among millions of people. It was just freedom – to be an ordinary person."
And Margaret's daughter, Victoria Pryor, previously told Sky News: "Mummy said it was just the most thrilling, exciting night and she always referred to it as a Cinderella moment but in reverse for the two princesses. "They came out and everyone was shouting for the King and Queen to come out on the balcony. To see their parents on the balcony from this position with the ordinary people in the street must have been absolutely extraordinary."
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The group ended up at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly that evening doing the conga.
Queen Elizabeth recalled later; "after crossing Green Park we stood outside and shouted, 'We want the King' and were successful in seeing my parents on the balcony, having cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside. I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life."
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Ronald's step daughter Jo added the Queen's secret trip had not been made public when her step dad told them about it.
'It was all true and at least he was vindicated and it was really nice that his story was authenticated. From then on he adored the Queen,' she said.
His grandson Dominic, 38, said his grandfather was a staunch royalist and would stand when the National Anthem came on.H e explained how his grandad, who died during Covid, had started talking about it more near the end. He said: 'It was family folklore really and then during the end of his life it was the kind of thing he brought up a couple of times.'
After the film a 'Right Royal Night Out' came out, Dominic said he knew the mum of the actor in the film and messaged her, who invited them to go to the West End premiere. From then on his grandad was less 'bashful' about his dance with the Queen.
After the war he joined the Territorial Army (TA) which reformed after the war serving in the parachute regiment. He ended up moving to Canada and was a miner as a young man, ending up working in his local cinema back in the UK. Dominic added: 'He loved and admired the Queen. She would not have been able to do it these days with TikTok around and everyone with a camera.'
VE Day: 80th Anniversary Magazine Specials
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