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Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
How 10,000 tiny pearls were secretly brought to the UK for Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress
In the wake of World War II, the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten brought a sense of hope and renewal to a weary nation. On November 20, 1947, the couple exchanged vows at Westminster Abbey in front of 2,000 invited guests, while thousands more lined the streets of London to witness the grand occasion. The ceremony marked the beginning of what would become the longest royal marriage in British history. Princess Elizabeth was the tenth member of the Royal Family to marry at the Abbey - a venue steeped in personal significance. It was there that her father, King George VI, was crowned 11 years earlier, and where she herself would be crowned just five years after her wedding. For her bridal gown, Elizabeth turned to British couturier Norman Hartnell, who submitted 12 designs. One was approved in mid-August, less than three months before the ceremony. With wartime rationing still in effect, the dress was paid for using clothing coupons. In a heartfelt show of support, people from across the country sent the Princess their own coupons to contribute, though these were returned. Inspired by Botticelli's Primavera, the gown was crafted from duchesse satin sourced from Dunfermline and spun from silkworms imported from Nationalist China. It was adorned with thousands of pearls and embroidered with motifs symbolising post-war rebirth - roses, jasmine blossoms and ears of wheat - all stitched in silver and gold thread produced at Lullingstone Castle and woven by Warner & Sons. According to Hugo Vickers in his book Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, Hartnell's manager imported 10,000 tiny pearls from the United States, declared them at customs, and paid the duty. The gown featured a 13-foot silk tulle train attached at the shoulders, and Hartnell secretly included a four-leaf clover on the left side of the skirt, so the Princess' hand could rest upon it during the ceremony. Hartnell carried the same delicate aesthetic into the bridesmaids' dresses, worn by Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Margaret Elphinstone, Pamela Mountbatten, and Diana Bowes-Lyon. He also designed outfits for key royal women, including an apricot brocade ensemble for Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) and a gold and blue chenille gown for Queen Mary. The bride's footwear - ivory satin sandals - was imagined by Hartnell and made by Rayne, with silver buckles studded with tiny pearls to match the dress. Due to enormous public interest, Hartnell had his Bruton Street premises whitewashed and curtained to maintain secrecy during the gown's production. For her 'something borrowed,' Princess Elizabeth wore the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara. After the ceremony, members of the Royal Family joined the bride and groom on the balcony of Buckingham Palace Originally a Collingwood necklace gifted to Queen Mary by Queen Victoria in 1893, it was later transformed into a diamond fringe tiara by Garrard in 1919. On the wedding day, the tiara snapped as it was placed on Elizabeth's head. A jeweller from Garrard swiftly repaired it and it was returned to the Princess by police escort. As a result of the rushed repair, a small gap remained between the centre fringe and the adjacent spike - an imperfection visible in photographs from the day. Completing her bridal ensemble were two pearl necklaces - the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline designs - gifts from her father, King George VI. The entire event was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio to a global audience of 200 million listeners, making it one of the most significant public events of the post-war era. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's wedding was more than a royal celebration - it was a moment of unity and national pride, signifying a new chapter for both the monarchy and the country.
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The wild night Britain celebrated VE Day: Late drinking, fireworks and 'sex outside Buckingham Palace' as exhausted, battered but jubilant nation toasted Hitler's downfall after six long years of war
Getting wildly drunk, having sex in public and setting off fireworks. It sounds like a description of saucy party animals today. But these were some of the scenes in Britain 80 years ago, after it was announced that Germany had surrendered and the fight against Nazi tyranny was over. The Second World War in Europe had come to a halt on May 7, 1945, after nearly six years of toil, sacrifice, tragedy and loss. And so that night and on the subsequent evening of May 8 - which was named as the official Victory in Europe Day - Britons more than let their hair down, they partied well into the small hours. Photos show the raucous celebrations in London and elsewhere, with couples dancing and kissing in the streets and revellers enjoying pints in pubs. The then Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret famously joined in the celebrations by mingling with crowds on the night of May 8, an experience the late Queen would later describe as 'one of the most memorable' of her life. But what the pictures and memories of Her Late Majesty do not get across are the much naughtier goings on that were described in written form. Londoner Diana Carnegie told in a letter to her husband how she spotted couples having sex in the dark near Buckingham Palace in the small hours of May 8. She wrote: 'We had quite a good dinner and then stumbled across f******g couples in the dark to the Palace where the King and Queen had just been out.' In the letter, which came up for auction in 2014, she went on to describe further raucous scenes, saying: 'We decided to go to Whitehall in the hopes of seeing Churchill. 'The crowds were terrific but we managed to make our way behind a string of sailors. 'Parliament Square was a seething mass. We actually all got on to a jeep but thank heaven - it got so bad we couldn't move, as otherwise I should have been killed.' She went on to describe how her friends nearly got into a fight with a man who called Churchill a 'drunk who didn't give a damn.' Also celebrating was Joan Harrison, who was serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service as an ambulance driver. Now 107, she recalled in MailOnline this week how a serviceman came rushing towards the 22-year-old to tell her of the momentous good news. 'Everything was still. Then, all of a sudden, he came running down the concrete path to the ambulance and said, 'Brownie! The war is over!,' she said. 'I said he must be kidding. And he said, 'No, the war's over!' 'I jumped out - I don't think I even locked it, which was a crime , and ran with him to the NAAFI [Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes] where everyone was gathering. 'Hats were flying in the air. It was all men. It got a bit boisterous, and some officers came down and called 'order'. 'The men calmed down. The officers were saying, you're still in the Army, you know, get to your beds. But they couldn't do much about the sheer joy of the moment.' Reporting the jubilant scenes on the night of May 7, after news of Germany's surrender had come, the Mail recounted: 'Bonfires blazed from Piccadilly to Wapping. 'The sky once lit by the glare of the Blitz shone red with the Victory Glow. 'The last trains departed from the West End unregarded. The pent-up spirits of the throng, the polyglot throng that is London in war-time, burst out, and by 11 o'clock the capital was ablaze with enthusiasm'. It went on: 'Rockets - found no-one knows where, set-off by no-one knows whom - streaked into the sky, exploding not in death but a burst of scarlet fire. 'A pile of straw filled with thunder-flashes salvaged from some military dump spurted and exploded near Leicester-square.' 'Every car that challenged the milling, moiling throng was submerged in humanity. They climbed on the running-boards, on the bonnet, on the roof. 'They hammered on the panels. They shouted and sang. Against the drumming on metal came the clash of cymbals, improvised out of dustbin lids. 'The dustbin itself was a football for an impromptu Rugger scrum. 'Bubbling, exploding with gaiety, the people 'mafficked'. Headlights silhouetted couples kissing, couples cheering, couples waving flags.' The party atmosphere was smoothed by the extension of licensing hours for bars and pubs, whilst dance halls stayed open until midnight. Soldier Alec Borrie, who was a trusted member of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) unit, happened to be in England recovering from injuries he suffered when his Jeep was blown up by a mine in Germany just weeks earlier. He later recalled how the VE Day celebrations could be summed up in two words: 'Getting drunk!' Further jubilant accounts of the celebrations were gathered by Mass Observation, the social survey set up in 1937. Recounting them in her book The People's Victory, historian Lucy Noakes tells how, in Trafalgar Square, hundreds danced and sang The Marseillaise and pub song Knees up Mother Brown. One woman, a clerk in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) who had been given permission to go out on the evening of May 7, noted: 'We rush back for our hats and jump on a bus to Hyde Park Corner.' She went on: 'Most of the men are in uniform. All services and nationalities. 'The Canadians are noisy, the sailors are merry, the airmen are drunk (or pretend to be), the Americans have a girl apiece . . . All the way to Knightsbridge, happy groups pass, and people still hope to get buses home. 'This is midnight, Victory Eve – and, oh, my poor feet!' Scottish novelist Naomi Mitchison recounted the scenes in London on May 8. She wrote that, in Piccadilly, there were 'a lot more drunks and broken bottles than earlier, and a few people crying or having hysterics or collapsing, and a lot of ambulances'. Having caught the Tube home to Hammersmith, she described how people were dancing near the station, so she stopped to 'dance a reel' with a 'nice drunk Glasgow Sergeant' and then 'joined in one or two "snake dances"'. Another woman, writing to her soldier husband, detailed the raucous scenes and her own plans. 'Tomorrow night I shall be going out with Win I expect probably pub-crawling,' she wrote. 'There is not much drink about and probably most of it was drunk last night. We could hear singing all round Cowley and see flares from bonfires.' Her letter, written on VE Day itself, was digitised as part of Oxford University's Their Finest Hour project, which is now home to more than 25,000 memories and artefacts from the Second World War. In Green Park, deckchairs and park benches were thrown onto a huge bonfire. Winston Churchill's speech from the balcony of the Ministry of Health on the afternoon of May 8 was watched by thousands of people massed in the streets. 'This is your victory,' the prime minister declared. 'It is not the victory of a party or of any class or large section. It is the victory of the great British nation as a whole'. Just before speaking, he had led the masses in a rendition of 'Land of Hope and Glory'. Even Churchill's wife Clementine - who was away on a trip to Russia when Germany surrendered - got in on the action by arranging a party to coincide with her husband's speech. When the prime minister finished paying tribute to the nation, Clementine climbed onto a chair to shout: 'We will drink to victory!'. Having appeared with their parents the King and Queen and Churchill on the Buckingham Palace balcony, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret then famously mingled with crowd in the evening. The late Queen would go on to describe the experience on May 8 as 'one of the most memorable nights of my life'. The princesses did the hokey cokey and the Lambeth Walk and also danced the conga through the Ritz Hotel in Piccaddilly. Speaking in 1985, the Queen said: 'My sister and I realised we couldn't see what the crowds were enjoying… so we asked my parents if we could got out and see for ourselves…' She added: 'I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, and all of us were swept along by tides of happiness and relief.' Her Majesty also described how she and Margaret joined in chants of 'We want the King', before she saw her father and mother make another appearance on the Palace balcony. She admitted that they had 'cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside.'
The Independent
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Veterans recall ‘euphoric' VE Day celebrations ahead of 80th anniversary
A group of Second World War veterans have described dancing and singing in the streets during 'euphoric' Victory in Europe Day celebrations nearly 80 years ago. The six veterans, all aged between 96 and 100, gathered for a tea party at The Ritz in central London to share their memories of the 'joyous' partying on Tuesday May 8 1945, after six years of devastating conflict. The group, which included a codebreaker, an RAF mechanic and a D-Day infantryman, shared wartime stories in the lavish surroundings of the hotel and spoke to schoolchildren about their experiences. The Ritz is the scene of a famous VE Day story, as Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret slipped away from Buckingham Palace and danced the conga through the hotel. The future queen, then just 19, and her sister, 14, also joined thousands of revellers as they gathered in front of the royal residence. The veterans' get-together came as the Royal British Legion, which organised the tea, announced its national programme of celebrations marking the historic 80th anniversary of VE Day later this year. The charity is in touch with more than 100 surviving Second World War veterans, but the numbers reduce each year. Joyce Wilding, 100, from Surrey, was in 'Churchill's Secret Army', the Special Operations Executive (SOE) plotting to disrupt the Nazis behind enemy lines. She served at Thame Park in Oxfordshire, a stately home transformed into a secret training ground. Her role as a transmitter hut attendant involved tuning powerful radios to receive messages from agents in occupied Europe. 'It was all very secret,' she said of her work. 'So often people don't really know about the war, and so many parts of it – because it was secret at the time – haven't really been discussed,' she added. After Thame Park, she became a driver transporting forged documents and supplies for the SOE. On VE Day, she had the day off from work and decided to head to London. 'It was joyous, we did a dance all down Piccadilly, then went to Buckingham Palace where we saw the King and Queen and Winston Churchill,' she said. 'There were people up the lampposts. I can't remember ever having to pay for anything, they gave us drinks. 'We went down to The Mall, it was absolutely jam-packed with people singing and dancing and cheering. 'It was a joyous thing. What a relief after rather a lot of gloom, years of bombing and air raids and people being killed.' Ruth Bourne, 98, from High Barnet in north London, worked at Bletchley Park where codebreakers intercepted Nazi messages. In 2018 she was awarded the Legion d'honneur – France's highest military honour – in recognition of her service. On VE Day, she was also in London watching the famous scenes on the Buckingham Palace balcony with her colleagues. 'Eventually we found our way to the palace and everyone was sort of crowding around,' she said. 'I think the royal family had already been out once, the crowd was kind of abuzz, and we started shouting 'We want the King'. 'Eventually, they came out, the King, the Queen and the two princesses. 'We all went absolutely crazy, shouting and cheering. 'There wasn't an empty lamppost, the soldiers were all up the lampposts. 'It was a great, euphoric feeling. 'Eventually we found our way into the town, and people were doing the conga with complete strangers holding each other round the waist. 'There were people singing patriotic songs, wartime songs and rude songs – there's always some rude songs. 'I don't think anyone anywhere went to bed that night, it was such a party spirit, everybody just feeling happy and glad it was all over.' When the celebrations finally came to an end, Ms Bourne was re-mustered as a writer before being demobbed in November 1946. Doreen Mills, 96, was just 11 years old and living in White City, west London, with her five sisters and a brother when war broke out. She faced the upheaval of evacuation while her father was away serving in the Army. Arriving at a church hall in the Rhondda, South Wales, Ms Mills' siblings, who were only eight and four at the time, were crying. As the elder sister, it was her job to comfort them. Speaking about her experience, she said: 'We were in a church hall waiting to be picked out. 'My mum said, and it's always stuck in my mind, 'You mustn't leave your brother and sister, you've got to be together'. 'All the hall emptied out with people taking one and two, and no-one took three, but the vicar stood up and said 'I'll take them'. 'We had three years there, they were very nice.' In the final years of the war, she worked in an ammunitions factory supporting the war effort. Speaking about partying with American soldiers in central London on VE Day, she said: 'We went up to Piccadilly, we had a great night out there with the Yankees, dancing all night up there. 'We knew we had to get home because mum and dad would get mad if we were out late. 'Me and my friend went home and that was all we were talking about. We had a lovely time. 'We got home alright, we've talked about it ever since.' The Royal British Legion is set to host an anniversary tea party and service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, bringing together the largest gathering of Second World War veterans on VE Day, Thursday May 8. VE Day tea parties will also be hosted by the charity's branches and members in communities across the UK. Mark Atkinson, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: 'This is probably one of the last opportunities we've all got as a nation to thank these men and women for their service and to pay tribute to their courage. 'It feels an incredibly poignant time 80 years on just to stop and pause and thank people. 'We're in touch with more than 100 Second World War veterans, and we'll be supporting them to get involved if they can. 'There are so few of those Second World War veterans left, hence it feels such a special time to pull them together, to hear their stories, to reunite them and to pay respect for everything they've done.'
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Veterans recall ‘euphoric' VE Day celebrations ahead of 80th anniversary
A group of Second World War veterans have described dancing and singing in the streets during 'euphoric' Victory in Europe Day celebrations nearly 80 years ago. The six veterans, all aged between 96 and 100, gathered for a tea party at The Ritz in central London to share their memories of the 'joyous' partying on Tuesday May 8 1945, after six years of devastating conflict. The group, which included a codebreaker, an RAF mechanic and a D-Day infantryman, shared wartime stories in the lavish surroundings of the hotel and spoke to schoolchildren about their experiences. The Ritz is the scene of a famous VE Day story, as Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret slipped away from Buckingham Palace and danced the conga through the hotel. The future queen, then just 19, and her sister, 14, also joined thousands of revellers as they gathered in front of the royal residence. The veterans' get-together came as the Royal British Legion, which organised the tea, announced its national programme of celebrations marking the historic 80th anniversary of VE Day later this year. The charity is in touch with more than 100 surviving Second World War veterans, but the numbers reduce each year. Joyce Wilding, 100, from Surrey, was in 'Churchill's Secret Army', the Special Operations Executive (SOE) plotting to disrupt the Nazis behind enemy lines. She served at Thame Park in Oxfordshire, a stately home transformed into a secret training ground. Her role as a transmitter hut attendant involved tuning powerful radios to receive messages from agents in occupied Europe. 'It was all very secret,' she said of her work. 'So often people don't really know about the war, and so many parts of it – because it was secret at the time – haven't really been discussed,' she added. After Thame Park, she became a driver transporting forged documents and supplies for the SOE. On VE Day, she had the day off from work and decided to head to London. 'It was joyous, we did a dance all down Piccadilly, then went to Buckingham Palace where we saw the King and Queen and Winston Churchill,' she said. 'There were people up the lampposts. I can't remember ever having to pay for anything, they gave us drinks. 'We went down to The Mall, it was absolutely jam-packed with people singing and dancing and cheering. 'It was a joyous thing. What a relief after rather a lot of gloom, years of bombing and air raids and people being killed.' Ruth Bourne, 98, from High Barnet in north London, worked at Bletchley Park where codebreakers intercepted Nazi messages. In 2018 she was awarded the Legion d'honneur – France's highest military honour – in recognition of her service. On VE Day, she was also in London watching the famous scenes on the Buckingham Palace balcony with her colleagues. 'Eventually we found our way to the palace and everyone was sort of crowding around,' she said. 'I think the royal family had already been out once, the crowd was kind of abuzz, and we started shouting 'We want the King'. 'Eventually, they came out, the King, the Queen and the two princesses. 'We all went absolutely crazy, shouting and cheering. 'There wasn't an empty lamppost, the soldiers were all up the lampposts. 'It was a great, euphoric feeling. 'Eventually we found our way into the town, and people were doing the conga with complete strangers holding each other round the waist. 'There were people singing patriotic songs, wartime songs and rude songs – there's always some rude songs. 'I don't think anyone anywhere went to bed that night, it was such a party spirit, everybody just feeling happy and glad it was all over.' When the celebrations finally came to an end, Ms Bourne was re-mustered as a writer before being demobbed in November 1946. Doreen Mills, 96, was just 11 years old and living in White City, west London, with her five sisters and a brother when war broke out. She faced the upheaval of evacuation while her father was away serving in the Army. Arriving at a church hall in the Rhondda, South Wales, Ms Mills' siblings, who were only eight and four at the time, were crying. As the elder sister, it was her job to comfort them. Speaking about her experience, she said: 'We were in a church hall waiting to be picked out. 'My mum said, and it's always stuck in my mind, 'You mustn't leave your brother and sister, you've got to be together'. 'All the hall emptied out with people taking one and two, and no-one took three, but the vicar stood up and said 'I'll take them'. 'We had three years there, they were very nice.' In the final years of the war, she worked in an ammunitions factory supporting the war effort. Speaking about partying with American soldiers in central London on VE Day, she said: 'We went up to Piccadilly, we had a great night out there with the Yankees, dancing all night up there. 'We knew we had to get home because mum and dad would get mad if we were out late. 'Me and my friend went home and that was all we were talking about. We had a lovely time. 'We got home alright, we've talked about it ever since.' The Royal British Legion is set to host an anniversary tea party and service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, bringing together the largest gathering of Second World War veterans on VE Day, Thursday May 8. VE Day tea parties will also be hosted by the charity's branches and members in communities across the UK. Mark Atkinson, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: 'This is probably one of the last opportunities we've all got as a nation to thank these men and women for their service and to pay tribute to their courage. 'It feels an incredibly poignant time 80 years on just to stop and pause and thank people. 'We're in touch with more than 100 Second World War veterans, and we'll be supporting them to get involved if they can. 'There are so few of those Second World War veterans left, hence it feels such a special time to pull them together, to hear their stories, to reunite them and to pay respect for everything they've done.'
