A Look Back at What Was Happening When Queen Elizabeth II Was Born
A Look Back at What Was Happening When Queen Elizabeth II Was Born
Victoria MurphyTue, April 21, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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When Queen Elizabeth II came into the world, no one knew that she would one day be Queen. However, as the granddaughter of King George V, her birth was still an event and front-page news. In 1926, people were still reeling from the effects of the First World War, and it was also a time when many women in the UK did not yet have the right to vote. Elizabeth went on to see unprecedented change throughout her 96 years. We take a look at the events of her birth year.
The Birth and Announcement
The Yorks and their baby daughter Princess Elizabeth.Hulton Archive - Getty Images
“This morning at twenty minutes before three o’clock Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York was safely delivered of a Princess at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair,” an announcement in the London Gazettedated Wednesday April 21 1926 read. The announcement went on to highlight that the Duke of York (future King George VI) was present, along with the Countess of Strathmore (the baby Princess’s maternal grandmother). Also in the room was the Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, a practice that was required until 1936 to “verify” that the baby was a descendent of the monarch. The tradition was ended by King George VI ahead of the birth of his grandson Prince Charles.
Princess Elizabeth’s birth was marked by gun salutes in Green Park and the Tower of London. The tradition of putting a framed notice of a royal birth on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace is also thought to have happened.
The christening of Princess Elizabeth.Bettmann - Getty Images
The first images of the baby Princess were published in May 1926. She was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on May 29 in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York, wearing the historical Honiton lace christening gown.
The British Royal Family
King George V in 1893.Downey - Getty Images
In 1926, King George V had been on the throne for 16 years, following his father King Edward VII’s death in 1910. George was crowned alongside his wife Queen Mary in 1911, and the couple traveled to India at the end of that year to be proclaimed Emperor and Empress of India. George V was the first British monarch to visit India and the only one to travel there while holding the title Emperor, a title King George VI relinquished in 1948 after British rule in India ended. By the time of Elizabeth’s birth in April 1926, King George V was aged 60. A heavy smoker, he lived with chronic bronchitis and suffered with ill health for several years before his death in 1936.
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Elizabeth was said to call him “Grandpa England” and had an affectionate relationship with him. King George V is even reported to have said about his eldest son, who was destined to become King Edward VIII, “‘I pray to God my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne.”
A young Princess Elizabeth near her home at 145 Piccadilly, London, in 1936.Lisa Sheridan - Getty Images
Elizabeth’s father did become King George VI on Edward’s abdication when she was 10, but until then she lived with her parents and sister Margaret in a townhouse at 145 Piccadilly. The family also took Royal Lodge as their country home when Elizabeth was six.
Life in the UK
Workers demonstrating during the General Strike of May 1926.Mirrorpix - Getty Images
“The 1920s are known for glitz, glamour, jazz and modernisation, but the reality of post-war, post-flu pandemic Britain was, for many people, very different,” the BBC reported on a major exhibition about 1920s life in the UK.
Just days after Princess Elizabeth was born, in May 1926, there was a major nine-day General Strike that saw around 1.7 million people stop working in solidarity with coal miners. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced a state of emergency after King George V signed a proclamation to that effect. To date, this remains the only UK-wide general strike and is considered a significant moment in British workers’ history.
Ederle training for her swim in 1925.Kirby - Getty Images
In a fitting representation of how important television would become to Elizabeth’s reign (her 1953 Coronation was the first to be televised), 1926 saw John Logie Baird give the first demonstration of a moving image on television. And while women in the UK wouldn’t get the same voting rights as men until 1928, 1926 saw a major moment in women’s history take place in the UK: U.S. swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, coming ashore in Dover, Kent on August 6, 1926 and beating the then men’s record time by two hours. She received a New York ticker-tape parade and U.S President Calvin Coolidge called her “America’s Best Girl.”
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
