{"id":410421,"date":"2026-04-21T18:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/410421\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:24:19","slug":"a-look-back-at-what-was-happening-when-queen-elizabeth-ii-was-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/410421\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at What Was Happening When Queen Elizabeth II Was Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Birth and Announcement\"YorkHulton Archive\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Yorks and their baby daughter Princess Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning at twenty minutes before three o\u2019clock Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York was safely delivered of a Princess at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair,\u201d an announcement in the London Gazettedated<\/a> 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\u2019s maternal grandmother). Also in the room was the Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, a practice that was required until 1936 to \u201cverify\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Princess Elizabeth\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"PartyBettmann\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The christening of Princess Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Town<\/a>The British Royal Family\"KingDowney\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

King George V in 1893.<\/p>\n

In 1926, King George V had been on the throne for 16 years, following his father King Edward VII\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth was said<\/a> to call him \u201cGrandpa England\u201d and had an affectionate relationship with him. King George V is even reported<\/a> to have said about his eldest son, who was destined to become King Edward VIII, \u201c\u2018I pray to God my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RoyalLisa Sheridan\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A young Princess Elizabeth near her home at 145 Piccadilly, London, in 1936.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth\u2019s father did become King George VI on Edward\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Life in the UK\"GeneralMirrorpix\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Workers demonstrating during the General Strike of May 1926.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the BBC<\/a> reported on a major exhibition about 1920s life in the UK.<\/p>\n

Just days after Princess Elizabeth was born, in May 1926, there was a major nine-day General Strike<\/a> that saw around 1.7 million people stop working in solidarity with coal miners. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced<\/a> 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\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

\"TrudyKirby\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ederle training for her swim in 1925.<\/p>\n

In a fitting representation of how important television would become to Elizabeth\u2019s reign (her 1953 Coronation was the first to be televised), 1926 saw John Logie Baird give<\/a> the first demonstration of a moving image on television. And while women in the UK wouldn\u2019t get the same voting rights as men until 1928, 1926 saw a major moment in women\u2019s history take place in the UK: U.S. swimmer Gertrude \u201cTrudy\u201d Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel<\/a>, coming ashore in Dover, Kent on August 6, 1926 and beating the then men\u2019s record time by two hours. She received a New York ticker-tape parade and U.S President Calvin Coolidge called her \u201cAmerica\u2019s Best Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy has reported on the British Royal Family since 2010. She has interviewed Prince Harry and has travelled the world covering several royal tours. She is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America. Victoria authored Town & Country book The Queen: A Life in Pictures<\/a>, released in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read When Queen Elizabeth II came into the world, no one knew that she would one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[144978,4959,180334,1107,93,1110,61,60,1106,141257,180333,144977],"class_list":{"0":"post-410421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-collection-royal-family-news","9":"tag-content-type-feature","10":"tag-contentid-39a2425a-d6a9-4358-b280-e058ad7e79e8","11":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-hasproduct-true","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-locale-us","17":"tag-read_time-4","18":"tag-shorttitle-when-queen-elizabeth-ii-was-born","19":"tag-subsection-heritage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}