It was diligently reported that the royal family had been issued with ration books and clothing coupons like everyone else, though not that the queen received 1,277 coupons a year in excess of the standard 66. 12 surprising facts about Queen Elizabeth II.The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen.The concept of sharing – of being all in it together – was heavily emphasised in propaganda throughout the war and has played well in the royal family’s favour ever since: the present Queen could hardly have been so prominently and sympathetically associated with the commemoration of wartime anniversaries had that not been the case, even though her own personal military involvement was necessarily slight. Reginald Simpson, editor of the Sunday Graphic, wrote: “When this war is over the common danger which King George and Queen Elizabeth have shared with their people will be a cherished memory and an inspiration through the years.” “May this planned assassination recoil a hundred-fold on the beast of Berlin,” blared the newsreel. Pathé News showed workmen repairing the craters, the royal couple were pictured inspecting the wreckage, while the prime minister and the associated commentaries and editorials all stressed the dastardliness of the attack on “our beloved sovereign”. Indeed, recognising its reverse propaganda potential, the Ministry of Information gave 40 reporters access to the site. The newsreels and newspapers of the time made no attempt to minimise or disguise the damage. If the Nazi high command thought the attack on the palace would sow defeatism and despair in Britain, they were gravely mistaken.

When Chamberlain resigned in 1940 George would have preferred Lord Halifax to become prime minister instead of Churchill.

Churchill had been a supporter of Edward VIII during the abdication, while George had publicly supported former prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s “peace with honour” Munich appeasement of Adolf Hitler, which proved so short-lived. And although both men came to respect each other, they were not initially natural soulmates. Although the king, who had seen service at a junior level as a naval officer at the battle of Jutland in the First World War, met prime minister Winston Churchill for lunch every Tuesday, he had no military role in the conflict, beyond that of raising public morale.

This was the royal family’s chief, symbolic, contribution to the war effort.

Scopes during ww2