On the 66th anniversary of The Queen’s accession to the throne, a former lady-in-waiting to The Queen Mother and a friend of The Queen has revealed the advice that the Queen Mother passed along to her young daughter.
Lady Penn sat down for a Channel 5 documentary series about the Queen’s reign, scheduled to air tonight, and told the interviewer about how The Queen Mother gave her daughter advice to bolster her confidence and combat her shyness.
“The Queen Mother told the Queen when she was very young to be brave,” said Lady Penn.
“I think the Queen probably when she was young felt walking into a room full of people was rather daunting. So she said to her, ‘What do you want to do, when you walk into a room, walk through the middle of the door.’ And I think by that she meant, don’t sort of go in apologetically. You want through as if ‘I’m in charge.”
“I think that was very good advice,” she said.
Elizabeth: Our Queen premieres tonight on Channel 5, and will chart The Queen’s reign through interviews with politicians, historians, and those who know her, among others.
Tonight’s episode will deal with her early life, including the 1936 Abdication Crisis and how she learned that she was the heir to the throne on her way back from a swimming lesson, and how she’d asked what the noises were outside the palace, and was told that her uncle (Edward VIII) was no longer the monarch, and instead it was her father.
Princess Margaret, who was with her older sister, was said to have quipped, “Poor you,” when they found out.
The Queen spends the anniversary of her accession alone each year at Sandringham, where her father, George VI passed away, and does not carry out any engagements.
