Elathe Fitzlan Howard was a moody teenage aristocrat when, at the start of World War II, her socialite mother sent her to live in Windsor Great Park outside London with her stuffed grandfather and timid aunt. Fortunately, the royal family had also left Princess Elizabeth and Margaret in Windsor, and soon 16-year-old Althea was attending weekly drawing lessons, dance classes and tea at her palace – and surprisingly all in her diary Chronically.
Royal watchers can now read Althea’s uncommon comments.The Windsor Diaries: My Childhood with the Princess Elizabeth and Margaret“(Atria Books), now out. Howard – who died in 2001 at the age of 77 – kept a diary for 64 years, and this first published volume spans from 1940 to 1945, when he was 16 to 21 years old. Thea, and provides a charming glimpse of a somewhat sweet, simple, strange young girl who would become Queen Elizabeth II.
“He is the most obnoxious person I know,” Althia wrote in dismay about his new BFF, who was two years old. “Placid and supernatural, she never wants what comes her way.”
He then added, “Margaret is far from my choice for the future queen.”
Althea had known the two princesses as a child, but had not seen them for years, ending up in Windsor in 1940, to avoid the London blitz. That January, Elizabeth, not quite 14, invited Althea ice skating. The king picked him up and Elathe played hockey with “Lilibet” – Elizabeth’s childhood nickname – and Margaret. It was not long before Althea regularly visited the palace for fun and games: playing cards, ballet and dancing, doing elaborate shows (Elizabeth was always stuck playing the boy), and jerking off – “Spitting on a bridge over a bridge” is trying to hit the leaves as they are swimming. “
He spent a lot of time with his parents, noting in his diary that King George VI once told the queen to tease Lilybet before eating too many cream cakes in tea that “child consciousness.” (Poor Elizabeth appeared to be constantly struggling with her locks, such as when a 15-year-old princess got a new permit, “” too harsh.)
Althea witnessed Elizabeth’s early fascination with her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece. “Can you keep a secret?” 14-year-old Elizabeth asked Alathea that Philip was her “boy”.
“[Lilibet] Says she bites [his] Photos out of paper! “Alathea reports after that first confession in her diary. (Later, when Philip sent 17-year-old Elizabeth a portrait of herself for Christmas, the future queen” danced in the room with him for joy! “
Still, Elizabeth had other romantic crushes. She and Elathia both swooped down on Hugh Euston (11th Duke of Grafton), and the princess revealed that she was “jealous” after dancing with him on a ball. He also stole a piece of paper with handwriting on it, which he hid in a drawer. Before the parties, he and Althea will study the list of boys who will participate.
Elizabeth Thie, Althia wrote, “is seldom downright energetic at the dances, and this is as much due to the fear of disappointing the many youths who come in rows to ask them.” She often danced until 4 in the morning, Alathia wrote.
But Althia often balked at the “simple taste of the royal family”. She thought that her fascination with her dogs jumping on “boring” led to her complaining about her low taste in films (though she never declined her invitation to the cinema), and made fun of her fashion sense.
“His clothes have gone down a lot since the war,” he wrote after noting the princesses’ shabby brown check skirt and “airtex shirt”, which he later called “ordinary”. Elathia elsewhere mentions Elizabeth’s “puffy face” and “huge chest”.
By the end of the diary, Alathia and Elizabeth are further separated: Alathia works in a hospital and is busy working for wounded soldiers, and neither young woman has time to spit sports. However, there is a scene where 16-year-old Elizabeth speaks openly about her insecurities and reveals conflicting feelings about becoming a queen and leading a public life.
“She said she wondered if she would ever get married,” Alathia wrote. “And she said that if she really wanted to marry someone she would run away, but I knew she wouldn’t really – her prudence is very strong, although she is suited to a simpler life.”
At that moment, Elizabeth revealed a “new lilybelt”: “I looked outside and looked at the matter with a loving and sincere look – I knew this aspect of it would fade with daylight, but it One that I’ll never forget. ” “
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