VE Day +69 years today
- Thread starter Locutus
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A new movie - Girls' Night Out - which depicts the true story of how the 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her 15-year-old sister Princess Margaret (who died in 2002 just under two months before her mother, the Queen Mother, also died) slipped out of Buckingham Palace and joined the celebratory crowds in Trafalgar Square to celebrate VE Day (which was also my grandfather's 11th birthday), is being filmed.
The film shows Margaret dancing in the fountains and Elizabeth (played by a Canadian actress) kissing an RAF gunner.
A scene was filmed in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday night:
Photographs show the dramatic re-imagination of VE day which marked the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945
Young Elizabeth seen talking with young men, while Princess Margaret dances in Trafalgar Square fountain
Scenes are from controversial new film Girls Night Out - an adaptation of the Honourable Margaret Rhodes's memoir
The film has not been verified by the Palace - but sections of memoir thought to have been approved by the Queen
Trafalgar Square has been transformed for the filming of VE Day production Girls' Night Out (pictured). Hundreds of actors took to the London landmark today to film scenes for the movie - which is a re-imagining of events on May 8 1945. Here they are on the base of Nelson's Column
Revellers smile at the camera as they celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe. It is thought more than one million people in the UK celebrated on that night - many of whom flocked to Trafalgar Square
A fictional Princess Elizabeth, played by Canadian actress Sarah Gadon, grins in glee as she watches over the events taking place at the London landmark
In one fictional scene, Princess Margaret - dressed in fur and her best baby-pink gown - wades through knee-deep water in the Trafalgar Square fountains (pictured)
Princess Margaret, played by Bel Powley, lifts up her skirt to make her way round the fountain in the re-imagined VE Day celebrations. The script has not been verified by the Palace - although the book on which is it based is thought to have been approved by the Queen
The fictional Princess Margaret dances in rather raucous celebration
Actress Sarah Gadon, who plays the young Princess Elizabeth in the film, can be seen enjoying the crowds in a fabulous pink embellished dress
Princess Elizabeth smiles and laughs with a handsome man in uniform in the controversial film
The actress looks lost in the crowd before leading a young man in full uniform through the party-goers
Revellers wade in to the water at the central London landmark - hitching up their skirts and shorts.
The celebrations continue for the cast members - many of whom are wearing hats and waving small Union Jacks. The film is a re-imaging of events, based on a memoir
On Thursday, the ageing monarch, circled, pulled out of part of the service for knights of the Order of the Bath at the Lady Chapel of Henry VII at Westminster Abbey as she was unable to stand for the entire ceremony and instead allowed Prince Charles to lead. The ceremony is held once every eight years
Elizabeth II was due to be photographed making an offering during Thursday morning's Westminster Abbey service - echoing a 1929 picture painted of her grandfather George V at the same cermony in 1928
The film shows Margaret dancing in the fountains and Elizabeth (played by a Canadian actress) kissing an RAF gunner.
A scene was filmed in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday night:
How young Elizabeth (and Margaret) let their hair down on VE Night: Film imagines how princesses would mingle with the masses during raucous celebrations at Trafalgar Square
Photographs show the dramatic re-imagination of VE day which marked the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945
Young Elizabeth seen talking with young men, while Princess Margaret dances in Trafalgar Square fountain
Scenes are from controversial new film Girls Night Out - an adaptation of the Honourable Margaret Rhodes's memoir
The film has not been verified by the Palace - but sections of memoir thought to have been approved by the Queen
Earlier in the day, they had greeted huge crowds outside Buckingham Palace as the country rejoiced at victory in the Second World War.
And this is how – according to filmmakers, at least – the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret subsequently mingled with the masses as the raucous VE Day celebrations continued into the night.
Girls’ Night Out is a fictionalised version of the evening of May 8, 1945, when the future queen and her sister slipped out of the Palace and joined in with the party spirit.
Elizabeth detailed the occasion in her teenage diaries, recalling the event was ‘great fun’ as she mixed with revellers in the streets.
Elizabeth's friend and cousin, the Honourable Margaret Rhodes, claimed many years later in her memoir the group slipped out of the palace to join the nation's carousing.
The new film will put what it will claim is flesh on the bones of that extraordinary assertion. However, that flesh is likely to prove highly controversial as it will suggest Princess Margaret danced exuberantly in a Trafalgar Square fountain and the sisters then went on to a club in Liverpool.
In one fictional scene, Princess Margaret - dressed in fur and her best baby-pink gown - wades through knee-deep water in the Trafalgar Square fountains (pictured)
The Final Curtsey by Margaret Rhodes was written with the full knowledge of the Queen - who is said to have read and approved sections of the text.
However, there has been no official corroboration of its account of the VE Day celebrations.
The book recounts how, on the night of May 8, the Queen enjoyed ‘a unique burst of personal freedom; a Cinderella moment in reverse’.
Mrs Rhodes writes: ‘I can’t remember exactly what we got up to, and so the Queen has provided me with an aide-memoire taken from her diary entries for that time.’
The memoir states young Princess Margaret's diary entry for the following day reads: 'PM announced unconditional surrender. Sixteen of us went out in crowd, cheered parents on balcony. Up St J’s St [St James’s Street], Piccadilly, great fun.
'Out in crowd again – Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Pall Mall, walked simply miles. Saw parents on balcony at 12.30am – ate, partied, bed 3am!’
It also says the future Queen wrote in her diary: 'Out in crowd, Whitehall, Mall, St J St, Piccadilly, Park Lane, Constitution Hill, ran through Ritz. Walked miles, drank in Dorchester, saw parents twice, miles away, so many people.'
Later she wrote: 'Out in crowd again. Embankment, Piccadilly. Rained, so fewer people. Congered into house [a reference to the conga and Buckingham Palace] . . . Sang till 2am. Bed at 3am!’
The celebrations continue for the cast members - many of whom are wearing hats and waving small Union Jacks. The film is a re-imaging of events, based on a memoir
Elizabeth II was due to be photographed making an offering during Thursday morning's Westminster Abbey service - echoing a 1929 picture painted of her grandfather George V at the same cermony in 1928
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The hell of it is we are ignoring all the trouble signs that led to that war.
Around the globe the problems pile up while the corporations keep
sacking up profits and shipping jobs offshore. We should know if we
DE-industrialize we will be at a disadvantage when the trouble starts.
It amazes me what danger we put ourselves in for a cheap pair of
running shoes that cost more all the time.
Korea, Iran, Africa, the Middle East, a new cold war with Russia and
China still has aspirations that include political and economic domination
of the planet.
This date should serve as a wake up call
Around the globe the problems pile up while the corporations keep
sacking up profits and shipping jobs offshore. We should know if we
DE-industrialize we will be at a disadvantage when the trouble starts.
It amazes me what danger we put ourselves in for a cheap pair of
running shoes that cost more all the time.
Korea, Iran, Africa, the Middle East, a new cold war with Russia and
China still has aspirations that include political and economic domination
of the planet.
This date should serve as a wake up call
And, a celebration of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, etc. as peace-lovin' NATOists.
8th May 1945.
The people of the Allies nations celebrate victory over the most evil and murderous regime in history. Millions take to the streets to party as night falls, with women kissing soldiers and champagne being poured.
Meanwhile, darkbeaver sits alone in his room - all his mates are out celebrating with everyone else - feeling miserable and depressed, as he believes that defeating Nazi Germany is nothing to celebrate. He sits there glumly, solemnly, lonely, as the sounds of thousands of people cheering, laughing and singing outside fills his ears.
What a priceless thought.
One mistake I noticed in the film - the guy carrying the Welsh flag (The Red Dragon - Y Ddraig goch).
It didn't become the flag of Wales until 1959 (Wales didn't even get a capital - Cardiff - until 1955).
Before then, Wales just had a royal badge, with the red dragon on a green mount being adopted in 1807, with the motto Y Ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn ('The red dragon gives impetus') being added in 1953.
Cue the scene being shown in great movie mistakes shows in years to come.
It didn't become the flag of Wales until 1959 (Wales didn't even get a capital - Cardiff - until 1955).
Before then, Wales just had a royal badge, with the red dragon on a green mount being adopted in 1807, with the motto Y Ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn ('The red dragon gives impetus') being added in 1953.
Cue the scene being shown in great movie mistakes shows in years to come.
Always do, my Brother, always do. But, in some instances they are not as obvious as is this post.
We fielded four divisions at Normandy. The Sovs hit the Eastern Front with 40. While both were probably key to the victory, clearly the Sovs did the heavy lifting. Again, what's your point? Western Europe and the Soviet Union were both attacked by the Axis. Hardly surprising they coordinated their response.
What kind of nut are you to try and pass off your antique two side analogy. This was a very very successful war and it was beautifully conducted by farmers and fishermen and bee keepers. Axis of nutty, that's you.
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The kind that doesn't think everything in history was masterminded by Da Jooz.
It was a great war. We should have another one just like it. We could draft all the conspiracy nuts and assorted lunatics into a Babbling Battalion and march 'em off a cliff. To the general betterment of society.
Joos aren't the the only tribe that keeps bees, or are you so racist you can't think straight? Conspiracy nuts are the easiest to enlist in any nuttiness. Who's going to pay for this cliff act? It's a looser, you need equal but opposite packs of rabid conspiracy nuts from at least two tribes for a real money maker. Nothing consumes like armies. Gold wins almost everytime, ain't that better? Why should the educated grovel with the war heros?
We dig up statues of dead never to be forgotten war hero's all the time. I wonder who they were?
Well, we've got you. Up to them to dig up some of their own.
Try disease.
Not only not better, not accurate. Steel and lead win every time.
I don't.
I don't.