For the first time since the death of her husband Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth has spoken at length, sharing sweet memories of herself as a teenager — including the proud moment when she received a life-saving award.
The monarch has kept a low profile in the wake of her husband’s death, at the age of 99, on April 9, but appeared to be in good spirits during the video call with Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) on Monday. The historic conversation between the Queen and the RLSS comes as the United Nations adopted a Resolution on Global Drowning Prevention, representing the formal acknowledgement of the issue as an international problem.
The Queen looked happy and relaxed as she took part in the call, giggling as she reminisced about achieving her own life-saving award in 1941, when she was just 14.
During the video call it was revealed Her Majesty was in fact the first young person in the Commonwealth to achieve the RLSS Junior Respiration Award, an honour she said she didn’t realise she held.
“I didn’t realise I was the first one — I just did it, and had to work very hard for it,” the Queen said. “It was a great achievement and I was very proud to wear the badge on the front of my swimming suit. It was very grand, I thought.”
The Queen couldn’t quite recall how old she was when she was awarded the medal, laughing that it had happened “a long time ago”. Deputy Commonwealth president of the society, Clive Holland, noted that she was 14 at the time, saying, “Your Majesty, when you say it was a long time ago, it was in fact 80 years ago.”
“That’s terrible!” Queen Elizabeth replied, laughing.
????????♀️The Queen, Patron, has shared memories of achieving her own @rlsscw Life Saving Award in 1941, during a call with the Royal Life Saving Society.
The @rlsscw works in 30 Commonwealth nations to combat preventable death by drowning, and deliver lifesaving education. pic.twitter.com/lzlikLJ6MB
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 10, 2021
The RLSS was founded in London in 1891 to combat and eliminate preventable death by drowning, which remains one of the biggest causes of preventable death in the world, with an estimated 236,000 fatalities every year. The Queen has been the patron of the society since 1952, when she was 25 years of age.