Elizabeth and Margaret: The Tale of Two Sisters

Good morning, we are continuing to explore the life of Queen Elizabeth.  Today we are looking at the relationship between Elizabeth and Margaret.  The documentary is called Elizabeth and Margaret: The Tale of Two Sisters.  The run time for this documentary is 43:56.

No two sisters were ever less alike.  One sister was reserved and the other lively.  One was the leader of the nation.  The other was looking for purpose.  They each had to carve a different path in life.  Elizabeth and Margaret are among the most photographed women in history.  However, what lies underneath the relationship between the two sisters?  This documentary explores the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

From the start, the contrast between Elizabeth and Margaret was there.  The Duke of Duchess of York were their parents.  Elizabeth was a serious child who shared a love of horses and dogs with her grandfather, the King of England.  Princess Margaret was cheekier and had an outgoing personality.  She was never corrected by her father.  While Elizabeth had a natural discipline.  Neither girl could foresee the future nor were they prepared for what was to come.  The Duke and Duchess of York never expected to become King and Queen.  It was also a possibility they could produce a male heir.  They were going to have a cozy family life.

However, Prince David was expected to be king.  He was to marry and have children who would inherit the throne.  In 1936, everything changed.  King George died and David became King Edward VIII.  He was a man who never wanted to be king and was also set on marrying an American Divorcee.  The King would abdicate his throne in favor of his younger brother the Duke of York.  It was a shock to the nation and the nation would have seen it as a dereliction of duty.

The lives of Elizabeth and Margaret were transformed by abdication.  Elizabeth would immediately start training to be the monarch.  King George would have become King without the training his older brother had.  He would not allow the same thing to happen to Elizabeth.  Princess Elizabeth would have been taught by a professor and King George would have explained the dispatch boxes to her.  Here is where the upbringing of Elizabeth and Margaret diverged.  Elizabeth was being groomed to be Queen, and Margaret was being groomed to be a wife.

Then World War II started and Elizabeth and Margaret were evacuated to Windsor.  The Queen was not going to leave the King and the girls were not going to leave their mother.  The image of the family being together was a powerful image for the British public.  It stood in contrast to the images that were coming out of Germany.  They would spend five years in Windsor Castle.  As the war progressed, Princess Elizabeth took on more and more responsibilities.  She would eventually become a mechanic and driver at the age of eighteen in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Corps.  Princess Elizabeth loved her time in the Women’s Auxiliary, and she also fell in love with Prince Philip.

The paths of Elizabeth and Margaret were going to continue to diverge over the years.  Elizabeth would be seen as the steady one and Margaret was the rebel.  How would the pair continue to navigate changing times?  To discover how their paths would diverge and continue throughout their lives. 

This was an excellent documentary highlighting the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.  It was well done and I enjoyed the tidbits about their relationship.  This would be a good documentary for a fun history day and for research purposes.