Newly unearthed image shows a young Queen Elizabeth II inspecting a tank weeks after the Second World War

Jan 02, 2024

By Ollie Macnaughton

THE NEW PHOTO OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II BOARDING A COMET TANK in October 1945

Immaculate in a neat coat dress and tasteful hat, the 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) steps aboard a Comet Tank, to more closely inspect this vital piece of wartime machinery. This extraordinary scene was captured on camera during a military parade at Sandhurst in October 1945, just weeks after the end of the Second World War.

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Chandler Tregaskes

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

The photo has never been released to the public. It was shared for the first time this week ahead of a new two-part Channel 4 documentary series, Elizabeth II: Making of a Monarch, which will focus on the early life of the young Queen and the events that made her the era-defining leader that she became.

PRINCESS ELIZABETH AND PRINCESS MARGARET at Windsor Castle

The series focuses on the years before the death of her father King George VI in 1952. It will primarily be told through the photographs of the young princess during this era, including the tank image above.

Royal historian Wesley Kerr OBE notes on the series that there might have been reasons for the image not being made public at the time. ‘It’s interesting that it’s not published, maybe it was thought to make her too political or maybe they were wanting at that time to project her as a soft figure. So to see her with a 20th century weapon of death at a time when Britain needed to project real power, well there’s soft power for you - which she kind of exemplifies,’ he says on the series, according to The Telegraph.

The photograph, taken by the Princess of Wales at Balmoral last summer, has been released on what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 97th birthday

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

As Princess then later as Queen, Elizabeth had a close bond with the military, continuing a long-standing Royal Family tradition. Shortly after her 18th birthday in 1944, she enrolled with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the female branch of the British Army. The first episode of the series will focus on how her time at Windsor Castle during World War II informed her decision to join the ATS, as the first full-time female royal to join the Army. During this time, she worked as a driver and mechanic for the British Army.

The documentary will also delve into other moments of the young monarchs life, including the charming pantomime she and Princess Margaret used to stage at Windsor Castle.

By Chandler Tregaskes

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

Elizabeth II: Making of a Monarch will air on Channel 4 at 6:15 pm on 5 August.