My mother had grown up with Prince Philip, who was her first cousin, and as a Prince with ‘no apparent abode’ he was taken in by my grandparents for much of his adolescent life. In fact after his death, the Queen replied to my mother’s letter of condolence “you probably actually knew Philip longer than me!”
But my mother also spent part of her early life with the Queen and Princess Margaret, cantering around the gardens of Buckingham Palace, pretending to be horses and riders. The Queen was always the rider and Princess Margaret always her horse.
It was only natural then that when the Queen (at the time Princess Elizabeth) needed a friend and companion for the Commonwealth Tour my mother was invited to join in the role as lady-in-waiting.
She remembers during a reception held at Buckingham Palace, just before they departed, Queen Mary rather fiercely saying “You must remember that you will now be 'in waiting’ and so you are to call her ‘Princess Elizabeth’ and ‘Ma’am’ and never Lilibet”
(Ma’am, by the way, is pronounced with a short 'a,' as in ‘jam’. In case you are ever in the position of greeting a Queen.)
