What Was Queen Elizabeth's Proudest Moment As A Teen?
Queen Elizabeth has had countless achievements throughout her life as a royal. She has broken records, met heads of state and major celebrities, and is arguably the most famous person in the world. However, one of her fondest moments that she remembers actually happened when she was just a teen. According to People, the queen sat down virtually in May 2021 for a special chat with the Royal Life Saving Society, a UK program that helps "combat preventable death by drowning, and deliver lifesaving education."
During their interview, the queen discussed not just the program, but a special award she received back in 1941 when she was just 14 years old. Per People, the queen earned her junior respiration award at a club in London "where she and her sister Princess Margaret took swimming lessons."
Here's what the queen recalls about winning this award when she was a young adult, and how the achievement helped bring awareness to lifesaving and resuscitation qualifications across the UK.
The then-Princess was the first to receive the award as a teen
In a May 2021 interview with the Royal Life Saving Society, Queen Elizabeth II opened up about her earning the Society's Junior Respiration Award. During the interview, she not only discussed what it was like earning the award at a young age, but she also found out she was the first teen to ever earn the achievement. "I didn't realize I was the first one — I just did it and had to work very hard for it!" Elizabeth recalled (via People). The queen and members of RLSS Commonwealth then went on to discuss her having the badge sewn into her bathing suit and how they couldn't believe that it happened roughly 80 years ago.
"It was a great achievement and I was very proud to wear the badge on the front of my swimming suit," she stated. "It was very grand, I thought." She also went on to assume that some things about the test probably have changed, since her time completing it, but still appeared to be proud of her accomplishment.
Following the queen's interview with RLSS Commonwealth, Buckingham Palace made a statement about how her earning the award helped bring awareness to the program back then. They wrote that the queen "provid[ed] an example to young people and help[ed] to establish lifesaving and resuscitation qualifications across the network of nations." Even if it's not one of Elizabeth's most remembered moments, the achievement clearly holds a special significance for the monarch.