She was born at home in London on April 21, 1926. The house belonged not to her parents but to her maternal Scottish grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. They had loaned it to their daughter, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and her husband, Albert (Bertie), who had moved in shortly before their daughter was born. Seventeen Bruton Street was not a palace nor an estate known only by its name, but merely a Mayfair townhouse on a busy street. Relatively speaking, Elizabeth (eventually to be known as the Queen Mother) and Albert weren’t uber-wealthy, as he was the second son of King George V. It wasn’t until his brother, Edward, abdicated in December 1936, and the crown passed to Albert — who reigned as King George VI — that home for Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret, became the vast Buckingham Palace.

Source: National Post January 02, 2022 15:32 UTC