During the royal visit of that year she was with her with her father, King George VI, her mother and her sister, Princess Margaret.
Princess Elizabeth delivered her 21st birthday speech from Cape Town and promised that her life ‘whether it be long or short’ would be devoted to her people and the Commonwealth.
On a BBC recording she speaks in the measured, enunciated tones we know but every now and then ebullience bubbles through betraying her youth.
Her birthday was celebrated with two balls – one at the City Hall and another at Government House in Cape Town.
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