Queen Elizabeth II took part in a virtual meeting with the Royal Life Saving Society and was reminded that she set a record back in 1941!
Queen Elizabeth II Made History
Her Majesty spoke with members of the Royal Life Saving Society when it was pointed out to her that at only 14 years old, then Princess Elizabeth, became the very first young person to earn the Junior Respiration Award!
Queen Elizabeth said, "I didn't realize I was the first one! I just did it and had to work very hard for it. It's a very long time ago, I'm afraid, I think it's changed a lot."
Back when she was simply Princess Elizabeth, she and her sister Princess Margaret took swimming courses at the Bath Club in Mayfair. The deputy Commonwealth president of the Royal Life Saving Society, Clive Holland explained, "Your Majesty, when you say it was a long time ago, it was in fact 80 years ago."
She could not help but laugh when the timeline was pointed out to her and she responded with, "That's terrible!"
The Queen spoke with a 20 year old student who saved a young boy's life only a few years prior thanks to her training with the RLSS. Sarah Downs addressed her saying, "I did want to ask, Ma'am, because you obviously completed a life-saving award when you were younger, what was one of the memories that stuck out for you when you did it?"
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She responded saying, "Well, it's a very long time ago. I do remember it was of course, all done in the Bath Club in the swimming pool. And I suppose I didn't really actually realize quite what I was doing, you know, because I think I must have been 12 or something, 12 or 14 or something like that. But it was a great achievement, and I was very proud to wear the badge on the front of my swimming suit. It was very grand, I thought."
This society has been important to the Queen since she was a child and emphasized how needed it is. According to Hello!, drownings are the number one preventable cause of death with approximately 235,000 fatalities every year. So she was happy to award those who earned recognition during this virtual meeting that was posted on the Royal families official Twitter.
See the photos from her swim lessons as a young girl here!
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