Queen Elizabeth made this special broadcast for BBC Children’s Hour on 13 October 1940 during World War II.

The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, aged 14, with her sister Princess Margaret, aged 10, spoke to children across the world, including Britain and the Commonwealth, during the middle of the Blitz.

🎙 Exactly 80 years ago today, The Queen (then 14 year-old Princess Elizabeth) made this broadcast to children around the world in the midst of The Blitz. Her sister Princess Margaret, then 10, was by her side during the recording for the BBC’s Children’s Hour. pic.twitter.com/otPWuPhMCA

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 13, 2020

The Germans began the Blitz, a bombing campaign, on Great Britain in 1940, forcing many children, as evacuees, to leave their families for safe havens in the countryside or even overseas, including Australia and Canada.

We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.

Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth, 1940

Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret spent most of the war years, from 1940, at Windsor Castle, for safety against air raids.

The two princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas time, with the future Queen joining the Auxillary Territorial Service (ATS) as a second-subaltern in 1945, training as a driver and mechanic.