Born in 1874, Winston Churchill lived through Six Monarchs at the age of 90, including Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and the current Queen. He went through two careers as Prime Minister, the first from 1940 to 1945, when the monarch was George VI, and the second from 1951 to 1955, coinciding with the death of George VI and the succession of the Queen.
When Churchill learned of the sudden death of George VI in the early morning of February 6, 1952, he burst into tears in surprise, a scene that was seen by his personal secretary, Jock Colville, and wrote in his diary. Jock was the Queen's private secretary from 1947 to 1949, when she was still a princess. Jock tried to comfort Churchill and tell him that he would get along well with the new queen, but Churchill sadly said that he did not know her and that she was still just a child.
(On Victory Day, Churchill and the King's family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, with the Queen on the far left)
At that time, the Queen was 25 years old and a mother of two children, which was actually not a small age, but for politicians, especially the 77-year-old seasoned Churchill, the Queen was too tender!
In fact, Churchill had met the Queen as early as 2 and a half years old, and this accidental meeting was written by him in a letter to his wife Clementine. In September 1928, at the age of 53, Churchill accompanied the Queen's grandfather, George V, on a hunting trip to Balmoral and met the infancy queen. Churchill realized that this little baby was not simple, it would be a character, and there was a kind of authority and reflection in him, which was rare in babies.
(Churchill on the left, queen waving at the 2-year-old on the right)
At that time, the Queen of England was the eldest daughter of the King's second son, and no one had expected it, including Churchill, except for George V, who loved the Queen, who was affectionately called "Grandpa of England" by the Queen, and expected her to become the future Queen. It was not until 1936 that Edward VIII announced his abdication and the 10-year-old Queen became the presumptive heir. In 1952, George VI died prematurely, putting the Queen on her own stage, and Churchill became her first Prime Minister.
Churchill quickly adjusted his mood, and in his eulogy to George VI, he had great hopes for the Queen, saying that the era of Queen Rule in England was a good era, comparing the Queen to the eponymous Elizabeth I, both of whom inherited the throne at the age of 25, and both were accidentally inherited to the throne.
(Churchill left, Queen of China and Britain, followed by Churchill's wife Clementine)
This combination of old and young is very harmonious, Churchill and the Queen get along very well, he assisted the Queen to mature step by step, which affected the Queen's cooperation with a large number of prime ministers in the future. However, the collaboration also began with a slightly discordant tone, as Churchill, like Queen Elizabeth, distrusted the Queen's husband, Prince Philip. Between the death of George VI in February 1952 and the coronation of the Queen in June 1953, Prince Philip clamored to change the children's surnames to Mountbatten. This surname was the second surname of Prince Philip, from his maternal grandfather's family, and his surname at birth was Schleswig-Holstein-Zunderborg-Glücksburg. Churchill told the Queen that the government objected to her children changing their surnames. The tough Prince Philip forced the Queen to cry on the spot, and finally the Queen chose Churchill's opinion. But then the Queen added Mountbatten to the children's surnames, becoming Mountbatten-Windsor.
(Left red circle Queen, right Churchill coffin)
In 1965, Churchill died, and the Queen of England held a state funeral for him. He was the second British Prime Minister to receive the award, the first To receive a state funeral, and back to Prime Minister William Gladstone, who died in 1898. Moreover, the Queen of England did not use the monarch's privileges at the funeral, and made an exception to send her "minister" on the last journey. Usually the Queen is the last to be present and the first to leave, but at Churchill's funeral, the Queen arrived before the coffin, and waited for the coffin to leave before she left. At the last moment, the Queen of England left her glory to the first Prime Minister who influenced her and witnessed her growth, which was very moving!