As the centenary of her birth in April 2026 draws near, it is almost impossible to conceive of a world without Queen Elizabeth II. The nation's longest-reigning monarch, however, came perilously close to never being born at all, following a dramatic incident early in her mother's pregnancy.
The Narrow Escape That Shaped a Dynasty
In January 1926, Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, was five months pregnant with her first child. The 25-year-old future Queen Mother was travelling home from visiting friends in Hampstead when her chauffeur-driven limousine neared Lord's Cricket Ground in north London. The journey took a terrifying turn when a reckless motorist overtook and cut in front of the royal car.
Taking swift avoiding action, her chauffeur collided with a parked bus. The Duchess was thrown to the floor of the vehicle. She was left bruised and severely shaken, having narrowly avoided a miscarriage. Had the outcome been different, the course of British history would have been irrevocably altered.
A Pregnancy Shrouded in Secrecy and Fear
The pregnancy had been kept secret from the public. Elizabeth was suffering from prolonged morning sickness and had already moved house twice for comfort and safety. After the crash, her anxiety grew, and she decided to relocate to her parents' London home at 17 Bruton Street for the remainder of her term.
The Palace, refusing to confirm the pregnancy, attempted to downplay the accident. In an official statement, they blamed the bus driver, claiming his vehicle had collided with the royal limousine. They dismissively referred to the incident as a 'non-event'. Privately, however, the socialite MP Chips Channon, hearing the news at Buckingham Palace, exclaimed, 'She very nearly had a miscarriage!'
The accident profoundly affected the Duchess. A noted bon viveur, she confessed to her husband, the Duke of York (affectionately known as Bertie), that pregnancy had robbed her of one pleasure: 'The sight of wine simply turns me up! It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers!'
The Arrival of a Future Queen
With the support of a maternity nurse, Annie Beevers, the Duchess saw the pregnancy through. The baby was due in late April, but doctors decided to induce labour early. After a difficult labour culminating in a Caesarean section, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born at 2.40 am on 21 April 1926.
Royal protocol demanded the presence of the Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, to witness the birth and prevent any substitution—an archaic tradition Bertie found irritating as he paced anxiously. King George V and Queen Mary, woken at Windsor Castle with the news, sensed the child's potential significance, even a decade before the abdication crisis.
Guns in Hyde Park announced the birth to London. Meanwhile, an unrelated four-year-old boy, Prince Philip of Greece, was living an unstable life in Europe. He would not find true family security until he married that baby girl twenty-one years later.
The nation expected the heir to come from the Prince of Wales, then a 31-year-old bachelor. The baby princess was destined only for a life similar to that of today's Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. History, of course, had other plans. The entire future of the monarchy rested on the fortunate outcome of a car crash on a London street in January 1926.
