LAST EDITED ON Jan-27-15 AT 03:23 AM (EST)
The 63rd anniversary of the most recent British succession is coming up in a couple of weeks. Please be upstanding.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor DSC
Squadron Leader, Royal Britannian Air Force
Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth
"Liz 2" |  |
Nationality: Britannia
Date of birth: April 21, 1926
Familiar: Welsh corgi
Striker model: Hawker Tempest Mk V
Weapon of choice: Hispano Mk V 20mm cannon
King George VI of Britannia is a conflicted man. On the one hand, he could not conceivably be prouder of his eldest daughter for playing such an active role in the defense of the realm, the Empire, and indeed the world. It simply isn't humanly possible. On the other hand, he is bloody furious with his eldest daughter for eluding all of his attempts to keep her off the front line and otherwise exercise royal prerogative to protect her from harm. (He probably also rather wishes that not quite so many of her future subjects had seen her underwear, but that isn't the sort of thing a gentleman discusses.) At the very least he was hoping that she would retire after the Gallia campaign concluded in the fall of 1944, which saw the removal of any imminent Neuroi threat to the Britannian Isles.
HRH the Princess sees things a bit differently than her old man, though. As far as she's concerned, she has a royal obligation to do everything that she can do to help secure the world, not just her own country, against the Neuroi - and since she happened to be born a witch, what she can do amounts to rather more than speaking to the kingdom on the radio at Christmas and waving prettily from balconies to crowds of well-wishers. She's a genuine flying ace with 57 confirmed Neuroi shoot-downs, including six major unit core destructions, most of them scored during her service with 601 Squadron RAF in the defense of London in 1940-43. As she approaches her 20th birthday, many are watching for signs that she might be slowing down. So far, to her father's dismay, there aren't any.
Conscious of her royal status but determined not to be burdened by it, Elizabeth has insisted since the start of her uniformed career that she not be addressed by her royal title by her comrades - hence her official appearance on the RAF's books under the surname "Windsor". Cheerful and resolute, she claims no honors other than those she has earned in combat, and no title other than her RAF rank. (Confusingly to foreigners, the RAF rank of "squadron leader" is equivalent to "major" in other services; it does not actually mean she leads a squadron.) Her colleagues in the 511th JFW, and those who served with her in 601 Squadron, just call her Liz.
Her callsign is a wryly premature reference to the fact that, when she succeeds her father, she'll be Elizabeth II. The real Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen, served in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a mechanic and truck driver. (Which rather puts in perspective all those younger heads of state being a bit patronizingly nice to the old lady at the anniversary do's in Normandy last year.)