The Day Princess Elizabeth Became Queen Elizabeth: How ‘Operation Hyde Park Corner’ Unfolded

It was February 6, 1952, when Prince Philip told his wife, who we now know as Queen Elizabeth, that her father King George VI had died. Although the King had suffered from a prolonged illness, the moment still came as a profound shock to the 25-year-old Princess, who had to mourn her dear ‘Papa’ while facing the realization that she was now Queen.

To make matters more complicated, the royal couple were in Kenya at the time. Just a week earlier, King George VI had bid daughter and son-in-law farewell for what was intended to be a six-month tour of the Commonwealth. The King himself had been due to undertake the international journey but had to withdraw due to ill health; he was suffering from lung cancer.

The first stop of the tour was Kenya. After three days in Nairobi, the couple drove up to Sagana Lodge, a property in the foothills of Mount Kenya that was given to them as a wedding present. After lunch on February 5, Philip and Elizabeth ventured out 20 miles to Treetops, a game-viewing lodge overlooking an elephant waterhole where they planned to spend the night before continuing with the duties of their tour.

It was while the couple were there, soaking up the majesty of the African wildlife, that King George VI took his final breath at Sandringham House, in Norfolk. Operation “Hyde Park Corner” whirred into action, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill was immediately informed. However, it took hours for the news to reach the Princess, who only found out after returning to Sagana.

The story goes that at the moment her father died, Princess Elizabeth was up in the treehouse capturing photographing the animals. Meanwhile, a coded telegram informing Her Majesty’s staff of her father’s death was sent to Government House in Nairobi. However the telegram could not be decoded because there was an issue finding the keys to the safe where the codebook was kept.

It was only thanks to a journalist that the news finally reached the traveling royal household. At around lunchtime, the editor of the East African Standard telephoned the princess’s secretary, Martin Charteris at the Outspan Hotel, which serves as a base for visiting Treetops, to ask if reports of King George VI’s death were true. Charteris then phoned Sagana, where Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip had already returned. The Duke of Edinburgh took it upon himself to personally deliver the news to his wife.

The young monarch is thought to have spent an hour alone before taking up her duties with the unfailing stoicism that would come to define her historic reign. Naturally, the remainder of the tour was abandoned and the royal couple immediately flew home from Kenya. The Queen, who chose to use her given name, Elizabeth, as her regnal name, needed to have a black outfit brought to the plane so that she could emerge in London in suitable mourning dress. (As a result, members of the royal family are now expected to travel with mourning attire in case of a sudden death).

The Duke of Edinburgh and new Queen Elizabeth II were greeted off the plane by Churchill and other officials at the airport before being whisked off to Clarence House, where the Royal Standard flag was flown for the first time in her reign.