In early 1945 Elizabeth Windsor, recruit number 230873, joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). That summer she took the six-week mechanics training course, which enabled her to strip, maintain and drive Jeeps and ambulances.
She was promoted to subaltern and then Junior Commander. She appeared in her ATS uniform on the balcony at Buckingham Palace alongside her father, mother and sister and the prime minister, Winston Churchill, to mark Victory in Europe on May 8, 1945. Still in uniform, she sneaked out with her sister to join the throng on the Mall.
