Queen Elizabeth's Parents Were "Party Animals" Who "Fell Asleep at 5 a.m.," Historian Claims

OMG, LOL.

Queen Mother and Henry VI with daughters
(Image credit: Getty)

Elizabeth the Queen Mother and King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II's parents, were apparently huge party people, which is now my favorite fun fact.

"It was astonishing to me to read in the diaries that they were party animals," historian Sally Bedell Smith said on the To Di For Daily podcast (via Express), referring to the research she did to write her latest book.

"They would go out dancing until three or four in the morning and she [Elizabeth] would say, 'fell asleep at 5am and got up for brekkie late.'"

This makes sense in context of some of the other things we know about the Queen Mother and her cheeky personality.

For instance, as her great-grandson Prince William prepared to go off to university at St. Andrews in Scotland, she apparently asked him for party invites, as he revealed when she passed away in 2002.

"As she said goodbye, she said: 'Any good parties, invite me down,'" the now-Prince of Wales said at the time. "But there was no way. I knew full well that if I invited her down, she would dance me under the table."

To be fair, it very much sounds like she would have.

Speaking on the podcast, host Kinsey Schofield said, "I just love to hear that, [about] that long, blissful love—the kind of love you only have in youth. It's so fun to imagine these two characters, that are so regal and sophisticated, actually getting to enjoy that."

Bedell Smith also explained that Elizabeth and George (well, Bertie) got along well with Edward VIII before his abdication, and often went out partying with him.

Amazingly, Express also reports that commentator Graham Turner once called the Queen Mother "the party girl to end all party girls." Paris Hilton circa 2003 is shaking in her boots.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.