On 26 April 1923, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon entered Westminster Abbey to marry Prince Albert, Duke of York, the future King George VI.
Her father walked beside her. Eight bridesmaids followed. The Abbey was filled with royalty, politicians and military uniforms, while enormous crowds waited outside.
Then Elizabeth stepped away from the procession.
Before reaching the altar, she placed her bouquet of white roses on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. She did it in memory of her elder brother, Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who had been killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915. His body had never been recovered.
In the middle of a royal spectacle watched by an entire country, Elizabeth had made room for one absent man.
She then returned to her father’s side and continued towards the altar without her bouquet.
The bride would one day become Queen Elizabeth, later known as the Queen Mother. But on her wedding morning, before becoming a royal duchess, she was a sister remembering the brother who had never come home.
Had you heard the real reason Elizabeth left her wedding bouquet at the tomb?
Source: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Chapter Four, “A Royal Wedding”.
