Editing Buckingham Palace (section)

====Second World War====
{{ external media<!-- Do not move to external links. Per template documentation: "This template is normally placed in the main body of the article, in the same place that you would normally have placed the image...if it had been available on Wikimedia Commons." -->| float=right| width=230px|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxbV8EcaSkk Buckingham Palace Bombed (1940)] – Newsreel of damage to the palace and chapel&nbsp;(1:08)}}
During the [[Second World War]], which broke out in 1939, the palace was [[The Blitz|bombed]] nine times.<ref>{{cite web |title=Letter from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Mary describing the bombing of Buckingham Palace, 13 September 1940 |url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/letter-from-queen-elizabeth-to-queen-mary-describing-the-bombing-of-buckingham-palace-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410024430/https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/letter-from-queen-elizabeth-to-queen-mary-describing-the-bombing-of-buckingham-palace-13 |archive-date=10 April 2016 |access-date=31 March 2016 |website=Royal Collection Trust}}</ref> The most serious and publicised incident destroyed the palace chapel in 1940. One bomb fell in the palace quadrangle while [[George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] (the future Queen Mother) were in the palace, and many windows were blown in and the chapel destroyed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thornton |first=Michael |title=Royal Feud: The Dark Side of the Love Story of the Century |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1985 |url=https://archive.org/details/royalfeuddarksid00thor/page/216/mode/2up?q=chapel |page=216 |isbn=978-0-6716-0298-7}}</ref> <!-- Wartime coverage of such incidents was severely restricted, however. --> The King and Queen were filmed inspecting their bombed home, and the newsreel footage shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom to show the common suffering of rich and poor. As ''[[The Sunday Graphic]]'' reported:
{{blockquote|By the Editor: The King and Queen have endured the ordeal which has come to their subjects. For the second time a German bomber has tried to bring death and destruction to the home of Their Majesties&nbsp;... When this war is over the common danger which King George and Queen Elizabeth have shared with their people will be a cherished memory and an inspiration through the years.<ref>''[[The Sunday Graphic]]'', 18 September 1939, p. 1.</ref>}}
It was at this time the Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the [[East End]] in the face".<ref name="Luftwaffe">{{cite news |last=Davies, Caroline |date=12 September 2009 |title=How the Luftwaffe bombed the palace, in the Queen Mother's own words |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/13/queen-mother-biography-shawcross-luftwaffe |url-status=live |access-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417091423/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/13/queen-mother-biography-shawcross-luftwaffe |archive-date=17 April 2021}}</ref>

On 15 September 1940, known as [[Battle of Britain Day]], an RAF pilot, [[Ray Holmes]] of [[No. 504 Squadron RAF|No. 504 Squadron]], rammed a German [[Dornier Do 17]] bomber he believed was going to bomb the palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition to shoot down the bomber and made the quick decision to ram it. He bailed out and the bomber crashed into the forecourt of [[London Victoria station]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Alfred |title=The Battle of Britain Day |publisher=Greenhill Books |location=London |date=19 February 2006 |pages=49–50 |isbn=978-1-8536-7419-8}}and {{cite book| author-link=Stephen Bungay |first=Stephen |last=Bungay |title=The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain |publisher=Aurum Press |location=London |date=18 August 2000 |page=325 |isbn=978-1-8541-0721-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/mostdangerousene0000step/page/324/mode/2up?q=%22victoria+station%22}}</ref> Its engine was later exhibited at the [[Imperial War Museum]] in London. Holmes became a [[King's Messenger]] after the war and died at the age of 90 in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |date=2 November 2005 |title=Pilot who 'saved Palace' honoured |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/4398484.stm |url-status=live |access-date=18 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207152854/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/4398484.stm |archive-date=7 December 2008}}</ref> 

On [[VE Day]]—8 May 1945—the palace was the centre of British celebrations. The King, the Queen, [[Elizabeth II|Princess Elizabeth]] (the future queen) and [[Princess Margaret]] appeared on the balcony, with the palace's blacked-out windows behind them, to cheers from a vast crowd in The Mall.<ref>{{cite news |title=On This Day: 8 May: 1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe |date=8 May 1945 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/8/newsid_3580000/3580163.stm |access-date=19 June 2023 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The damaged palace was carefully restored after the war by John [[Mowlem]] & Co.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 2000 |title=Sir Edgar Beck |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1351908/Sir-Edgar-Beck.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 June 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1351908/Sir-Edgar-Beck.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>