April 21, 2026 marks the centenary of the birth of the United Kingdom’s longest-reigning Monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, and as such, it is a moment of reflection not just for the nation, but very much also for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.
Her death in September 2022 was keenly felt by volunteers and employees of SSAFA. This was not just because she was the Monarch, nor was it simply because was the charity’s Patron, and had been since she ascended to the throne in 1952.
The attachment to and respect for Her Late Majesty was, for many, very personal.
Veterans have made up and still do make up a sizeable number of employees and a greater proportion of volunteers of SSAFA. As sovereign, she was officially titled Head of the Armed Forces but, more affectionately to generations of servicemen and women, she was “The Boss”.
Consequently, the loss felt was not an abstract notion, but as something very real especially as she served in WWII as a mechanic in the ATS, so she was really was “one of us” to serving personnel and veterans of all ages and generations.
From her first speech as Queen, she spoke of her “life of service”, and remained a constant through change, yet even before she became Sovereign and SSAFA’s Patron, she was a supporter of the charity.
It was the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1947, that firmly demonstrated the future Queen’s generous support for the charity.
With gifts being sent to the royal couple from all over the world, many were donated to charities important to the newlyweds.
A wedding gift of stamps from all over the Empire donated by the Philatelic Society was auctioned and the proceeds of £629 gifted to SSAFA, and the Princess then gave a donation of £500, part of her wedding present from the British community in Belgian Congo, to the charity.
Her support for and work with SSAFA continued unabated throughout the few years between her marriage and he acceding to the throne, and so on during the 1950s and until her death.
Although there was the red-carpet glamour of royal film premieres with SSAFA as the beneficiary – titles included Dunkirk (1958), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Waterloo (1970), and Aces High (1976) – The Queen always, always had her Armed Forces on her mind.
Whether at public events or private ones, The Queen made time not only for those of her Armed Forces, but – and especially apt for SSAFA, which began as an organisation for the dependents of soldiers and sailors – also for their families.
There were many occasions where she demonstrated her sincere interest, but a couple from recent history stand out.
In April 2003, The Queen made a visit to SSAFA’s headquarters just two weeks after the British deployment to Iraq. While there, she heard how the charity was already receiving anxious calls from relatives of service personnel.
During her visit, The Queen urged families, particularly children, to write letters (“blueys”) to the troops, telling service children that if emails were unable to reach their parents deployed in the Gulf to turn to the traditional pen and paper and art of letter writing once more.
Ten years later, when SSAFA moved to its new headquarters – Queen Elizabeth House – The Queen attended its official opening.
There once again she met beneficiaries, volunteers, and SSAFA employees. Along with Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent, as the charity’s President, she spoke to families and service personnel affected by the protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among those she met were Trooper Cayle Royce, who had lost both of his legs in a bomb blast while in Afghanistan the year before, and six-year-old Harley Inns, whose brother Rifleman Martin Kinggett was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 after providing cover for an injured soldier.
These are just two stories of hundreds, thousands even, of personal memories and anecdotes about The Queen.
Family and the Armed Forces were always close to Her Late Majesty’s heart, and at this time of national reflection on the centenary of her birth, all those involved with SSAFA – beneficiaries, volunteers, supporters, and employees – reiterate their gratitude for the unstinting support she demonstrated throughout her life and reign.
