Princesses Pantomimes, Windsor Castle review: charming, but a little threadbare

On 13 September 1940, Buckingham Palace was struck by Luftwaffe bombs. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were in residence but unharmed. The princesses Elizabeth and Margaret weren’t around, having been evacuated to Windsor Castle for their safety at the start of the War.

Among the activities that kept them busy was growing their own vegetables in specially assigned allotments. Now, a modest exhibition held in the Castle’s Waterloo Chamber will focus on another of the siblings’ pastimes: performing a Christmas pantomime.

Each year between 1941 and 1944, Elizabeth and Margaret took part in a panto in that same Chamber – in part to bring festive cheer to the local community, and in part to raise money for the Royal Household Wool Fund, which supplied yarn to make cap comforters for British soldiers.

At the time of their debut production – Cinderella – Princess Elizabeth was 15 and her sister 11. This was followed by Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and Old Mother Red Riding Boots. The seven surviving costumes worn by the princesses in the final two productions are now on view together for the first time. (No outfits from the first two productions survive.)

As befitting a future monarch, Princess Elizabeth took the lead role in Aladdin – and her principal outfit was a gold brocade jacket over turquoise dungarees. Playing Princess Roxana in the same production, Princess Margaret wore a red silk dress and matching jacket.

The pantomimes were written, produced and directed by Hubert Tanner, headmaster of the Royal School in Windsor, with children from the Castle community taking supporting roles. There were two performances each of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and such was their popularity that this increased to three performances for Aladdin and Old Mother Red Riding Boots. The nightly audience numbered roughly 400 to 500 people.