September 24, 2025
Nothing is locked forever in a glass case, even when welcoming visitors to the fine city of London, writes Jason Tanner, News Commentator and Tour Director of Tanners Tours London. The grandparent of modern democracy, the UK, remains very much at the centre of a fast-changing world in the aftermath of a second state visit by Donald Trump earlier this month.
Like it or not, the Royal Family and the historic palaces of the monarchy and government remain a compulsive fascination for people visiting from the USA and across the world and it remains a privilege as a journalist and latterly a tour guide to witness in real-time the thoughts and emotions of global travellers who come to spend their vacation in a city that is rarely at rest itself.
Although the mother of the late Queen Elizabeth II was born 125 years ago, it's a lesser known fact that this reluctant Queen did a remarkably good job at annoying Hitler by using the media of the day against him. This is long before the current debates about established (legacy media) versus the newer social media of Facebook and Twitter
I've extracted a couple of paragraphs from an article I wrote in April 25 about the leadership skills of the Queen Mother's daughter. It's clear she had more than a working knowledge of what is today disparagingly referred to as the legacy media which I prefer to term as the establishee media.
"1940 looked pretty dismal as the Nazi blitz on the UK’s major cities saw more than 100,000 buildings damaged or destroyed in London alone. It’s at this moment we get a striking clue about what sort of leader she was. She achieved a very rare accolade in being described as the most dangerous woman in the world by the most dangerous man in the world, namely Hitler.
"How on earth could any person, let alone a woman, upset such a tyrant? She seemed drawn to attack Hitler’s weak spot and she did it many times to his annoyance. Her skill was to use the media of the age. It wasn’t ‘TwitteX’, Facebook or Instagram but radio, Cinema and the papers. It’s best illustrated by one of the nine hits that Buckingham Palace took during the war. On one particular occasion, the king and the queen were perilously close to where a bomb had dropped. I like to imagine that they scrambled from whatever shelter they had found, and then brushed the ceiling from their shoulders. But it’s what she’s reputed to have demanded next that upset Hitler so much. I paraphrase: “Get those cinema cameras and the radio here now” because in her instinctive mind she could already see what the national headlines would be in the coming days. The subtext was this - ‘We are your King and Queen. We’ve been bombed in our home. It was painful. We are aware that you, our nation, is also being bombed and also feeling the pain. We are all in this together, and furthermore we will win together.’
"The actual reality was harder. Try as we might, we couldn't at that stage persuade America to help with defence. The Nazis swept through Europe at a terrifying speed, even at night; Hitler’s soldiers were fuelled by Crystal Meth. They got to France only 6 weeks into their invasion of Western Europe and our neighbours surrendered in June 1940. With no help available, we were preparing for defeat. The natural assumption was that after weakening us with the mass bombing from the skies, they’d simply parachute in to take our island. But we get another insight into the Queen Mother’s sense of leadership. It’s reported she requested she be given two guns so that she could be the first to shoot the Nazis as they descended from the sky. She apparently practised on the many rats running around the bombed out Palace at the time."
Extracted from an article by Jason Tanner: The Ultimate CEO? - Queen Elizabeth's skills could help you become top of your gam
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Jason Tanner, news commentator & founder of the Defend Campaign for free speech and democracy: With his career launching as a Broadcast Journalist, Jason Tanner developed expertise in wide ranging disciplines such as politics, cancer research, monarchy, heritage, tourism, entertainment, volunteering and skills-training. He progressed to a senior level in both media and public relations. This followed five years as a broadcast journalist for BBC and Independent Local Radio including Radio Mercury FM & BBC Surrey / Southern Counties. He has led talented and productive teams in the charity sector including the National Trust and the national volunteering & training charity CSV, (now Volunteering Matters). He is currently active in the London tourism industry including tour guiding visitors. When there's time, he still uses his journalism training to write and research comment pieces, articles, presentations and training courses. e: jason@jasontanner.uk t: 07941 433598 w: Jason Tanner or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontanner-uk
Tanners Tours: Jason Tanner has welcomed close to 10,000 visitors aged 8 to 88 as one of London's most popular tour guides. Visitors, students, schools, colleges, corporates, cruise ships, individuals and groups can arrange a bespoke and exclusive experience direct with Jason. Please feel free to explore options by contacting Jason direct +44 (0) 7941 433598 (WhatsApp / RCS Text) or jason@tannerstours.com (email) - tannerstours.com (web)
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