The Royal family has traditional links with the SSAFA. Established in 1885, the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Families Association was founded by Major James Gildea to help military families at home. Her Royal Highness, Princess Alexandra of Wales (the great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II) became the first ever President of SSAFA.
Following the founding of the Royal Air Force in 1918, the then Queen Alexandra suggested the organisation should change its name to the Soldiers’, Sailors’ & Airmen’s Families Association and in January 1926 the charity was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation.
Queen Elizabeth II became patron of SSAFA in 1952, with her ascendency to the throne. Her mother Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother continued as patron alongside her daughter until her death in 2002. The Queen Mother had a lifelong interest in the charity, and had even been a SSAFA volunteer long before she became a member of the Royal Family. As a teenager during the First World War, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, as she then was, volunteer and attended branch and fundraising events for the charity.