By the start of May 1945 the Second World War was all but over.
The Allies had been pressing in on Nazi Germany from all sides for months, Hitler had killed himself on April 30, and when Russian troops hoisted the Soviet flag over the German Reichstag building following the Battle for Berlin on May 2, the end was nigh.
In the days leading up to VE Day, people across the UK were eagerly anticipating news of the German surrender.
The expectation was so high that many had already draped houses with bunting, Union Flags at the ready for the coming celebrations.
A team of bell ringers was even on hand at St Paul’s Cathedral, such was the eager anticipation.
Finally, in the early hours of May 7, at a schoolhouse in Reims, France, where the US general Eisenhower had his headquarters, Germany signed its unconditional surrender to Allied leaders. Active operations would cease by 11.01pm the following day, and a second surrender was signed in Berlin on May 8 to meet the demands of the Soviet Command.
The declaration marked the end of six years of bloodshed in Europe which left 382,700 members of the British armed forces and 67,100 civilians dead.
Weary of war, Britain began to rejoice straight away rather than wait for the official celebration on May 8.
Bells rang out across the country, tug boats on the River Thames sounded their horns and planes overhead performed victory rolls.
People began dancing in the streets, hanging out bunting and banners that turned towns and villages a sea of red, white and blue.
London was packed with people waving flags, and by midnight an estimated 50,000 packed into Piccadilly Circus, singing songs like Roll Out The Barrel to impromptu street orchestras of accordions and barrel organs as fireworks lit the sky.
The following day, May 8, the crowds swelled as the celebrations continued and all across the country people held parties and parades and went to church to give their thanks.
Finally, at 3pm, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave his broadcast to the nation from the War Cabinet Office declaring that the war was over, his voice relayed over loudspeakers in Trafalgar Square.
Shortly after, King George VI, the Queen and the princesses Margaret and Elizabeth came out on to the balcony at Buckingham Palace to share the celebrations with the ecstatic crowds.
It would be the first of eight appearances by the King and Queen on VE Day, and at 5.30pm when the balcony doors opened once more Churchill himself was with them.
Britain’s wartime leader also gave an impromptu speech to ecstatic crowds from a balcony in Whitehall, telling them: “This is your victory… My dear friends, this is your hour.
“This is not victory of a party or of any class.
“It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.”
That evening, when the King and Queen appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony once again, Princess Elizabeth, then 19, and Princess Margaret slipped out and famously joined in the jubilant celebrations dancing the conga through the Ritz Hotel before joining the crowds outside the palace.
Speaking in 1985, the Queen recalled: “My sister and I realised we couldn’t see what the crowds were enjoying… so we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves … After crossing Green Park we stood outside and shouted: ‘We want the King’, and were successful in seeing my parents on the balcony, having cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside.
“I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life.”
Finally, the war in Europe was over.