King George VI – Ingliando

On this day, three Brazilian fishermen rescued the shipwrecked Chinese sailor, Poon Lim, who had been adrift on a wooden raft for 133 days. Lim was a waiter on the cargo ship Benlomond, en route from Suez to New York, when the German submarine U-172 sank it with two torpedoes on 23rd November 1942. Lim survived the attack and after two hours in the water, found and boarded a drifting life raft that was stocked with food and water. The food and water kept him alive at first, but he soon had to resort to fishing, catching seabirds, and collecting rainwater in a canvas life jacket covering. When Lim was finally rescued, he had lost 9 kg in weight and was so weak that his rescuers had to lift him off his raft. He was later awarded the British Empire Medal by King George VI for displaying “exceptional courage, fortitude and resource.”

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On this day, Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, died in her sleep at the age of 71, at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, having suffered four strokes, the last one just the day before she died. As a young woman, Margaret was one of the world’s most celebrated socialites and it is said that her father, King George VI, referred to Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy. However, court etiquette at the time would not allow Margaret to marry the love of her life, Peter Townsend, as he was divorced. She eventually married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, but her unruly lifestyle and eventual divorce from Armstrong-Jones meant that her private life was a permanent subject of great speculation by the media and royal watchers.

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