Queen Elizabeth II: Express Biography of the former British monarch
Queen Elizabeth II’s long reign was dominated by her strong sense of responsibility and her desire to devote her life to the throne and the British people.
The Queen Elizabeth II was for many of her compatriots a benchmark, in a world where everything was changing rapidly, where British leadership was declining, where the monarchy itself was being called into question.
His success in maintaining the monarchy through such turbulent times is all the more remarkable given that at the time of his birth no one could have predicted that the throne would be his destiny.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, in a house near Berkeley Square in London. She is the first child of Albert, Duke of York, second son of George V, and his duchess, the former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Rose, born in 1930, were both educated at home and raised in a loving family atmosphere. Elizabeth is extremely close to her father and grandfather, George V.
At the age of six, Elizabeth told her riding instructor that she wanted to become a “country lady with lots of horses and dogs.”
She is said to have demonstrated a remarkable sense of responsibility from an early age. Winston Churchill, the future Prime Minister, is said to have said that she possessed “an air of authority astonishing for a child”.
Although she was not educated, Elizabeth showed a gift for languages and studied constitutional history in detail.
A special company of Girl Guides, the 1st Buckingham Palace, was created so that she could socialize with girls her own age.
Growing tension
When George V died in 1936, his eldest son, known as David, became Edward VIII.
However, the choice of his wife, the American Wallis Simpson, twice divorced, is considered unacceptable for political and religious reasons. At the end of the year, he abdicated.
The reluctant Duke of York becomes King George VI. Her coronation gave Elizabeth a taste of what lay ahead and she later wrote that she found the service “very, very wonderful”.
Amid growing tension in Europe, the new king and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, are working to restore public confidence in the monarchy. Their example is not lost on their eldest daughter.
In 1939, the 13-year-old princess accompanied the King and Queen Elizabeth II to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.
Along with her sister Margaret, she is escorted by one of the cadets, her third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece.
Obstacles
It’s not the first time they’ve met, but it’s the first time she’s been interested in him.
Prince Philip was visiting his royal family when he was on leave from the Navy. In 1944, at the age of 18, Elizabeth was clearly in love with him. She kept his photo in her room and they exchanged letters.
The young princess joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) towards the end of the war, learning to drive and maintain a truck.
On VE Day, she joined the royal family at Buckingham Palace, as thousands gathered on the Mall to celebrate the end of the war in Europe.
“We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves,” she later recalled. “I remember us being terrified of being recognized. I remember lines of strangers arm-in-arms walking down Whitehall, all swept up in a tide of happiness and relief.”
After the war, her desire to marry Prince Philip encountered a number of obstacles.
The king is reluctant to lose a daughter he loves above all and Philip must overcome the prejudices of an establishment that cannot accept his foreign ancestry.
The death of the father
But the couple’s wishes prevailed and on November 20, 1947, the couple married at Westminster Abbey.
The Duke of Edinburgh, as Philip became, remains a serving naval officer. For a short period, an assignment to Malta allowed the young couple to lead a relatively normal life.
Their first child, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by a sister, Anne, who arrived in 1950.
But the king, who suffered considerable stress during the war years, is terminally ill with lung cancer, brought on by a life of heavy smoking.
In January 1952, Elizabeth, then aged 25, and Philip left in his place for a foreign tour. The King, against medical advice, went to the airport to accompany the couple. This is the last time Elizabeth sees her father.
Queen Elizabeth II learns of the king’s death while staying at a hunting lodge in Kenya and immediately returns to London as the new queen. She would later remember this moment.
“In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship. My father died way too young, and so all of a sudden I had to jump in and do the best job I could.”
Australia and New Zealand
Her coronation in June 1953 was televised, despite opposition from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and millions gathered around television sets, many for the first time, to watch Queen Elizabeth II take her oath.
With Britain still suffering post-war austerity, commentators saw the Coronation as the dawn of a new Elizabethan era.
The Second World War hastened the end of the British Empire, and when the new Queen Elizabeth II began a lengthy tour of the Commonwealth in November 1953, many former British possessions, including India, gained independence.
Elizabeth becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand. It is estimated that three quarters of Australians traveled to see her in person.
Throughout the 1950s, more and more countries took down the Union flag and the former colonies and dominions now came together as a voluntary family of nations.
Many politicians believe that the new Commonwealth could become a counterweight to the nascent European Economic Community and, to some extent, British policy is turning away from the continent.
Personal attack
But the decline of British influence was accelerated by the Suez debacle of 1956, when it became clear that the Commonwealth lacked the collective will to act together in times of crisis.
The decision to send British troops to try to prevent Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal resulted in an ignominious withdrawal and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.
The Queen Elizabeth II thus finds herself drawn into a political crisis. The Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader and, after a series of consultations, the Queen invited Harold Macmillan to form a new government.
The Queen Elizabeth II is also the subject of a personal attack from Lord Altrincham. In a magazine article, he claimed that his court was “too British” and “haughty” and accused him of being incapable of delivering a simple speech without a written text.
His remarks caused an uproar in the press and Lord Altrincham was physically attacked in the street by a member of the League of Empire Loyalists.
Nevertheless, the incident demonstrates that British society and attitudes towards the monarchy are changing rapidly and old certainties are being challenged.
From the “Monarchy” to the “Royal Family”
Encouraged by her husband, who was notoriously impatient with the staid nature of the court, the Queen Elizabeth II began to adapt to the new order.
The practice of receiving debutantes at court was abolished and the term “monarchy” was gradually replaced by “royal family”.
The Queen Elizabeth II once again found herself at the center of political conflict when, in 1963, Harold Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister. The Conservative Party having still not put in place a system for selecting a new leader, she followed his advice to appoint the Count of Home in his place.
This is a difficult time for the Queen Elizabeth II, whose hallmark of reign is constitutional rectitude and a new separation between the monarchy and the government of the day.
The Queen Elizabeth II takes her rights to be informed, to advise and to warn seriously, but does not seek to exceed them.
This is the last time she finds herself in such a situation. The Conservatives finally ended the tradition of new party leaders “emerging” and a proper system was put in place.
Relaxed atmosphere
In the late 1960s, Buckingham Palace decided that it needed to take a positive step to show the royal family in a much less formal and more accessible way.
The result is a groundbreaking documentary, Royal Family. The BBC was allowed to film the Windsors at their home. Images of the family at a barbecue, decorating the Christmas tree, taking a car ride with the kids – all ordinary activities, but never seen before.
Critics said Richard Cawston’s film destroyed the myth around the royals by showing them as ordinary people, including scenes of the Duke of Edinburgh having a sausage barbecue in Balmoral Park.
But the film echoed the more relaxed mood of the era and did much to restore public support for the monarchy.
In 1977, the silver jubilee was celebrated with genuine enthusiasm in street parties and ceremonies held throughout the kingdom. The monarchy seems to have the public’s affection and much of this is due to the Queen Elizabeth II herself.
Two years later, Britain had its first female Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher. It is sometimes said that relations between the female head of state and the female head of government have been difficult.
Scandals and disasters
The Queen Elizabeth II devotion to the Commonwealth, of which she was President, was a source of difficulty. Elizabeth knew Africa’s leaders well and was sympathetic to their cause.
She reportedly found Thatcher’s attitude and confrontational style “confusing”, particularly regarding the prime minister’s opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa.
From year to year, the Queen Elizabeth II public functions continued. After the Gulf War in 1991, she traveled to the United States to become the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress. President George HW Bush said she had been “the friend of liberty for as long as we can remember.”
However, a year later, a series of scandals and disasters began to affect the royal family.
The Queen Elizabeth II second son, the Duke of York, and his wife Sarah separated, while Princess Anne’s marriage to Mark Phillips ended in divorce. Then the Prince and Princess of Wales are revealed to be deeply unhappy and eventually separate.
The year culminates with a massive fire at the Queen Elizabeth II favorite residence, Windsor Castle. This fire seems to be a grimly fitting symbol of a royal house in trouble. A public argument over whether it is the taxpayer or the Queen who should foot the bill for repairs does not help matters.
Dignity in public debate
The Queen Elizabeth II described 1992 as her “annus horribilis” and, in a speech in the City of London, appeared to concede the need for a more open monarchy in return for a less hostile media.
“No institution, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be immune from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, let alone those who do not. But we “We are all part of the same fabric of our national society and this review can be just as effective if done with a certain amount of gentleness, good humor and understanding.”
The institution of the monarchy was on the defensive. Buckingham Palace is open to visitors to raise money for repairs at Windsor and it is announced that the Queen Elizabeth II and Prince of Wales will pay tax on their investment income.
Abroad, the Commonwealth’s hopes, so high at the start of its reign, were not realized. Britain has turned its back on its former partners with new arrangements in Europe.
The Queen Elizabeth II continues to see the value of the Commonwealth and is deeply pleased when South Africa, where she grew up, finally puts aside apartheid. She celebrated it with a visit in March 1995.
At home, the Queen Elizabeth II strives to preserve the dignity of the monarchy, while public debate continues over the future of the institution.
Diana, Princess of Wales dies
As Britain struggled to find a new destiny, she worked to remain a reassuring figure, and with an unexpected smile she could brighten a solemn moment. The role she appreciates above all is that of symbol of the nation.
Yet the monarchy was shaken and the Queen Elizabeth II herself attracted unusual criticism after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.
As the public crowded around London palaces with floral tributes, the Queen Elizabeth II seemed reluctant to provide the attention she had always tried to provide at major national moments.
Many of her detractors failed to understand that she came from a generation that cowered before the almost hysterical demonstrations of public mourning that characterized the aftermath of the princess’s death.
As a caring grandmother, she also felt she had to comfort Diana’s sons in the privacy of the family circle.
Eventually, she did a live broadcast, paying tribute to her daughter-in-law and pledging that the monarchy would adapt.
Losses and festivities
The deaths of the Queen Elizabeth II Mother and Princess Margaret, during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, cast a shadow over the national celebrations of her reign.
But despite this, and the recurring debate on the future of the monarchy, a million people crowded the Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace, on the evening of the jubilee.
In April 2006, thousands of well-wishers lined the streets of Windsor to attend an informal walkabout for the Queen Elizabeth II to mark her 80th birthday.
And in November 2007, she and Prince Philip celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in a service attended by 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey.
Another happy event occurred in April 2011, when the Queen attended the wedding of her grandson, William, Duke of Cambridge, to Catherine Middleton.
In May that year, she became the first British monarch to make an official visit to the Republic of Ireland, an event of great historical significance.
In a speech, which she began in Irish, she called for indulgence and conciliation and spoke of “things we would have liked to do differently or not do at all.”
Referendum
A year later, during a visit to Northern Ireland as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, she shook hands with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.
It was a poignant moment for a monarch whose beloved cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, had been killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.
The Diamond Jubilee brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets and sparked a weekend of celebrations in London.
The Scottish independence referendum in September 2014 was a trying time for the Queen. Few had forgotten the speech she gave to Parliament in 1977, in which she made clear her commitment to a United Kingdom.
“I count among my ancestors kings and queens of England and Scotland, and princes of Wales, and so I can easily understand these aspirations. But I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom United Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
In a remark to supporters at Balmoral on the eve of the Scottish referendum, which was clearly intended to be heard, she said she hoped people would think very carefully about the future.
Once the result of the vote was known, her public statement emphasized the relief she felt knowing that the Union was still intact, while recognizing that the political landscape had changed.
“Now, as we move forward, we should remember that, despite the range of views that have been expressed, we have in common an enduring love of Scotland, which is one of the things that helps to unite us all.”
On 9 September 2015, she became the longest-reigning monarch in British history, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. In her typical style, she refused to make a fuss, saying it was “not a title I ever aspired to.”
Less than a year later, in April 2016, she celebrated her 90th birthday.
She continued to carry out her public duties well into her 90s, often alone following the Duke of Edinburgh’s retirement in 2017.
The family continued to experience strain, including her husband’s car accident, the Duke of York’s misguided friendship with a convicted American businessman, and Prince Harry’s growing disillusionment with the life in the royal family.
These are troubling times, presided over by a monarch who has demonstrated that she is firmly in control.
Although the monarchy may not have been as strong at the end of the Queen’s reign as at the beginning, she was determined that it would continue to hold a place of affection and respect in the heart of the British.
On the occasion of her silver jubilee, she recalled the commitment she made during a visit to South Africa 30 years previously.
“At the age of 21, I promised to put my life in the service of our people and I asked God for help in fulfilling this wish. Although this vow was made at the time of my carefree youth, while I had no judgment, I do not regret a single word of it and do not retract.”
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