The Queen, longest-reigning monarch in British history dies at 96
Elizabeth II, Queen of the
United Kingdom, Canada and the Commonwealth, ascended the throne as much by a twist of fate as by the grace of God.
As the daughter and granddaughter of men who were not first in line to the throne, Elizabeth was once destined for a life of relative regal obscurity.
Instead, she became one of the world’s most famous women at the age of 25, when her father’s death in 1952 made her England’s sixth ruling queen and longest-reigning monarch.
She lived her early years in an intimate family atmosphere free from any hint of future royal responsibilities.
“Seldom can a royal child have enjoyed so simple and normal an early upbringing,” commented the Guardian newspaper in 1952.
Elizabeth died Thursday at the age of 96.
Buckingham Palace announced hours earlier that the Queen had been placed under medical supervision because doctors were concerned for her health.
Members of the royal family had traveled to Scotland to be with the monarch.
The Queen had increasingly handed over duties to her son - who became King Charles III on Thursday - and other members of the Royal Family in recent months as she recovered from a bout of COVID-19, began using a cane and struggled to get around.
Born April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in London’s Mayfair district at the home of her maternal grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, the golden-haired, blue-eyed first granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary grew up in a household where doors were never slammed in anger.
“We want Elizabeth and her sister Margaret to have happy childhoods, which they can always look back upon,” said her mother.
Thus it was as the child of a country gentleman, rather than as a potential future monarch, that Elizabeth lived at Bruton Street, at White Lodge in Richmond Park, and at 145 Piccadilly, the house taken by her parents, near Hyde Park.
“In the days of my childhood,” she recalled, “the sun seemed always to be shining.”
Some happy moments were spent in the tall house on Piccadilly, with its top-floor nursery and Elizabeth’s “stable” of three dozen toy horses.
When she was four, a sister Margaret Rose - the Rose was later dropped - was born in ancient Glamis Castle in Scotland.
“I’ve got a baby sister,” Elizabeth is reported to have exclaimed joyfully. “I’m going to call her Bud.” Asked why she chose the nickname, she replied: “Well, she’s not a real rose yet, is she? She is only a bud.”
The two girls frolicked happily together, Elizabeth’s seriousness and sense of appropriateness an engaging contrast with Margaret’s ingrained mischief.
They spent many hours in the ‘Little House’ ( Y Bwthyn Bach), a gift from the people of Wales. This was a miniature of a real dwelling faithful in detail down to boxes of matches and baking powder in the tiny kitchen drawers.
Despite the presence of servants and governesses, it was their mother who played the most important role in bringing up the two princesses. Insisting on personal oversight of every detail, the woman later lovingly known as the Queen Mother excluded influences that might set Elizabeth and Margaret apart from other children.
Elizabeth studied languages, particularly French and German, and took special lessons in constitutional history from the late Sir Henry Marten, provost of Eton.
She made her first broadcast at 14. “It was perfectly done,” wrote South African novelist Sarah Millin in her diary. “If there are still queens in the world a generation hence, this child will be a good queen.”
The generations that preceded her had never expected to rule.
Her grandfather was not the first-born son and only became heir apparent, and later George V, after the death of his elder brother. Elizabeth’s father was a second son and not expected to reach the throne. But in 1936 came the unexpected abdication of King Edward VIII who gave up his throne “for the woman I love” - Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee. That put Elizabeth’s father on the throne as King George VI.
Elizabeth herself came to the throne in similarly impromptu, if less dramatic, fashion.
When her father died at Sandringham on Feb. 6, 1952, she was 6,500 km away in the African jungle, on the first leg of what was to have been a five-month tour.
It was the first time a sovereign acceded to the throne while abroad in the Commonwealth.
She flew back to London. In her declaration of accession at St. James Palace, she said: “My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than that I shall always work ... to uphold constitutional government and to advance the happiness and prosperity of my people, spread as they are all the world over.”
The year that followed was busy. She opened Parliament, presided over state functions at Buckingham Palace and signed up to 100 documents a day.
The climax in pomp and pageantry came on Coronation Day, June 2, 1953, the same year in which she also formally became Queen of Canada. Six kings and seven queens attended as Elizabeth drove to Westminster Abbey in a gilded coach and dedicated herself to her people in the world’s oldest state ceremonial.
It was the most-seen coronation in history. Only a few hundred could crowd into the ancient abbey, but millions watched on television and a colour motion picture film was shown around the world.
One of the largest crowds in London’s history acclaimed Elizabeth when she rode through the ancient, rain-drenched streets after the long ceremony. Later, at Buckingham Palace, she made six balcony appearances as her subjects celebrated far into the night.
For many, it was reminiscent of a ceremony six years before when a slim, gravefaced girl in white stood in the sanctuary of the abbey with a handsome sailor bridegroom, Philip Mountbatten.
There were conflicting stories about how the two met, but there was no conflict over the contention that this was a love match.
Marion Crawford, Elizabeth’s governess for 17 years, said the young princess was 13 at the first meeting and that she was most impressed by the 18-year-old Philip’s capacity for tucking away plates of shrimp.
Later they corresponded and, during one of Philip’s wartime leaves from the Royal Navy, went to a theatre together.
His red sports car was increasingly seen parked outside the palace and it was said that when he first asked the King for Elizabeth’s hand, the couple was advised to wait.
One obstacle was the fact that Philip had been baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church. Before the marriage, he was received into the Church of England.
King George VI named Philip Duke of Edinburgh before the marriage took place, and early in 1957 the Queen made her husband a prince of the realm.
The Queen and Prince Philip had two children before and after she succeeded to the throne. Charles, the future Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, was born in November 1948, followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Prince Edward four years later.
When the couple marked their 50th wedding anniversary, Philip discussed the secret to their union.
“I think the main lesson that we have learnt is that tolerance is the one essential ingredient in any happy marriage,” he said. “You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.”
The Queen announced the death of her “beloved husband” at the age of 99 with “deep sorrow” on April 9, 2021.
Marital stability proved elusive for most of the Queen’s children, and the sensational media coverage of the Royal Family’s romantic woes proved some of the most trying and best-remembered moments of her reign.
Three of her children, Charles, Anne and Andrew, divorced, often under messy circumstances.
The split between Prince Charles and his wife Diana in the 1990s marked a particularly painful time for the Royal Family, with revelations about their illfated marriage filling Britain’s notoriously salacious tabloids.
It emerged Diana had battled anorexia during the marriage and was desperately unhappy at her husband’s ongoing affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Diana’s death in 1997 was a tragedy that marked another period of strain for the Royal Family as even the Queen’s perceived lack of public grief was vexing to some of her subjects.
The initial reaction was seen as a rare misstep in judging the public’s mood, but by 2002 the monarchy witnessed a revival as Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee, becoming only the fifth British monarch to reign for 50 years.
She matched another historical milestone in 2012 by becoming the second monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee, and made history alone in 2015 when she succeeded her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
Earlier this year, she became the first monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne.
The prince was front and centre throughout the festivities as he stood in for his mother and demonstrated he was ready to take on her mantle.
The Queen’s public appearances during the jubilee were brief but symbolic, underscoring three pillars of her reign: a personal bond with the public, strong links to the armed forces and support for the Commonwealth, a group of 54 nations with former colonial ties to Britain.
On the final day of the event, she joined other senior members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a flyby by 70 military aircraft and wave to supporters who filled the street below. Later, she took part in a beacon lighting ceremony at Windsor Palace, the culmination of events that spanned the Commonwealth.
The prince and his wife Camilla, now known as Queen Consort, travelled to Canada in May as part of the celebrations of the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
Canada was a popular destination for the Queen since her first visit here in 1951 as a princess.
In 2010, the Queen made her 22nd trip to Canada with a nine-day stay that included an address that hailed Canada’s modern development.
“In my lifetime Canada’s development as a nation has been remarkable,” she said. “This vast, rich and varied country has inspired its own and attracted many others by its adherence to certain values. Some are enshrined in law, but I should imagine just as many are simply found in the hearts of ordinary Canadians.”