Queen Elizabeth quietly marks her 70-year reign
LONDON — Seventy years ago this weekend, a young English princess climbed into Treetops, a remote game-viewing lodge in Kenya, built into the limbs of a fig tree overlooking an elephant watering hole. The next morning, she came down as a queen, although she only learned of the death of her father, George VI, later that day.
The 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne will be a good deal more earthbound: The 95-year-old monarch planned to spend a quiet Sunday at her country estate, Sandringham, where her father died Feb. 6, 1952. Four days of festivities to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee are scheduled for June.
But tributes to the queen poured in from Britain’s great, good and merely prominent. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, told the BBC, “She takes her duties seriously, but she doesn’t take herself very seriously.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised her for her “inspirational sense of duty and unwavering dedication to this nation.”
Those words, from a scandal-scarred leader whose tenure in office might be measured in days rather than decades, were testimony not only to the queen’s longevity but also to her immutability. In a country that lurched from the storms of Brexit into the siege of the pandemic, she has been an unmatched anchor of stability.
Time, of course, has not spared Elizabeth, either. She is commemorating this milestone alone, having lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, in April.
That was a painful blow to the queen, who served in the auxiliary service as a driver and truck mechanic during World War II. For worried Britons, it was another sign of her fragility and a wistful reminder that the second Elizabethan Age is coming to an end.
In a message issued Saturday, the queen spoke candidly about a royal family in transition. And she delivered a surprise, in the form of an endorsement of her daughter-in-law, Camilla, the second wife of her son and heir, Prince Charles.
“When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me,” the queen-wrote. “It is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
Elizabeth has endured a bumpy stretch. She recently stripped her second son, Prince Andrew, of his honorary military titles, as he fights a lawsuit in a New York court on accusations that he sexually abused a teenage girl while a guest of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. And her grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, remain estranged from the family.