Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned longer as monarch of England or Great Britain than anyone, has died after 70 years on the throne. She was 96 years old, also the oldest English or British monarch ever.
She was born on April 21, 1926, as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, at 17 Bruton Street, in the Mayfair section of London. This was the home of her maternal grandfather, the Scottish nobleman Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and her father was Prince Albert Arthur Frederick George, the Duke of York, the 2nd son of King George V.
In 1936, George V died, and was succeeded by his eldest son as King Edward VIII. But before the year was out, Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry the woman he loved, Wallis Simpson, who, as a divorcée (never mind a commoner and an American), was unacceptable as a spouse for the monarch. So Elizabeth's father became King George VI, and, at age 10, she was suddenly heir presumptive to the throne.
During World War II, the Nazis bombed London, including Buckingham Palace, but the royal family survived. Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, still teenagers, entered the British Army. Elizabeth worked in a motor pool, meaning she could, literally, fix your wagon and clean your clock. To the end of her life, she hated fascists.
In 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, descended through intermarriages from the royal houses of Britain, Germany, Denmark and Greece. Like Elizabeth, he was a great-great-grandchild of Britain's Queen Victoria. They went on to have 4 children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, the Princess Royal; Andrew, Duke of York; and Edward, Earl of Wessex. Each child had 2 children, so Elizabeth had 4 grandchildren; and lived long enough to see 12 great-grandchildren.
Left to right: Princess Elizabeth, Prince Philip,
Queen Elizabeth (known after 1952 as the Queen Mother),
King George VI, Princess Margaret
In 1952, while Elizabeth and Philip were on vacation in Kenya, then still a British colony, King George died. They had to fly back, a 25-year-old Queen and her 30-year-old Prince Consort, the Duke of Edinburgh. They were met at Croydon Airport in London -- Heathrow had not yet been expanded into London's international airport -- by the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, the 1st of 15 Prime Ministers to serve under her. (Harold Wilson lost the office in 1970, and regained it in 1974, but is only counted as one Prime Minister.)
She became the greatest diplomat the world has ever known. No monarch ever traveled more. She enjoyed visiting America, where some of the racehorses she owned were kept, and she met (sometimes in America, sometimes in Britain) with every President from Harry Truman to Joe Biden, except Lyndon Johnson. She enjoyed visiting Canada, and she met with every Prime Minister from Louis St. Laurent to Justin Trudeau. And she was the 1st British monarch to visit Australia.
With President John F. Kennedy, 1961
But during her reign, several colonies declared their independence, though some of them remained in the British Commonwealth: There were still 15 nations, including Canada and Australia, where she was still the head of state, represented in said countries by a Governor-General.
Although various individual members of the royal family, including her sister, the jet-setting Princess Margaret, saw their popularity rise and fall, her own remained high. The exception was the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana, the ex-wife of Prince Charles, in 1997. Charles had treated her poorly, including in public. And when the Queen stuck too closely to protocol thereafter, including not making a televised statement at first, the public turned on her.
It was the only time she ever lost a popularity contest, and the only time she ever had to eat crow: The day before Diana's funeral, she took to the airwaves and gave a brief, conciliatory speech. Unlike Charles, whose reputation was permanently damaged, the Queen won most of her new critics back.
But she knew she was reigning in a modern world. She proved adept at new media, including social media. She even agreed to record a short film for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London, with actor Daniel Craig in character as James Bond. Through his many incarnations, the Queen is the one woman to whom Bond was always faithful. When two figures jumped out of what appeared to be the royal helicopter into the Olympic Stadium, it was the sort of thing Bond would do, but not the 76-year-old Queen. Then again, who could say it was completely out of character? She did attend the Ceremony, and took the traditional head-of-state role in the host nation of declaring the Olympic Games open.
A common joke from 2017 onward:
"Your orders regarding Trump, Ma'am?"
"Make it look like an accident, 007."
Like most British monarchs since it opened, she didn't much like Buckingham Palace, the official royal residence in London. She preferred Windsor Castle in Berkshire, a royal home since William the Conqueror had it built in 1170; and, even more so, Balmoral Castle outside Aberdeen, Scotland, built for Queen Victoria in 1856. (Kings Edward VII and George VI, and Prince Charles, had Sandringham House in Norfolk as their preferred getaways.)
Like many other monarchs (in particular, Edward VII), she loved horses and horse racing. She also loved dogs, and was known for her Welsh corgis, 2 of whom even made guest appearances in the Bond Olympic video. When England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, she presented the trophy to team Captain Bobby Moore. And she supported North London soccer team Arsenal.
On a 1991 visit to America, President George H.W. Bush invited her to a baseball game at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, then the closest city to Washington in Major League Baseball. The Orioles hosted the Oakland Athletics, who had one of their legends, Reggie Jackson, as a guest.
This was a bit awkward: In 1988, the film The Naked Gun had Jeannette Charles, who often played the Queen in movies and TV shows due to her resemblance, play the Queen as the target of a murder plot of a villain played by Ricardo Montalban. Leslie Nielsen played Lieutenant Frank Drebin, the Los Angeles policeman charged with protecting her.
The climax of the film was at a baseball game between the team then known as the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners -- supposedly at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim), but actually filmed up the freeway at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. During the game, Reggie -- who had played for the Angels, but, by this point, was retired in real life -- was brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate-style, and walked from his position in right field to the Queen's box seat, all the while saying, "I... must kill... the Queen." Drebin manages to stop him, in a rather haphazard way.
Retroactively, the most bizarre thing about this spoof of police movies is that one of the Los Angeles cops is played by O.J. Simpson. But there were no hard feelings when the Queen and Reggie were introduced for real.
There were jokes that the reason the Queen lived so long was that she didn't want to hand the crown over to Prince Charles. But, understanding her duty, she refused to abdicate, even as the monarchs of Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium had all done so in recent years.
Or maybe she was willing herself to live long enough to see Prime Minister Boris Johnson and "President" Donald Trump leave office. She didn't like either one. In 2021, she saw Trump leave, but when Prince Philip died a few weeks later, at the age of 99, royal observers thought she wouldn't live much longer. Nevertheless, at age 95, having survived the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the modernization of the world, and even a bout with COVID-19, she continued to not only do her job, but enjoy her job.
The year 2022 marked her 70th Anniversary on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee. For the 1st half of the year, turning 96, she was still involved in the celebrations. But she began canceling some appearances, due to what were being officially called "mobility issues." When she appeared in public, she seemed thinner, and was using a cane.
On September 6, with the Conservative Party having finally chosen a new Leader, triggering Johnson's announced resignation, that new Leader, Liz Truss, went to Balmoral, where the Queen was spending the Summer.
This was the 1st time since the establishment of the office of Prime Minister that the new holder of it had met with the monarch other than at a palace in London. That was considered a bad sign. And when no video of the event was released, that was also considered a bad sign. But in the official photographs, the Queen, while still thinner and looking frail, was smiling, and appeared to be fully mentally engaged. That was a good sign.
Just 2 days later, at 12:30 PM British time on September 8, Buckingham Palace released this announcement: "Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral." At 6:30 PM -- 1:30 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- the Queen's death was announced on the BBC.
Over 90 percent of people living in Britain had no memory of any monarch except Queen Elizabeth II. Now, they do: Her son became King Charles III. His son, Prince William, is now next in line.
Although Charles automatically gives up the titles he had previously held, William, already Duke of Cambridge, did not immediately receive Charles' title of Prince of Wales, which is usually given to the eldest son of the monarch. He will likely be invested in that title after Charles' coronation, which usually takes place a little over a year after the death of the preceding monarch. He did, however, immediately inherit Charles' former titles as Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. Officially, he is now listed in England as "Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge."
And so, after 70 years, British coins and banknotes will have a new face on them. All the institutions that were named "Her Majesty's (whatever)" are now "His Majesty's." And the National Anthem, for 70 years titled "God Save the Queen," is, for the first time since February 6, 1952, "God Save the King."
Charles has waited 73 years for this. He should get it right. There are people in the Commonwealth who no longer want a monarchy. Indeed, in Australia, it is said that there are many people who were Elizabethans, but not monarchists. It is entirely possible that some of the 14 nations in the Commonwealth, other than Britain itself, were waiting for the Queen to be gone before finally jettisoning the monarchy. We shall see.
UPDATE: On September 9, in his first address to the nation as King, Charles announced that he had given William and Kate the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales. An official investiture date, as with Charles' Coronation, has not yet been announced.
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