Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King George V. She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother). In 1936, her father became king after the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, which made the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to carry out public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married a former prince of Greece and Denmark, Philip Mountbatten. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth, then 25 years old, became queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries and head of the Commonwealth. She reigned as a constitutional monarch through times of big political change, such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities, as well as its subsequent withdrawal. The number of her realms changed over time as territories gained independence and as most realms became republics. As queen, Elizabeth was advised by more than 170 prime ministers across her realms. Her many historic visits included state visits to China in 1986, to Russia in 1994, and to the Republic of Ireland in 2011. She met five popes and fourteen US presidents.

Important events of Elizabeth's reign included her coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees. There was sometimes republican feeling and criticism of her family in the media, especially after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death of her former daughter-in-law Diana in 1997. Even so, support for the monarchy and her popularity in the United Kingdom stayed consistently high. Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and she was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.

Early life

Elizabeth was born at 2:40 am on 21 April 1926, by Caesarean section, at her maternal grandfather's London home, 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair. She was the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother). Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his wife, Cecilia (née Cavendish-Bentinck). She was baptised in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace on 29 May by the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang. She was named Elizabeth after her mother, Alexandra after her paternal great-grandmother, who had died five months earlier, and Mary after her paternal grandmother. Her close family called her "Lilibet." She was loved by her grandfather George V, whom she called "Grandpa England." Her visits during his serious illness in 1929 were said to have lifted his spirits and helped him recover.

Elizabeth appeared on the cover of Time in April 1929. A portrait of her by Philip de László was painted in 1933. Her only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930. They were cared for by their nanny, Clara Knight, and taught at home by their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford. Lessons focused on history, languages, literature, and music. In 1950, Crawford published a book about the girls' childhood, The Little Princesses, which upset the royal family. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her tidiness, and her sense of responsibility. Winston Churchill described her at age two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes called her "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved." Elizabeth's early life was mostly spent at the Yorks' town house in London at 145 Piccadilly and at Royal Lodge in Windsor.

Heir presumptive

Main article: Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten

During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales and her father. When her grandfather died in 1936, her uncle became Edward VIII and she became second in line. Later that year, Edward abdicated after his proposed marriage to divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson caused a constitutional crisis. Her father became king, taking the regnal name George VI. Because Elizabeth had no brothers, she became heir presumptive. A son born later to her parents would have been heir apparent and placed before her under the male-preference primogeniture rule then in effect. She received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed so she could meet girls her age, and she later became a Sea Ranger. In 1939, her parents toured Canada and the United States, and she stayed in Britain. That September, Britain entered the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested that the princesses be evacuated to Canada to avoid aerial bombings of London by the Luftwaffe, but their mother refused.

During the war, the princesses lived at Balmoral Castle, Sandringham House, and Windsor Castle. In 1943, Elizabeth made her first solo public appearance, visiting the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed colonel. In 1947, she went on her first overseas tour, and on her 21st birthday she made a broadcast to the British Commonwealth, pledging her life to service. She had met Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1934 and 1937, and again in July 1939, and their engagement was announced on 9 July 1947. They were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey, and Philip was made Duke of Edinburgh shortly before the wedding. Their first child, Prince Charles, was born in November 1948, and Princess Anne was born in August 1950.

Reign

Main article: Coronation of Elizabeth II

Further information: Commonwealth realm § Second Elizabethan era

Elizabeth became queen after the death of her father, King George VI, in February 1952. She chose to keep the name Elizabeth, so she was called Elizabeth II. Her coronation took place on 2 June 1953, and the ceremony in Westminster Abbey was shown on television for the first time. That same year, she and Prince Philip took a seven-month tour of 13 countries. She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. Over her reign, she made hundreds of state visits and tours of the Commonwealth, and she was the most widely travelled head of state. As the British Empire changed into the Commonwealth of Nations, she remained the head of many independent countries.

Elizabeth faced many changes and challenges during her reign, including the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. In 1997, after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, she spoke to the nation on television, and public feeling softened. In 1999, she opened new parliaments for Wales and Scotland. She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2002 and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. On 9 September 2015, she became the longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she stayed at Windsor Castle and gave televised messages to the nation. Her husband, Philip, died on 9 April 2021, after 73 years of marriage. In 2022, she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, and on 13 June she became the second-longest reigning monarch in history. On 6 September 2022, she appointed Liz Truss as prime minister at Balmoral Castle.

Main article: Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II

On 8 September 2022, Buckingham Palace said the Queen's doctors were concerned for her health and had recommended she stay under medical supervision. She was comfortable and at Balmoral. Her immediate family rushed to Balmoral. Elizabeth died peacefully at 3:10 pm, aged 96. Her death was announced to the public at 6:30 pm, starting Operation London Bridge and, because she died in Scotland, Operation Unicorn. She was the first monarch to die in Scotland since James V in 1542. Her death certificate listed her cause of death as "old age". According to former prime minister Boris Johnson and biographer Gyles Brandreth, she had a form of bone marrow cancer, which Brandreth wrote was multiple myeloma.

Her coffin was carried up the Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral, where the Crown of Scotland was placed on it, and it was guarded by the Royal Company of Archers there. It was then flown to RAF Northolt and taken by road to Buckingham Palace. Her body lay in state at Westminster Hall for four days, guarded by members of the Sovereign's Bodyguard and the Household Division. Around 250,000 members of the public filed past the coffin. Her children and then her grandchildren each held a vigil beside it. Her state funeral was held at Westminster Abbey, the first monarch's funeral service there since that of George II in 1760. More than a million people lined the streets of central London. Her fell pony and two royal corgis stood at the side of the final procession in Windsor. Her body was then interred at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, after a committal service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Public image

Main article: Personality and image of Elizabeth II

Elizabeth had a deep sense of religious and civic duty, and took her Coronation Oath seriously. Aside from her official religious role as supreme governor of the established Church of England, she worshipped with that church and with the national Church of Scotland. She supported inter-faith relations and met with leaders of other churches and religions, including five popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. A personal note about her faith often featured in her annual Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth. Elizabeth rarely gave interviews, and little was known of her political opinions, which she did not express in public. When Paul Routledge, a journalist for The Times, asked her about the miners' strike of 1984–85, she replied that it was "all about one man" (a reference to Arthur Scargill). She was patron of more than 600 organisations and charities, and the Charities Aid Foundation estimated that she helped raise over £1.4 billion for them. Her main leisure interests included equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis, a love that began in 1933 with Dookie, the first of many royal corgis.

In the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen", and the time was described as a "new Elizabethan age" of hope and progress after the Second World War. In the late 1960s, the television documentary Royal Family and the televising of Prince Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales tried to show a more modern image of the monarchy. Her wardrobe developed a recognisable style, with mostly solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats, so she could be seen easily in a crowd. Her popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s, but it later recovered, and support for republicanism in Britain remained a minority view. In 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian monarchy favoured keeping it. In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted a "deep affection" for Elizabeth in Australia, and Malcolm Turnbull said in 2021 that "there are more Elizabethans than there are monarchists" there. Referendums in Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 also saw voters reject proposals to become republics. Her family came under scrutiny again in her last years, including over her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan's exit from the working royal family and subsequent move to the United States. As of 2021, she remained the third most admired woman in the world according to the annual Gallup poll. She was portrayed by many artists, including painters Pietro Annigoni, Peter Blake, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, Terence Cuneo, Lucian Freud, Rolf Harris, Damien Hirst, Juliet Pannett and Tai-Shan Schierenberg. Notable photographers included Cecil Beaton, Yousuf Karsh, Anwar Hussein, Annie Leibovitz, Lord Lichfield, Terry O'Neill, John Swannell and Dorothy Wilding. The first official portrait photograph of Elizabeth was taken by Marcus Adams in 1926.

Main article: List of titles and honours of Elizabeth II

Her royal cypher was topped by St Edward's Crown. Elizabeth held many titles and honorary military positions across the Commonwealth. She was the sovereign of many orders in her own countries and received honours and awards from around the world. Each of her realms had its own title, and these titles followed a similar pattern. For example, in Saint Lucia she was Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories. She was also styled Defender of the Faith.

From 21 April 1944 until she became queen, Elizabeth's arms were a lozenge with the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom on it. It had a label of three points, argent, with a Tudor rose on the centre point and a cross of Saint George on the first and third points. When she became queen, she took over the arms her father had used as sovereign, with a later changed picture of the crown. Elizabeth also had royal standards and personal flags for use in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and other places. She approved her changed British arms on 26 May 1954.

See also: Flags of Elizabeth II

Coat of arms as Duchess of Edinburgh (1947–1952)

Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom

Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom for use in Scotland

Royal coat of arms of Canada

Family tree