Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II in 2007
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Reign
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since 6 February 1952
(58 years, 319 days)
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Coronation
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2 June 1953
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Predecessor
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George VI
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Heir apparent
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Charles, Prince of Wales
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Prime Ministers
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See list
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Consort
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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Charles, Prince of Wales
Anne, Princess Royal
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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Full name
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Elizabeth Alexandra Mary
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House
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House of Windsor
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Father
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George VI
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Mother
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Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
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Born
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21 April 1926
Mayfair, London,
United Kingdom
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Signature
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Elizabeth II's signature
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Religion
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Church of England & Church of Scotland
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Elizabeth
II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926) is the reigning queen
and head of state of 16 independent sovereign states known as the
Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint
Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the
figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British
monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Elizabeth
was educated privately at home. Her father, George VI, became
King-Emperor of the British Empire in 1936. She began to undertake
public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the
Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and Indian independence
George VI's title of Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution
of the Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made
the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married Prince
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Charles, Anne,
Andrew, and Edward.
In
1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a symbol of
the free association of the independent countries comprising the
Commonwealth of Nations. On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of
the Commonwealth, and constitutional monarch of seven independent
Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation in 1953 was
the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 58 years is one of
the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other
countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between
1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and
Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.
In
1992, which Elizabeth termed her annus horribilis, meaning horrible
year, two of her sons separated from their wives, her daughter divorced,
and a severe fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle. Revelations on the
state of her eldest son Charles's marriage continued, and he divorced in
1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of
Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticised the royal
family for remaining in seclusion in the days before Diana's funeral,
but Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in
public and has since remained high. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were
celebrated in 1977 and 2002 respectively, and planning for her Diamond
Jubilee in 2012 is underway.
Early life
Elizabeth
was the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George
VI), and his wife, Elizabeth. Her father was the second son of King
George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of
Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and
Kinghorne. She was born by Caesarean section at 2.40 am (GMT) on 21
April 1926 at her maternal grandfather's London house: 17 Bruton Street,
Mayfair; and was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace by
the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Lang, on 29 May. She was named Elizabeth
after her mother, Alexandra after George V's mother, and Mary after her
grandmother. Her close family called her "Lilibet". George V cherished
his granddaughter, and during his serious illness in 1929 her regular
visits raised his spirits and were credited with aiding his recovery.
Elizabeth's
only sibling was Princess Margaret, born in 1930. The two princesses
were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their
governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as "Crawfie". To the
dismay of the royal family,Crawford later published a biography of
Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses.
The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her
orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Such observations were
echoed by others: Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two
as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness
astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as
"a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved".
Heiress presumptive
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Princess Elizabeth at age 7
Painting by Philip de László, |
As
a granddaughter of the monarch in the male line, Elizabeth's full style
at birth was Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. She was
third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle, Edward,
Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth generated public
interest, she was not expected to become queen, as the Prince of Wales
was still young, and it was widely assumed that he would marry and have
children of his own. In 1936, when her grandfather, the King, died and
her uncle Edward succeeded, she became second in line to the throne
after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated after his proposed
marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional
crisis. Elizabeth's father became king, and she became heiress
presumptive, with the style Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth.
Elizabeth
received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten,
Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from a succession of
native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham
Palace Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with
girls her own age. Later she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.
In
1939, Elizabeth's parents toured Canada and visited the United States.
As in 1927, when her parents had toured Australia and New Zealand,
Elizabeth remained in Britain as the King thought her too young to
undertake public tours. Elizabeth "looked tearful" as her parents
departed. They corresponded regularly, and on 18 May, she and her
parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call.
Second World War
From
September 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, Elizabeth
and her younger sister, Margaret, stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland,
until Christmas 1939, when they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk.
From February to May 1940, they lived at Royal Lodge, Windsor, until
moving to Windsor Castle, where they stayed for most of the next five
years. The suggestion by senior politician Lord Hailsham that the two
princesses should be evacuated to Canada was rejected by Elizabeth's
mother; she said, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave
without the King. And the King will never leave." At Windsor, the
princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool
Fund, which purchased yarn to knit into military garments. It was from
Windsor in 1940 that the 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio
broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children
who had been evacuated from the cities.She stated:
We
are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and
airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and
sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be
well.
In
1943, at the age of 16, Elizabeth undertook her first solo public
appearance on a visit to the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been
appointed Colonel-in-Chief the previous year. In February 1945, she
joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, as an honorary Second
Subaltern with the service number of 230873. She trained as a driver and
mechanic, drove a military truck, and was promoted to honorary Junior
Commander five months later. She is the last surviving head of state who
served in uniform during the Second World War.
During
the war, plans were drawn up to quell Welsh nationalism by affiliating
Elizabeth more closely with Wales. Welsh politicians proposed that
Elizabeth be made Princess of Wales on her 18th birthday. The idea was
supported by Home Secretary Herbert Morrison but rejected by the King on
the grounds that such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince
of Wales, and the Prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent
(usually the Sovereign's eldest surviving son) while Elizabeth was only
heir presumptive (and could be supplanted in the line of succession if
the Sovereign had a son). In 1946, she was inducted into the Welsh
Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
At
the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and
her sister mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the
streets of London. She later said in a rare interview, "we asked my
parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were
terrified of being recognised ... I remember lines of unknown people
linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a
tide of happiness and relief." Two years later, the Princess made her
first overseas tour, when she accompanied her parents to Southern
Africa. On her 21st birthday, 21 April 1947, in a broadcast to the
British Commonwealth from South Africa, she pledged: "I declare before
you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be
devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to
which we all belong."
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Elizabeth, outside Buckingham Palace, aged 19, in 1946,
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Marriage
Elizabeth
met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934
and 1937. After another meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth
in July 1939, Elizabeth – though only 13 years old – fell in love with
Philip, and they began to exchange letters. They married on 20 November
1947 at Westminster Abbey. The couple are second cousins once removed
through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen
Victoria. Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish
titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the
style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's
British family. Just before the wedding, he was created Duke of
Edinburgh and granted the style of His Royal Highness.
The
marriage was not without controversy: Philip had no financial standing,
was foreign-born (though a British subject), and had sisters who had
married German noblemen with Nazi links. Elizabeth's mother was
reported, in later biographies, to have opposed the union initially,
even dubbing Philip "The Hun". In later life, however, she told
biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Elizabeth
and Philip received 2500 wedding gifts from around the world, but the
country had not yet completely rebounded from the devastation of the
war. She still required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown,
designed by Norman Hartnell. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable
for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to
the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters. Ronald Storrs
claimed that another notable absentee, Elizabeth's aunt, Mary, Princess
Royal, refused to attend because her brother Edward, the former king,
was not invited; she gave ill health as the official reason for not
attending.
Elizabeth
gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948,
less than one month after letters patent were issued by her father
allowing her children to enjoy a royal and princely status to which they
otherwise would not have been entitled. A second child, Princess Anne,
was born in 1950.
Following
their wedding, the couple leased Windlesham Moor near Windsor Castle,
until 4 July 1949, when they took up residence at Clarence House in
London. At various times between 1949 and 1951, the Duke of Edinburgh
was stationed in Malta (at that time a British Protectorate) as a
serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently, for
several months at a time, in the Maltese hamlet of Gwardamanġia, at the
Villa Gwardamanġia, the rented home of Philip's uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
The children remained in Britain.
Reign
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Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, June 1953,
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George
VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth was soon frequently
standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she
toured Canada, and visited President of the United States Harry S.
Truman in Washington, D.C.; on the trip, her private secretary, Martin
Charteris, carried a draft accession declaration for use if the King
died while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out
for a tour of Australia and New Zealand via Kenya. On 6 February 1952,
they had just returned to their Kenyan residence Sagana Lodge, after a
night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of
Elizabeth's father. Philip broke the news to the new queen. Martin
Charteris asked her to choose a regnal name, to which she replied:
"Elizabeth, of course." She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms,
and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the
Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.
With
Elizabeth's accession it seemed likely that the royal house would bear
her husband's name. Lord Mountbatten thought it would be the House of
Mountbatten, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name
on marriage; however, Queen Mary and British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill favoured the retention of the House of Windsor, and so Windsor
it remained. The Duke complained,"I am the only man in the country not
allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, after the death
of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the surname
Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line
descendants who do not carry royal titles.
In
the midst of preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret
informed her sister that she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorced
commoner 16 years older than Margaret with two sons from his previous
marriage. The Queen asked them to wait for a year; in the words of
Martin Charteris, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the
Princess, but I think she thought – she hoped – given time, the affair
would peter out."Senior politicians were against the match, and the
Church of England did not permit re-marriage after divorce. If Margaret
contracted a civil marriage, she would have to renounce her right of
succession. Eventually, she decided to abandon her plans with Townsend.
In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. They
were divorced in 1978. She did not remarry.
Despite
the death of Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the
coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, in accordance
with Mary's wishes. The entire ceremony, except the anointing and
communion, was televised, and the coverage was instrumental in boosting
the medium's popularity; the number of television licences in the United
Kingdom doubled to 3 million, and many of the more than 20 million
British viewers watched television for the first time in the homes of
their friends or neighbours. In North America, just under 100 million
viewers watched recorded broadcasts. Elizabeth wore a gown commissioned
from Norman Hartnell, which was embroidered with floral emblems for the
countries of the Commonwealth: English Tudor rose, Scots thistle, Welsh
leek, Irish shamrock, Australian wattle, Canadian maple leaf, New
Zealand silver fern, South African protea, lotus flowers for India and
Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
Continuing evolution of the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations and Historical development of the Commonwealth realm
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Queen Elizabeth with Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies
during her first visit to Australia in 1954, |
Elizabeth
witnessed, over her life, the ongoing transformation of the British
Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of Elizabeth's
accession in 1952, her role as nominal head of multiple independent
states was already established. Spanning 1953–54, the Queen and her
husband embarked on a six-month around-the-world tour. She became the
first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those
nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the
population of Australia were estimated to have seen the Queen.Throughout
her reign Elizabeth has undertaken state visits to foreign countries,
and tours of Commonwealth ones. She is the most widely travelled head of
state in history.
In
1956, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and British Prime Minister Sir
Anthony Eden discussed the possibility of France joining the
Commonwealth. The proposal was never accepted, and the following year
France signed the Treaty of Rome, which established the European
Economic Community, the precursor of the European Union. In November
1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful
attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten claimed the Queen
was opposed to the invasion, though Prime Minister Eden denied it. Eden
resigned two months later.
The
absence of a formal mechanism within the Conservative Party for
choosing a leader meant that, following Eden's resignation, it fell to
the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government. Eden
recommended that Elizabeth consult Lord Salisbury (the Lord President of
the Council). Lord Salisbury and Lord Kilmuir (the Lord Chancellor)
consulted the Cabinet, Winston Churchill, and the Chairman of the
backbench 1922 Committee, as a result of which the Queen appointed their
recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan. Six years later, Macmillan
himself resigned and advised the Queen to appoint the Earl of Home as
Prime Minister, advice which she followed.
The
Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led in 1957 to the first
real personal criticism of the Queen. In a magazine, which he owned and
edited,Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". Altrincham
was denounced by public figures and physically attacked by a member of
the public appalled at his comments. In 1963, the Queen again came under
criticism for appointing the Prime Minister on the advice of a small
number of ministers, or a single minister. In 1965, the Conservatives
adopted a formal mechanism for choosing a leader, thus relieving her of
any involvement.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Queen Elizabeth II's Address to the United Nations General Assembly
In
1957, she made a state visit on behalf of the Commonwealth to the
United States, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
On the same tour she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the
first monarch of Canada to open a parliamentary session. Two years
later, she revisited the States as a representative of Canada. In 1961,
she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Iran. On a visit to Ghana
the same year, she dismissed fears for her safety, even though her host
President Kwame Nkrumah, who had replaced her as head of state, was a
target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote: "The Queen has been
absolutely determined all through ... She is impatient of the attitude
towards her to treat her as ... a film star ... She has indeed 'the
heart and stomach of a man' ... She loves her duty and means to be a
Queen."
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Elizabeth (left) with US First Lady Pat Nixon, 1970; President Nixon is hidden
from view behind Elizabeth, next to British Prime Minister Edward Heath (far left), |
Elizabeth's
pregnancies with Princes Andrew and Edward, in 1959 and 1963, mark the
only times she has not performed the State Opening of the British
Parliament during her reign. Instead, Parliament was opened by Royal
Commission and the Lord Chancellor delivered the speech from the throne.
The
1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and
the Caribbean. Over 20 countries gained independence from Britain as
part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however,
Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith declared unilateral independence in
opposition to moves toward majority black rule. Although the Queen
dismissed Smith in a formal declaration and the international community
applied sanctions against Rhodesia, Smith's regime survived for over a
decade.
In
February 1974, British Prime Minister Edward Heath called a general
election in the middle of the Queen's tour of the Austronesian Pacific
Rim, and she had to fly back to Britain interrupting the tour.The
inconclusive result of the election meant that Heath, whose Conservative
party had the largest share of the popular vote but no overall
majority, could stay in office if he formed a coalition with the
Liberals. Heath only resigned when discussions on forming a cooperative
government foundered, after which the Queen asked the Leader of the
Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.
A
year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis,
Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed from his post by
Governor-General Sir John Kerr after the Opposition-controlled Senate
rejected Whitlam's budget proposals. As Whitlam had a majority in the
House of Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to the Queen
to reverse Kerr's decision. Elizabeth declined, stating that it was not
appropriate for her to intervene in affairs that are reserved for the
Governor-General by the Constitution of Australia. The crisis fuelled
Australian republicanism.
Silver Jubilee
In
1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and
events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with the
Queen's associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations
re-affirmed the Queen's popularity, despite virtually coincident
negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her
husband. In 1978, Elizabeth endured a state visit by the communist
dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu. The following year brought two
blows: one was the unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the
Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy; the other was the assassination of
her relative and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish
Republican Army.
According
to Paul Martin, Sr., by the end of the 1970s the Queen was worried the
Crown "had little meaning for" Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Tony Benn said that the Queen found Trudeau "rather disappointing".
Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics,
such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting
behind the Queen's back in 1977, and the removal of various Canadian
royal symbols during his term of office. In 1980, Canadian politicians
sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution
found the Queen "better informed on ... Canada's constitutional case
than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats". She was interested
in the constitutional debate, particularly after the failure of Bill
C-60, which would have affected her role as head of state. As a result
of the patriation, the role of the British parliament in the Canadian
constitution was removed, but the monarchy was retained. Trudeau said in
his memoirs: "The Queen favoured my attempt to reform the Constitution.
I was always impressed not only by the grace she displayed in public at
all times, but by the wisdom she showed in private conversation."
1980s
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Elizabeth riding Burmese at a Trooping the Colour ceremony,
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During
the 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, and only six weeks before the
wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, six shots
were fired at the Queen from close range as she rode down The Mall on
her horse, Burmese. Later, it was discovered that the shots were blanks.
The 17-year-old assailant, Marcus Sarjeant, was sentenced to five years
in prison and released after three. The Queen's composure, and skill in
controlling her mount, were widely praised. The following year, the
Queen found herself in another precarious situation when she awoke in
her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael Fagan, in
the room with her. Remaining calm, and through two calls to the palace
police switchboard, Elizabeth spoke to Fagan while he sat at the foot of
her bed until assistance arrived seven minutes later. From April to
September that year, the Queen remained anxious but proudof her son,
Prince Andrew, who was serving with British forces during the Falklands
War. Though she hosted President Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle in
1982, and visited his Californian ranch in 1983, she was angered when
his administration ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of her Caribbean
realms, without her foreknowledge.
Intense
media interest in the opinions and private lives of the royal family
during the 1980s led to a series of sensational stories in the press,
not all of which were entirely true. It was reported that Elizabeth was
worried that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's economic
policies fostered social divisions, and was alarmed by high
unemployment, a series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike, and
Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in
South Africa.Thatcher reputedly said the Queen would vote for the Social
Democratic Party—Thatcher's political opponents.Despite such
speculation, Thatcher later conveyed her personal admiration for the
Queen on film and in her memoirs. Further belying reports of acrimony
between them, after Thatcher's replacement by John Major, Elizabeth gave
two honours in her personal gift to Thatcher: the Order of Merit and
the Order of the Garter. She also attended Thatcher's 70th and 80th
birthday parties.
By
the start of 1991, republican feeling had risen as a result of press
estimates of the Queen's private wealth, which were contradicted by the
palace, and reports of affairs and strained marriages among her extended
family.The involvement of the younger royals in the charity game show
It's a Royal Knockout was ridiculed, and the Queen was the target of
satire.
1990s
In
1991, in the wake of victory in the Gulf War, she became the first
British monarch to address a joint session of the United States
Congress. The following year, she attempted to save the failing marriage
of her eldest son, Charles, by counselling him and his wife, Diana,
Princess of Wales, to patch up their differences.
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Prince Philip and Elizabeth II, October 1992,
|
In
a speech on 24 November 1992, to mark the 40th anniversary of her
accession, the Queen called 1992 her "annus horribilis", meaning
horrible year. In March, her second son Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and
his wife Sarah, Duchess of York, separated. In April, her daughter
Anne, Princess Royal, divorced her husband Captain Mark Phillips. During
a state visit to Germany in October, angry demonstrators in Dresden
threw eggs at her, and in November Windsor Castle suffered severe fire
damage. The monarchy received increased criticism and public scrutiny.
In an unusually personal speech, Elizabeth said that any institution
must expect criticism but suggested it be done with "a touch of humour,
gentleness and understanding". Two days later, Prime Minister John Major
announced reforms of the royal finances that had been planned since the
previous year, including the Queen paying income tax for the first time
starting in 1993 and a reduction in the civil list. In December,
Charles and Diana formally separated. The year ended with a lawsuit as
the Queen sued The Sun newspaper for breach of copyright when it
published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before its
broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees, and donated
£200,000 to charity.
Charles and Diana
In
the ensuing years, public revelations on the state of Charles and
Diana's marriage continued. At the end of December 1995, in consultation
with Prime Minister Major, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, her
private secretary Robert Fellowes, and her husband, she wrote to both
Charles and Diana saying that a divorce was now desirable. A year after
the divorce, which took place in 1996, Diana was killed in a car crash
in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, the Queen was on holiday at
Balmoral with her son and grandchildren. Diana's two sons wanted to
attend church, and so their grandparents took them that morning.
After
that single public appearance, for five days the Queen and the Duke
shielded their grandsons from the intense press interest by keeping them
at Balmoral where they could grieve in private. The royal family's
seclusion caused public dismay.Pressured by the hostile public reaction,
the Queen returned to London and agreed to a live broadcast to the
world on 5 September, the day before Diana's funeral. In the broadcast,
she expressed admiration for Diana, and her feelings "as a grandmother"
for Princes William and Harry.As a result, much of the public hostility
evaporated.
Golden Jubilee and beyond
In
2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee as queen. Her sister and
mother died in February and March, respectively, and the media
speculated whether the Jubilee would be a success or a failure.She again
undertook an extensive tour of her realms, which began in Jamaica in
February, where she called the farewell banquet "memorable" after a
power cut plunged the King's House, the official residence of the
Governor-General, into darkness. As in 1977, there were street parties
and commemorative events, and monuments were named to honour the
occasion. A million people attended each day of the three-day main
Jubilee celebration in London, and the enthusiasm shown by the public
for Elizabeth was greater than many journalists had predicted.
Though
Elizabeth has enjoyed good health throughout her life, in 2003 she had
keyhole surgery on both knees, and in June 2005 she cancelled several
engagements after contracting a bad cold. In October 2006, the Queen
missed the opening of the new Emirates Stadium because of a strained
back muscle that had been troubling her since the summer. Two months
later, she was seen in public with a plaster on her right hand, which
led to press speculation of ill health. She had been bitten by one of
her corgis while she was separating two that were fighting.
In
May 2007, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported claims from unnamed
sources that the Queen was "exasperated and frustrated" by the policies
of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that she had shown concern that
the British Armed Forces were overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
that she had raised concerns over rural and countryside issues with
Blair repeatedly. She was, however, said to admire Blair's efforts to
achieve peace in Northern Ireland. On 20 March 2008, at the Church of
Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the Queen attended the first
Maundy Service held outside of England and Wales.
The
Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 60th wedding
anniversary in 2007; their marriage is the longest of any British
monarch. The Queen's reign is longer than those of her four immediate
predecessors combined (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and George
VI). She is the third-longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom,
the second-longest-serving current monarch of a sovereign state (after
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand), and the oldest reigning British
monarch. She has no intention of abdicating, though the proportion of
public duties performed by Prince Charles may increase as Elizabeth
reduces her commitments.
Elizabeth
addressed the United Nations for a second time in 2010, 53 years after
her first address, again in her capacity as queen of all of her realms
and Head of the Commonwealth. She was introduced by UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon as "an anchor for our age". In her speech, which followed a
tour of Canada and was considered by her staff to be one of her most
important recently, she said that she had "witnessed great change, much
of it for the better ... But", she continued, "The aims and values which
inspired the United Nations Charter endure." She concluded, "In
tomorrow's world, we must all work together as hard as ever if we are
truly to be united nations." While in New York, she also officially
opened a memorial garden for the British victims of the 11 September
attacks.
Elizabeth
plans to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, marking 60 years as
Queen. Elizabeth could become the longest-lived British head of state
(surpassing Richard Cromwell) on 29 January 2012 at age 85, and the
longest-reigning monarch in the history of any of her realms as well as
the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history (surpassing Queen
Victoria, who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897) on 10 September
2015 at age 89.
Public perception and character
Personality and image of Queen Elizabeth II
Since
Elizabeth rarely gives interviews, little is known of her personal
feelings. As a constitutional monarch, she has not expressed her own
political opinions in a public forum. She does have a deep sense of
religious and civic duty, and takes her coronation oath seriously. Aside
from her official religious role as Supreme Governor of the established
Church of England, she personally worships with that church and with
the national Church of Scotland. She has demonstrated support for
inter-faith relations, and has met with leaders of other religions, and
granted her personal patronage to the Council of Christians and Jews. A
personal note about her faith often features in her annual Royal
Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth, such as in 2000, when
she spoke about the theological significance of the millennium marking
the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ:
To
many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the
teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God
provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of
you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and
example.
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Elizabeth II and Ronald Reagan riding at Windsor, 1982.
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Elizabeth
is the patron of over 600 charities and other organisations. Her main
leisure interests include equestrianism and dogs, especially her
Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Her clothes consist mostly of solid-colour
overcoats and decorative hats, which allow her to be seen easily in a
crowd.
In
the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was
depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen".After the trauma of the war,
it was a time of hope, a period of progress and achievement heralding a
"new Elizabethan age". Lord Altrincham's accusation in 1957 that she was
a "priggish schoolgirl" was an extremely rare criticism. In the late
1960s, attempts to portray a more modern image of monarchy were made in
the television documentary Royal Family, and by televising Prince
Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales. At her Silver Jubilee, the
crowds and celebrations were genuinely enthusiastic, but in the 1980s
public criticism of the royal family increased, as the personal and
working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny.
Elizabeth's popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s; under pressure
from public opinion she began to pay income tax for the first time, and
Buckingham Palace was opened to the public. Discontent with the monarchy
reached its peak on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, though the
Queen's popularity rebounded after her live broadcast to the world five
days after Diana's death. In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on
the future of the monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an
indirectly elected head of state. Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007
revealed strong support for Elizabeth, and referenda in Tuvalu in 2008
and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 both rejected proposals to
abolish the monarchy.
Finances
Finances of the British Royal Family
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Sandringham House, Elizabeth's private residence in Sandringham, Norfolk,
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Elizabeth's
personal fortune has been the subject of speculation for many years.
Forbes magazine estimated her net worth at around US$450 million in
2009, but official Buckingham Palace statements in 1993 called estimates
of £100 million "grossly overstated", and Jock Colville estimated her
wealth at £2 million in 1971 (the equivalent of about £21 million today.
The Royal Collection, which includes artworks and the Crown Jewels, is
not owned by the Queen personally and is held in trust, as are the
occupied palaces in the United Kingdom such as Buckingham Palace and
Windsor Castle, and the Duchy of Lancaster, a property portfolio valued
at £348 million in 2010. As with many of her predecessors, Elizabeth is
reported to dislike Buckingham Palace as a residence, and prefers
Windsor Castle. Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are privately
owned by the Queen. Income from the British Crown Estate – with holdings
of £6.6 billion in 2010 – is transferred to the British treasury in
return for Civil List payments. Both the Crown Estate and the Crown Land
of Canada – comprising 89% of Canada's area – are owned by the
Sovereign in trust for the nation, and cannot be sold or owned by
Elizabeth in a private capacity.
Titles, styles, honours, and arms
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Titles and styles
Titles and honours of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth
has held titles throughout her life, as a granddaughter of the monarch,
as a daughter of the monarch, through her husband's titles, and
eventually as Sovereign. In common parlance, she is The Queen or Her
Majesty. Officially, she has a distinct title in each of her realms:
Queen of Canada in Canada, Queen of Australia in Australia, etc. In the
Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are Crown dependencies rather
than separate realms, she is known as Duke of Normandy and Lord of Man
respectively. Additional styles include Defender of the Faith and Duke
of Lancaster. When in conversation with the Queen, the practice is to
initially address her as Your Majesty and thereafter as Ma'am.
Elizabeth
has received honours and awards from countries around the world, and
has held honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, both
before and after her accession.
Arms
Main article: Flags and coats of arms of Elizabeth II
From
21 April 1944, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a lozenge bearing the
royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, differenced with a label of
three points argent, the centre bearing a Tudor Rose and the first and
third a cross of St. George. After her accession as Sovereign, she
adopted the royal coat of arms undifferenced. The design of the shield
is also used on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom. Elizabeth has
personal flags for use in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica,
Barbados, and elsewhere.
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