Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. In her specific role as the monarch of the United Kingdom, one of her 16 realms, she is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of 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 1947 she married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she has four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her '''' ("horrible year"), Charles and Andrew separated from their wives, Anne divorced, and a severe fire damaged part of Windsor Castle. Revelations continued on the state of Charles's marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, and they divorced in 1996. The following year, Diana died in a Paris car crash, and the media criticised the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before her funeral. Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded after she appeared in public and has subsequently remained high.
Her reign of years is the second-longest for a British monarch; only Queen Victoria has reigned longer. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002; her Diamond Jubilee is being celebrated during 2012.
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. The
Anglican Archbishop of York,
Cosmo Lang,
baptised her in the private chapel of
Buckingham Palace on 29 May. She was named Elizabeth after her mother, Alexandra after
George V's mother, who had died six months earlier, and Mary after her paternal grandmother. Her close family called her "Lilibet". George V cherished his granddaughter, and during his serious illness in 1929 her regular visits were credited in the popular press and by later biographers with raising his spirits and 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". Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music. To the dismay of the royal family, in 1950 Crawford 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. Others echoed such observations: 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
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 many assumed he would marry and have children of his own. In 1936, when her grandfather,
George V, 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''. If her parents had had a son, he would have been
heir apparent and above her in the line of succession.
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 her father 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 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 declared, "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 bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, 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:
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. As she approached her 18th birthday, the law was changed so that she could act as one of five Counsellors of State in the event of her father's incapacity or absence abroad, such as his visit to Italy in July 1944. 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, and was promoted to honorary Junior Commander five months later.
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 because he felt such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince of Wales, and the Prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent. 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 through southern Africa. During the tour, in a broadcast to the British Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, 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."
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. They 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. Marion Crawford wrote, "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." 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 Britain had not yet completely rebounded from the devastation of the war. Elizabeth still required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown, designed by Norman Hartnell. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters. Edward, the former king, was not invited either.
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 use the style and title of a royal prince or princess. They otherwise would not have been entitled to such a status as their father was no longer a royal prince. 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 the British Protectorate of Malta 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
Accession and coronation
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 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 by way of
Kenya. On 6 February 1952, they had just returned to their Kenyan home,
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; she chose to remain 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 Elizabeth's grandmother 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." After the death of Queen Mary on 24 March 1953 and the resignation of Churchill in 1955, the surname ''Mountbatten-Windsor'' was adopted in 1960 for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles.
Amid preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret informed her sister that she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner 16 years her senior, 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, who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They were divorced in 1978. She did not remarry.
Despite the death of Queen Mary ten weeks before, the coronation went ahead on 2 June 1953. Before she died, Mary had asked that the coronation not be delayed. The ceremony in Westminster Abbey, except the anointing and communion, was televised for the first time, 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's coronation gown was commissioned from Norman Hartnell and embroidered on her instructions with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries: 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
Elizabeth witnessed, over her life, the ongoing transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of her 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 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 she 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.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led in 1957 to the first major 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. Six years later in 1963, Macmillan resigned and advised the Queen to appoint the Earl of Home as prime minister, advice that she followed. 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 involvement.
In 1957, she made a state visit 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 United States as Queen of Canada and toured Canada, despite learning upon landing at St. John's, Newfoundland, that she was pregnant with her third child. 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." Before her tour through parts of Quebec in 1964, the press reported that extermists within the Quebec separatist movement were plotting the Queen's assassination. No attempt was made, but a riot did break out while she was in Montreal; the Queen's "calmness and courage in the face of the violence" was noted.
Elizabeth's pregnancies with Princes Andrew and Edward in 1959 and 1963, respectively, mark the only times she has not performed the State Opening of the British parliament during her reign. In addition to performing traditional ceremonies, she also instituted new practices. Her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970.
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 she would not interfere in decisions reserved by the Constitution of Australia for the governor-general. 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 to the United Kingdom by
Romania's communist dictator
Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife
Elena, though privately she thought they had "blood on their hands". 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 after the failure of Bill C-60, which would have affected her role as head of state. Patriation removed the role of the British parliament in the Canadian constitution, 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
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. Police later 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. From April to September 1982, the Queen remained anxious but proud of her son, Prince Andrew, who was serving with British forces during the
Falklands War. On 9 July, the Queen 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, she spoke to Fagan while he sat at the foot of her bed until assistance arrived seven minutes later. 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. As Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of ''The Sun'', told his staff: "Give me a Sunday for Monday splash on the Royals. Don't worry if it's not true – so long as there's not too much of a fuss about it afterwards." Newspaper editor Donald Trelford wrote in ''The Observer'' of 21 September 1986: "The royal soap opera has now reached such a pitch of public interest that the boundary between fact and fiction has been lost sight of ... it is not just that some papers don't check their facts or accept denials: they don't care if the stories are true or not." It was reported, most notably in ''The Sunday Times'' of 20 July 1986, 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. The sources of the rumours included royal aide Michael Shea and Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal, but Shea claimed his remarks were taken out of context and embellished by speculation. Thatcher reputedly said the Queen would vote for the Social Democratic Party—Thatcher's political opponents. Thatcher's biographer John Campbell claimed "... the report was a piece of journalistic mischief-making". Belying reports of acrimony between them, Thatcher later conveyed her personal admiration for the Queen, and after Thatcher's replacement by John Major, Elizabeth gave two honours in her personal gift to Thatcher: appointment to the Order of Merit and the Order of the Garter.
In 1987, the elected Fijian government was deposed in a military coup. Elizabeth, as head of state, supported the attempts of the Governor-General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, to assert executive power and negotiate a settlement. Coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka deposed Ganilau, abolished the monarchy, and declared Fiji a republic. By the start of 1991, republican feeling in Britain had risen because 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, Elizabeth 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 reconcile.
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.
In the ensuing years, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's marriage continued. Even though support for republicanism in Britain seemed higher than at any time in living memory, republicanism remained a minority viewpoint and Elizabeth herself had high approval ratings. Criticism was focused on the institution of monarchy itself and the Queen's wider family rather than the Queen's own behaviour and actions. In consultation with Prime Minister Major, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, her private secretary Robert Fellowes, and her husband, she wrote to Charles and Diana at the end of December 1995, saying that a divorce was desirable. A year after the divorce, which took place in 1996, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. The Queen was on holiday with her son and grandchildren at Balmoral. Diana's two sons wanted to attend church, and so the Queen and Prince Philip 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 reaction, the Queen agreed to a live broadcast to the world and returned to London to deliver it 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. 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 generally healthy 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, she 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 bandage 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. At the invitation of Irish President Mary McAleese, in May 2011 the Queen made the first state visit to the Republic of Ireland by a British monarch.
Elizabeth addressed the United Nations for a second time in 2010, again in her capacity as queen of all her realms and Head of the Commonwealth. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon introduced her as "an anchor for our age". During her visit to New York, which followed a tour of Canada, she officially opened a memorial garden for the British victims of the 11 September attacks.
The Queen's visit to Australia in October 2011, her 16th visit since 1954, was called her "farewell tour" in the press because of her age. Elizabeth plans to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, marking 60 years as Queen. She is the longest-lived and second-longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, and the second-longest-serving current head of state (after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand). She does not intend to abdicate, though the proportion of public duties performed by Prince Charles may increase as Elizabeth reduces her commitments.
She is scheduled to open the 2012 Summer Olympics on 27 July and the Paralympics on 29 August in London. Her father, George VI, opened the 1948 London Olympics, and her great-grandfather, Edward VII, opened the 1908 London Olympics. Elizabeth also opened the 1976 Games in Canada, and Prince Philip opened the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
Public perception and character
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:
Shawcross, pp. 236–237}}
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 her speeches sounded like those of 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 in 1977, 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 Australian 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 referendums in Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 both rejected proposals to become republics.
Finances
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 2010, but official Buckingham Palace statements in 1993 called estimates of £100 million "grossly overstated".
Jock Colville, who was her former private secretary and a director of her bank,
Coutts, estimated her wealth in 1971 at £2 million (the equivalent of about £}} 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 £383 million in 2011.
Sandringham House and
Balmoral Castle are privately owned by the Queen. The British
Crown Estate—with holdings of £7.3 billion in 2011—is held in trust for the nation, and cannot be sold or owned by Elizabeth in a private capacity.
Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Titles and styles
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 Mann 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''.
She has received honours and awards from around the world, and has held honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, both before and after her accession.
Arms
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 point 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.
Issue
Name | Marriage !! Children !! Grandchildren |
rowspan="2">Charles, Prince of Wales |
14 November 1948 |
29 July 1981<Divorced 28 August 1996 | | | Diana, Princess of Wales>Lady Diana Spencer |
Prince William, Duke of CambridgePrince Harry of Wales |
9 April 2005 |
Camilla, Duchess of CornwallCamilla Shand || | |
rowspan="3">Anne, Princess Royal |
rowspan="3" 15 August 1950 || | 14 November 1973< | Divorced 28 April 1992 |
rowspan="2">Mark PhillipsCaptain Mark Phillips || | Peter Phillips |
Savannah PhillipsIsla Phillips
|
| Zara Phillips |
12 December 1992 |
Timothy LaurenceSir Timothy Laurence || | |
Prince Andrew, Duke of York |
19 February 1960 | | 23 July 1986Divorced 30 May 1996 |
Sarah, Duchess of York>Sarah Ferguson |
Princess Beatrice of YorkPrincess Eugenie of York |
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex |
10 March 1964 | | 19 June 1999 |
Sophie, Countess of Wessex>Sophie Rhys-Jones |
Lady Louise WindsorJames, Viscount Severn |
Ancestry
{{ahnentafel-compact5
|style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
|border=1
|boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
|2= 2. George VI of the United Kingdom
|3= 3. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
|4= 4. George V of the United Kingdom
|5= 5. Princess Mary of Teck
|6= 6. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne
|7= 7. Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck
|8= 8. Edward VII of the United Kingdom
|9= 9. Princess Alexandra of Denmark
|10= 10. Francis, Duke of Teck
|11= 11. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge
|12= 12. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne
|13= 13. Frances Dora Smith
|14= 14. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck
|15= 15. Caroline Louisa Burnaby
|16= 16. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
|17= 17. Victoria of the United Kingdom (niece of 22)
|18= 18. Christian IX of Denmark
|19= 19. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel
|20= 20. Duke Alexander of Württemberg
|21= 21. Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde
|22= 22. Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (uncle of 17)
|23= 23. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel
|24= 24. Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis
|25= 25. Charlotte Grimstead
|26= 26. Oswald Smith
|27= 27. Henrietta Mildred Hodgson
|28= 28. Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck
|29= 29. Anne Wellesley
|30= 30. Edwyn Burnaby
|31= 31. Anne Caroline Salisbury
}}
See also
List of current heads of state and government
List of the richest royals
Royal intermarriage
Notes
See
Queen's Official Birthday for an explanation of why her official birthday is not the same as her real one.
Her godparents were: King George V and Queen Mary; Lord Strathmore;
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (her paternal great-granduncle);
Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles (her paternal aunt); and
Lady Elphinstone (her maternal aunt).
Canada has used three different versions of the arms during her reign. This version was used between 1957 and 1994.
References
Bibliography
Bond, Jennie (2006). ''Elizabeth: Eighty Glorious Years''. London: Carlton Publishing Group. ISBN 1844422607
Bousfield, Arthur; Toffoli, Gary (2002). ''Fifty Years the Queen''. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 1550023608
Bradford, Sarah (2012). ''Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times''. London: Penguin. ISBN 9780670919116
Brandreth, Gyles (2004). ''Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage''. London: Century. ISBN 0712661034
Briggs, Asa (1995). ''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: Volume 4''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192129678
Campbell, John (2003). ''Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady''. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0224061569
Crawford, Marion (1950). ''The Little Princesses''. London: Cassell & Co.
Hardman, Robert (2011). ''Our Queen''. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091936891
Heald, Tim (2007). ''Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780297848202
Hoey, Brian (2002). ''Her Majesty: Fifty Regal Years''. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0006531369
Lacey, Robert (2002). ''Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II''. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 0316859400
Macmillan, Harold (1972). ''Pointing The Way 1959–1961'' London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333124111
Marr, Andrew (2011). ''The Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and Her People''. London: Macmillan. ISBN 9780230748521
Neil, Andrew (1996). ''Full Disclosure''. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333646827
Nicolson, Sir Harold (1952). ''King George the Fifth: His Life and Reign''. London: Constable & Co.
Petropoulos, Jonathan (2006). ''Royals and the Reich: the princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany''. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195161335
Pimlott, Ben (2001). ''The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy''. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0002554941
Roberts, Andrew; Edited by Antonia Fraser (2000). ''The House of Windsor''. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 0304354066
Shawcross, William (2002). ''Queen and Country''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0771080565
Thatcher, Margaret (1993). ''The Downing Street Years''. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0002550490
Trudeau, Pierre Elliott (1993). ''Memoirs''. Toronto: McLelland & Stewart. ISBN 0771085885
Wyatt, Woodrow; Edited by Sarah Curtis (1999). ''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume II''. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333774051
External links
Official British website
Official Canadian website
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af:Elizabeth II van die Verenigde Koninkryk
als:Elisabeth II.
ang:Elisabeþ II
ar:إليزابيث الثانية
an:Isabel II d'o Reino Unito
ast:Sabela II del Reinu Xuníu
az:II Yelizaveta
bn:দ্বিতীয় এলিজাবেথ
bjn:Elizabeth II matan Britania Raya
zh-min-nan:Elizabeth 2-sè
be:Елізавета II
be-x-old:Лізавета II
bi:Elisabet II
bg:Елизабет II (Обединено кралство)
bs:Elizabeta II, kraljica Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva
br:Elesbed II
ca:Elisabet II del Regne Unit
ceb:Elizabeth II sa Hiniusang Gingharian
cs:Alžběta II.
cbk-zam:Reina Elizabeth, el aca-segundo
cy:Elisabeth II, brenhines y Deyrnas Unedig
da:Elizabeth 2. af Storbritannien
de:Elisabeth II.
nv:Kwį́į́n Elizabeth II
et:Elizabeth II
el:Ελισάβετ Β΄ του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου
es:Isabel II del Reino Unido
eo:Elizabeto la 2-a (Britio)
ext:Isabel II del Réinu Uniu
eu:Elisabet II.a Erresuma Batukoa
fa:الیزابت دوم
fr:Élisabeth II du Royaume-Uni
fy:Elizabeth II fan it Feriene Keninkryk
ga:Eilís II na Ríochta Aontaithe
gv:Ealisaid II y Reeriaght Unnaneysit
gd:Ban-rìgh Ealasaid II
gl:Isabel II do Reino Unido
hak:Elizabeth Ngi-sṳ
ko:엘리자베스 2세
hy:Եղիսաբեթ II
hi:संयुक्त राजशाही की एलिज़ाबेथ द्वितीय
hr:Elizabeta II.
io:Elizabeth 2ma
ilo:Isabel II ti Reino Unido
id:Elizabeth II dari Britania Raya
ie:Elisabeth II
os:Елизаветæ II
zu:Elizabeth II
is:Elísabet 2. Bretadrottning
it:Elisabetta II del Regno Unito
he:אליזבת השנייה, מלכת הממלכה המאוחדת
jv:Elizabeth II saking Britania Raya
kn:ಎರಡನೇ ಎಲಿಜಬೆಥ್
ka:ელისაბედ II
kk:Елизавета ІІ
kw:Elisabeth II
sw:Elizabeth II wa Uingereza
la:Elizabeth II (regina Britanniarum)
lv:Elizabete II Vindzora
lt:Elžbieta II
hu:II. Erzsébet brit királynő
mk:Елизабета II
ml:എലിസബത്ത് II
mi:Irihapeti te Tuarua
mr:एलिझाबेथ दुसरी
arz:اليزابيث التانيه
ms:Elizabeth II dari United Kingdom
mn:II Элизабет
my:အယ်လီဇဘက် ဒုတိယ (ယူကေဘုရင်မ)
nah:Cihuātlahtoāni Elizabeth II
nl:Elizabeth II van het Verenigd Koninkrijk
ja:エリザベス2世
no:Elisabeth II av Storbritannia
nn:Elizabeth II av Storbritannia
nrm:Lîzabé II du Rouoyaume Unni
nov:Elisabeth II
oc:Elisabeta II del Reialme Unit
pnb:ملکہ الزبتھ II
pap:Elizabet II
pcd:HM Queen Elizabeth II
pms:Elisabeta II dël Regn Unì
tpi:Elisabet II
pl:Elżbieta II
pt:Isabel II do Reino Unido
ro:Elisabeta a II-a
qu:Elisabeth II
ru:Елизавета II
se:Elizabeth II
sa:एलिज़बेथ २
sco:Elizabeth II
sq:Elizabeth II
scn:Elisabetta II dû Regnu Unitu
si:දෙවන එලිසබෙත් රැජින
simple:Elizabeth II
ss:Indlovukazi Elizabeth II
sk:Alžbeta II.
sl:Elizabeta II. Britanska
so:Elizabeth II
sr:Елизабета II
sh:Elizabeta II
fi:Elisabet II
sv:Elizabeth II
tl:Elizabeth II ng Mga Nagkakaisang Kaharian
ta:ஐக்கிய இராச்சியத்தின் இரண்டாம் எலிசபெத்
kab:Elizabeth II
roa-tara:Lesabbètte II d'u Regne Aunìte
tt:Елизавета II
te:ఎలిజబెత్ II
th:สมเด็จพระราชินีนาถเอลิซาเบธที่ 2 แห่งสหราชอาณาจักร
tr:II. Elizabeth
uk:Єлизавета II (королева Великої Британії)
ur:ایلزبتھ دوم
ug:ئېلىزابېت II
vi:Elizabeth II
war:Elizabeth II han Reino Unido
yi:עליזאבעט די צווייטע
yo:Elisabeti Keji
zh-yue:伊利沙伯二世
bat-smg:Elžbieta II
zh:伊丽莎白二世