Early life
Elizabeth was born on 21 April 1926, the first child ofHeir presumptive
During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in theSecond World War
In September 1939, Britain entered the Second World War.Marriage
Elizabeth met her future husband,Reign
Accession and coronation
George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth frequently stood in for him at public events. When she visited Canada and PresidentContinuing evolution of the Commonwealth
From Elizabeth's birth onwards, theAcceleration of decolonisation
The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in theSilver Jubilee
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with her associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed Elizabeth's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her husband,Press scrutiny and Thatcher premiership
During the 1981Turbulent 1990s and ''annus horribilis''
In the wake of coalition victory in theGolden Jubilee
On the eve of the new millennium, Elizabeth and Philip boarded a vessel fromDiamond Jubilee and longevity
Elizabeth's 2012 Diamond Jubilee marked 60 years on the throne, and celebrations were held throughout her realms, the wider Commonwealth, and beyond. She and her husband undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom, while her children and grandchildren embarked on royal tours of other Commonwealth states on her behalf. On 4 June, Jubilee beacons were lit around the world. On 18 December, she became the first BritishCOVID-19 pandemic
On 19 March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United Kingdom, Elizabeth moved to Windsor Castle and sequestered there as a precaution. Public engagements were cancelled and Windsor Castle followed a strict sanitary protocol nicknamed "HMS Bubble". On 5 April, in a televised broadcast watched by an estimated 24 million viewers in the UK, she asked people to "take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again." On 8 May, the 75th anniversary ofPlatinum Jubilee
Elizabeth'sDeath
On 8 September 2022, Buckingham Palace released a statement which read: "Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral." Elizabeth's immediate family rushed to Balmoral to be by her side. She died "peacefully" at 15:10 British Summer Time, BST at the age of 96, with two of her children, Charles and Anne, by her side. Her death was announced to the public at 18:30, setting in motion Operation London Bridge and, because she died in Scotland, Operation Unicorn (Scotland), Operation Unicorn. Elizabeth was the first monarch to die in Scotland since James V in 1542. Her death certificate recorded her cause of death as "old age". On 12 September, Elizabeth's coffin was carried up the Royal Mile in a procession to St Giles' Cathedral, where the Crown of Scotland was placed on it. Her coffin lay at rest at the cathedral for 24 hours, guarded by the Royal Company of Archers, during which around 33,000 people filed past the coffin. It was taken by air to London on 13 September. On 14 September, her coffin was taken in a military procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where Elizabeth lay in state for four days. The coffin was guarded by members of both the Sovereign's Bodyguard and the Household Division. An estimated 250,000 members of the public filed past the coffin, as did politicians and other public figures. On 16 September, Elizabeth's children held Vigil of the Princes#Queen Elizabeth II, a vigil around her coffin, and the next day her eight grandchildren did the same. Elizabeth's State funerals in the United Kingdom, state funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 September, which marked the first time that a monarch's funeral service had been held at the Abbey since George II of Great Britain, George II in 1760. More than a million people lined the streets of central London, and the day was declared a holiday in several Commonwealth countries. In Windsor, a final procession involving 1,000 military personnel took place which was witnessed by 97,000 people. Elizabeth's fell pony, and two royal corgis, stood at the side of the procession. After a Committal Service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Elizabeth was interred with her husband Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel later the same day in a private ceremony attended by her closest family members.Legacy
Beliefs, activities and interests
Elizabeth rarely gave interviews and little was known of her political opinions, which she did not express explicitly in public. It is against convention to ask or reveal the monarch's views. When ''Times'' journalist Paul Routledge asked her about the miners' strike of 1984–85 during a royal tour of the newspaper's offices, she replied that it was "all about one man" (a reference to Arthur Scargill), with which Routledge disagreed. Routledge was widely criticised in the media for asking the question, and claimed that he was unaware of the protocols. After the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard saying that Elizabeth was pleased with the outcome. She had arguably issued a public coded statement about the referendum by telling one woman outside Balmoral Kirk that she hoped people would think "very carefully" about the outcome. It emerged later that Cameron had specifically requested that she register her concern. Elizabeth had a deep sense of religious and civic duty, and took her Coronation Oath seriously. Aside from her Monarchy of the United Kingdom#Religious role, official religious role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Supreme Governor of the State religion, established Church of England, she worshipped with that church and also the national Church of Scotland. She demonstrated support for Interfaith dialogue, 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 Pope Francis, Francis. A personal note about her faith often featured in her annual Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth. In 2000, she said: Elizabeth was patron of more than 600 organisations and charities. The Charities Aid Foundation estimated that Elizabeth helped raise over £1.4 billion for her patronages during her reign. Her main leisure interests included equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Her lifelong love of corgis began in 1933 with Dookie (dog), Dookie, the first corgi owned by her family. Scenes of a relaxed, informal home life were occasionally witnessed; she and her family, from time to time, prepared a meal together and washed the dishes afterwards.Media depiction and public opinion
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 Second World 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 the monarchy were made in the television documentary ''Royal Family (film), Royal Family'' and by televising Prince Charles's Investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales, investiture as Prince of Wales. Elizabeth also instituted other new practices; her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970. Her wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. In public, she took to wearing mostly solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats, allowing her to be seen easily in a crowd. At Elizabeth's 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. Her 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. Although support for republicanism in Britain seemed higher than at any time in living memory, republican ideology was still a minority viewpoint and Elizabeth herself had high approval ratings. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of Elizabeth's wider family, rather than her own behaviour and actions. Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, although Elizabeth's personal popularity—as well as general support for the monarchy—rebounded after her live television broadcast to the world five days after Diana's death. In November 1999, 1999 Australian republic referendum, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of state. Many republicans credited Elizabeth's personal popularity with the survival of the monarchy in Australia. In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted that there was a "deep affection" for Elizabeth in Australia and another referendum on the monarchy should wait until after her reign. Gillard's successor, Malcolm Turnbull, who led the republican campaign in 1999, similarly believed that Australians would not vote to become a republic in her lifetime. "She's been an extraordinary head of state", Turnbull said in 2021, "and I think frankly, in Australia, there are more Elizabethans than there are monarchists". Similarly, referendums in both 2008 Tuvaluan constitutional referendum, Tuvalu in 2008 and 2009 Vincentian constitutional referendum, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 saw voters reject proposals to become republics. Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007 revealed strong support for the monarchy, and in 2012, Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee year, her approval ratings hit 90 per cent. Her family came under scrutiny again in the last few years of her life due to her son Andrew's association with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Virginia Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, his lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre amidst accusations of sexual impropriety, and her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Meghan's Megxit, exit from the working royal family and subsequent move to the United States. Polling in Great Britain during the Platinum Jubilee, however, showed Elizabeth's personal popularity remained strong. As of 2021 she remained the third most admired woman in the world according to the annual Gallup poll, her 52 appearances on the list meaning she had been in the top ten more than any other woman in the poll's history. Elizabeth was portrayed in a variety of media by many notable artists, including painters Pietro Annigoni, Peter Blake (artist), Peter Blake, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, Terence Cuneo, Lucian Freud, Rolf Harris, Damien Hirst, Juliet Pannett and Tai-Shan Schierenberg. Notable photographers of Elizabeth included Cecil Beaton, Yousuf Karsh, Anwar Hussein (photographer), Anwar Hussein, Annie Leibovitz, Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, Lord Lichfield, Terry O'Neill (photographer), Terry O'Neill, John Swannell (photographer), John Swannell and Dorothy Wilding. The first official portrait photograph of Elizabeth was taken by Marcus Adams (photographer), Marcus Adams in 1926.Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Titles and styles
* 21 April 1926 – 11 December 1936: Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York * 11 December 1936 – 20 November 1947: Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth * 20 November 1947 – 6 February 1952: Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh * 6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022: Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth held many titles and honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, was sovereign of many orders in her own countries, and received honours and awards from around the world. In each of her realms, she had a distinct title that follows a similar formula: ''Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories'' in Monarchy of Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia, ''Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories'' in Australia, etc. In the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are Crown Dependencies rather than separate realms, she was known as Duke of Normandy and Lord of Mann, respectively. Additional styles include Defender of the Faith and Duke of Lancaster.Arms
From 21 April 1944 until her accession, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a Lozenge (heraldry), lozenge bearing the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a Label (heraldry), label of three points argent, the centre point bearing a Tudor rose and the first and third a cross of St George. Upon her accession, she inherited the various arms her father held as sovereign. Elizabeth also possessed Heraldic banner, royal standards and personal flags for use Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, in the United Kingdom, Royal standards of Canada, Canada, Queen's Personal Australian Flag, Australia, Queen's Personal New Zealand Flag, New Zealand, Queen's Personal Jamaican Flag, Jamaica, and elsewhere.Issue
Ancestry
See also
* Finances of the British royal family * Household of Elizabeth II * List of things named after Elizabeth II * List of jubilees of Elizabeth II * List of special addresses made by Elizabeth II * Royal eponyms in Canada * Royal descendants of Queen Victoria and of King Christian IX * List of covers of Time magazine (1920s), List of covers of Time magazine (1940s), (1940s), List of covers of Time magazine (1950s), (1950s), List of covers of Time magazine (2010s), (2010s)Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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