Queen Elizabeth II an enigma despite global fame
With a deep commitment to her royal duties, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was a familiar face to millions worldwide - although few people got the chance to know the British monarch well. She went on to serve until she died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday
Published: 07:09 PM,Sep 08,2022 | EDITED : 12:09 AM,Sep 09,2022
Queen
LONDON: When Princess Elizabeth of York was born on April 21,1926, it seemed unlikely she would ever be queen, let alone go on to become Britain's longest-serving monarch.
But when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936, her father, rather unwillingly, was crowned King George VI and as his eldest daughter she became the heir to the throne.
At that point, Elizabeth's fate was sealed. She was just 25 when the news reached her while on safari in Kenya with her husband Philip in February 1952, that her father had died in his sleep.
Queen Elizabeth II went on to become one of the world's most famous faces, travelling the globe endlessly representing her country.
'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,' she said in a radio broadcast in South Africa on her 21st birthday.
Widely admired for her unfailing self-discipline and sense of duty,it was a promise to which she is widely regarded to have stuck, becoming the longest serving British monarch in history in 2015, an honour previously held by her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Over her 70-year reign Queen Elizabeth has at various times been the head of state of some 15 other Commonwealth countries, has known 15 different British prime ministers and hosted world leaders as diverse as former US president John F Kennedy and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu.
In her trademark monochrome outfits and matching hats, she also carried out hundreds of less high-profile engagements every year,including visiting the more than 600 charities of which she was patron.
Despite her life in the public eye, Elizabeth remained an enigma to all but her closest family and friends, never giving interviews or hinting in public at the feelings that lay beneath her impeccable facade.
However, few doubted that she had fallen in love with Philip Mountbatten, her famously loyal husband, the first time she set eyes on him in 1939, when he was 18 and she just 13.
'She never looked at anyone else. She was smitten from the start,'her late cousin and confidante Margaret Rhodes once said.
But first came World War II, when Philip served in the Royal Navy and Lilibet, as Elizabeth was known to her family, was evacuated with her younger sister Margaret to the safety of Windsor Castle, just outside London.
It was possibly the only period in which the queen experienced anything like a normal life.
When she turned 18, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the army. No 230973 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor learned to drive and was photographed on her knees, wielding a spanner as she changed a tyre.
On May 8, 1945, she and Margaret were even allowed to join the throngs of revellers celebrating the end of the war on the streets of London, passing unnoticed among the cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace.
At this time, her parents, King George and Queen Elizabeth, were still encouraging Elizabeth to consider other potential suitors.
But the princess had her heart set on Philip. She got what she wanted and the couple were married in November 1947 at Westminster Abbey,with millions listening to the live radio broadcast.
Britain was still recovering from the war, and the wedding was a relatively simple affair. The bride wore a dress of ivory silk, for which she had to collect clothing coupons, as material was rationed.
The marriage was a happy one, and over the course of its 73 years,the couple were often pictured laughing together.
The queen had 'the quality of tolerance in abundance,' Philip once explained, while he was, as Elizabeth's former private secretary Lord Charteris once noted, 'the only man in the world who treats the queen simply as another human being.'
Together they had four children. Prince Charles, now king, was born in 1948, followed two years later by Princess Anne, while Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were born after the queen was crowned in 1953.
By the time of Philip's death in 2021 at the age of 99, he was the world's the longest-serving royal consort. Queen Elizabeth was famously photographed sitting alone in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle at his funeral due to Covid-19 rules, and paid tribute to him during her final Christmas speech the same year, recalling 'his sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation.'
By the time of her death, the queen had eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, including Prince George. His birth in 2013, to William and Kate, duke and duchess of Cambridge, meant she became the first monarch since Queen Victoria to have three direct heirs.
The queen was a staunch Christian - she was, after all, head of the Church of England - enjoyed Scottish country dancing, the occasion algin and Dubonnet, and was a passionate animal lover.
She owned more than 30 corgis during her reign, many of them descendants of the first, Susan, who was given to her as a present on her 18th birthday in 1944, as well as 11 'dorgis,' a breed she created herself by mating one of her corgis with a dachshund.
A regular at the racecourses of Epsom and Ascot, the queen was also a successful race horse owner and breeder. She was said to peruse the Racing Post over breakfast and continued to ride well into her 80s.
She was a popular monarch throughout her reign, though she was sometimes criticised for being out of touch. 'Have you been playing along time?' she infamously asked guitar legend Eric Clapton in 2005.
Her family, which she admitted did have its share of 'eccentricities,of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements' also caused her some grief, particularly in the 1990s.
What she herself described as her 'Annus horribilis' came in 1992,when the break-up of three of her children's marriages - Charles,Anne and Andrew - became public, and Windsor Castle suffered a devastating fire.
Yet arguably the lowest point of her reign came in 1997, when she was accused of coldness in her reaction to the death of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash.
Her decision to follow protocol rather than fly the flag of Buckingham Palace at half-mast, as well as not returning to London from her Scottish home Balmoral, were both widely considered to have been tone deaf amid the extraordinary scenes of public grief.
As the public mood grew hostile, then prime minister Tony Blair, who was acutely aware of just what a grave PR disaster the House of Windsor was creating, put pressure on the family to show themselves.
Eventually the queen relented, minimising the damage by returning to the capital and delivering a heartfelt address to the nation live on television.
More recently, the queen's platinum jubilee year was almost overshadowed by a civil case brought against her second son Andrew by Virginia Guiffre, who alleged that she had been sex trafficked to the prince by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein at least three times while still a minor.
Andrew eventually settled with Guiffre out of court for an undisclosed sum, but not before being was forced to step back from royal duties and to give up his military titles and His Royal Highness styling.
While many commentators suggest that the monarchy's attraction in the21st century is its steadfast continuity and the connection it represents to the past, Elizabeth did oversee many significant changes.
She introduced the first royal 'walkabout' so she could meet people other than dignitaries - contrasting with the mobility issues that affected her particularly in her final months.
She also ended the old-fashioned practice of presenting debutantes at court, volunteered to pay income tax, opened up Buckingham Palace to the public, and supported the end of primogeniture - the precedence of male heirs in royal succession.
On her platinum jubilee in February, tributes were led by her son and heir the Prince of Wales, who called her long reign a 'remarkable achievement,' adding that her 'devotion to the welfare of all her people inspires still greater admiration with each passing year.'
The prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, called the queen's platinum jubilee a 'truly historic moment' and praised the monarch for her 'inspirational sense of duty and unwavering dedication to this nation.' — dpa
But when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936, her father, rather unwillingly, was crowned King George VI and as his eldest daughter she became the heir to the throne.
At that point, Elizabeth's fate was sealed. She was just 25 when the news reached her while on safari in Kenya with her husband Philip in February 1952, that her father had died in his sleep.
Queen Elizabeth II went on to become one of the world's most famous faces, travelling the globe endlessly representing her country.
'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,' she said in a radio broadcast in South Africa on her 21st birthday.
Widely admired for her unfailing self-discipline and sense of duty,it was a promise to which she is widely regarded to have stuck, becoming the longest serving British monarch in history in 2015, an honour previously held by her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Over her 70-year reign Queen Elizabeth has at various times been the head of state of some 15 other Commonwealth countries, has known 15 different British prime ministers and hosted world leaders as diverse as former US president John F Kennedy and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu.
In her trademark monochrome outfits and matching hats, she also carried out hundreds of less high-profile engagements every year,including visiting the more than 600 charities of which she was patron.
Despite her life in the public eye, Elizabeth remained an enigma to all but her closest family and friends, never giving interviews or hinting in public at the feelings that lay beneath her impeccable facade.
However, few doubted that she had fallen in love with Philip Mountbatten, her famously loyal husband, the first time she set eyes on him in 1939, when he was 18 and she just 13.
'She never looked at anyone else. She was smitten from the start,'her late cousin and confidante Margaret Rhodes once said.
But first came World War II, when Philip served in the Royal Navy and Lilibet, as Elizabeth was known to her family, was evacuated with her younger sister Margaret to the safety of Windsor Castle, just outside London.
It was possibly the only period in which the queen experienced anything like a normal life.
When she turned 18, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the army. No 230973 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor learned to drive and was photographed on her knees, wielding a spanner as she changed a tyre.
On May 8, 1945, she and Margaret were even allowed to join the throngs of revellers celebrating the end of the war on the streets of London, passing unnoticed among the cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace.
At this time, her parents, King George and Queen Elizabeth, were still encouraging Elizabeth to consider other potential suitors.
But the princess had her heart set on Philip. She got what she wanted and the couple were married in November 1947 at Westminster Abbey,with millions listening to the live radio broadcast.
Britain was still recovering from the war, and the wedding was a relatively simple affair. The bride wore a dress of ivory silk, for which she had to collect clothing coupons, as material was rationed.
The marriage was a happy one, and over the course of its 73 years,the couple were often pictured laughing together.
The queen had 'the quality of tolerance in abundance,' Philip once explained, while he was, as Elizabeth's former private secretary Lord Charteris once noted, 'the only man in the world who treats the queen simply as another human being.'
Together they had four children. Prince Charles, now king, was born in 1948, followed two years later by Princess Anne, while Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were born after the queen was crowned in 1953.
By the time of Philip's death in 2021 at the age of 99, he was the world's the longest-serving royal consort. Queen Elizabeth was famously photographed sitting alone in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle at his funeral due to Covid-19 rules, and paid tribute to him during her final Christmas speech the same year, recalling 'his sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation.'
By the time of her death, the queen had eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, including Prince George. His birth in 2013, to William and Kate, duke and duchess of Cambridge, meant she became the first monarch since Queen Victoria to have three direct heirs.
The queen was a staunch Christian - she was, after all, head of the Church of England - enjoyed Scottish country dancing, the occasion algin and Dubonnet, and was a passionate animal lover.
She owned more than 30 corgis during her reign, many of them descendants of the first, Susan, who was given to her as a present on her 18th birthday in 1944, as well as 11 'dorgis,' a breed she created herself by mating one of her corgis with a dachshund.
A regular at the racecourses of Epsom and Ascot, the queen was also a successful race horse owner and breeder. She was said to peruse the Racing Post over breakfast and continued to ride well into her 80s.
She was a popular monarch throughout her reign, though she was sometimes criticised for being out of touch. 'Have you been playing along time?' she infamously asked guitar legend Eric Clapton in 2005.
Her family, which she admitted did have its share of 'eccentricities,of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements' also caused her some grief, particularly in the 1990s.
What she herself described as her 'Annus horribilis' came in 1992,when the break-up of three of her children's marriages - Charles,Anne and Andrew - became public, and Windsor Castle suffered a devastating fire.
Yet arguably the lowest point of her reign came in 1997, when she was accused of coldness in her reaction to the death of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash.
Her decision to follow protocol rather than fly the flag of Buckingham Palace at half-mast, as well as not returning to London from her Scottish home Balmoral, were both widely considered to have been tone deaf amid the extraordinary scenes of public grief.
As the public mood grew hostile, then prime minister Tony Blair, who was acutely aware of just what a grave PR disaster the House of Windsor was creating, put pressure on the family to show themselves.
Eventually the queen relented, minimising the damage by returning to the capital and delivering a heartfelt address to the nation live on television.
More recently, the queen's platinum jubilee year was almost overshadowed by a civil case brought against her second son Andrew by Virginia Guiffre, who alleged that she had been sex trafficked to the prince by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein at least three times while still a minor.
Andrew eventually settled with Guiffre out of court for an undisclosed sum, but not before being was forced to step back from royal duties and to give up his military titles and His Royal Highness styling.
While many commentators suggest that the monarchy's attraction in the21st century is its steadfast continuity and the connection it represents to the past, Elizabeth did oversee many significant changes.
She introduced the first royal 'walkabout' so she could meet people other than dignitaries - contrasting with the mobility issues that affected her particularly in her final months.
She also ended the old-fashioned practice of presenting debutantes at court, volunteered to pay income tax, opened up Buckingham Palace to the public, and supported the end of primogeniture - the precedence of male heirs in royal succession.
On her platinum jubilee in February, tributes were led by her son and heir the Prince of Wales, who called her long reign a 'remarkable achievement,' adding that her 'devotion to the welfare of all her people inspires still greater admiration with each passing year.'
The prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, called the queen's platinum jubilee a 'truly historic moment' and praised the monarch for her 'inspirational sense of duty and unwavering dedication to this nation.' — dpa