With the announcement of the death of the British Queen on Thursday, the country turns 70 decades of the reign of Elizabeth II, who made her last appearance two days ago when she formally approved the appointment of Liz Terrace as Prime Minister.
Queen Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 96, surrounded by her family at Balmoral Palace in Scotland, is the most popular British queen, and ascended the throne for the longest period in the history of the United Kingdom, breaking the record for assuming the throne for seventy years.
Milestones in the life of Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926, became the heir to the throne at the age of 10, and has never attended outside school, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Her full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, and the official name is “Elizabeth II”, and she was the eldest daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his wife Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, according to the website “”biography“.
At the time of her birth, most people did not realize that Elizabeth would one day become Queen of Great Britain, and she enjoyed the first decade of her life with all the perks of being a royal without the stress of being an heir.
Elizabeth and her younger sister Marguerite were tutored at home, and courses included French academic, mathematics and history, as well as lessons in dance, singing, and the arts.
A coincidence changed the course of her life
When Elizabeth’s grandfather George V died in 1936, his eldest son (Elizabeth’s uncle) King Edward VIII became heir to the throne, however, Edward loved American Wallis Simpson, and had to choose between the crown and his heart. In the end, Edward chose Simpson and abdicated the crown. According to Biography.
As the daughter of King George V’s youngest son, the young Elizabeth had little chance of assuming the throne until her uncle Edward VIII (later Duke of Windsor) abdicated in favor of her father on December 11, 1936, according to the website.britannica“.
The event changed the course of her life, and made her the presumptive heir to the British crown, as her father, King George VI, took the throne in 1937, and she became the presumptive heir to the British throne.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Elizabeth and her sister remained largely outside London, having been moved to Windsor Castle.
From there she made her first popular radio program in 1940, with this special speech to reassure British children who had been evacuated from their homes and their families.
Elizabeth soon began to assume other public duties, her first public appearance to inspect the troops in 1942, and she also began to accompany her parents on official visits within Britain.
In 1945, Elizabeth joined the British Territorial Service to assist in the war effort, and trained alongside other British women to become a chauffeur and mechanic.
She had another vivid experience outside the monarchy when she and her sister were allowed to mingle anonymously among the citizens on D-Day in Europe, according to the site.
On November 20, 1947, Elizabeth married her cousin Prince Philip, and on the eve of the wedding, her father the King granted the groom the titles (Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merion and Baron Greenwich).
Their first child, Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George) was born on November 14, 1948 at Buckingham Palace.
In the summer of 1951, King George VI’s health seriously deteriorated, and on February 6, 1952, Elizabeth II, aged 25, took the throne.
Since that date, she assumed the routine duties of the King and carried out her first term in Parliament on November 4, 1952, and her coronation ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.
Upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles became heir to the throne, and was named Prince of Wales on 26 July 1958.
The Queen gave birth to Princess Anne, on August 15, 1950, Prince Andrew on February 19, 1960, and Prince Edward on March 10, 1964, and she is also the grandmother of Princes William and Harry.
record holder
Elizabeth, in her more than ninety-six years, is the oldest queen to sit on the throne in the world, and she was the longest-reigning queen in Britain and assumed the throne for more than seventy years.
In 2015, Elizabeth II surpassed the previous record held by her grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose reign lasted 63 years, 7 months and 2 days (from June 20, 1837 until her death on January 22, 1901).
As Queen Elizabeth II visited more than a hundred countries, another record for a British monarch.
She made more than 150 visits to the Commonwealth countries, as she visited Canada 22 times, which is the most visited member country of the Commonwealth, while she went 13 times to France, which speaks its language and represents the most visited European country.
According to the calculations of the Daily Telegraph, Elizabeth traveled the world an average of 42 times before she stopped traveling abroad in November 2015 when she was 89 years old.
The Queen lived with 15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill (1952-1955) to Liz Terrace in 2022.
Queen Elizabeth met 13 of the 14 US presidents, from Harry Truman (1945-1953) to current Joe Biden.
The Queen met four popes during official visits: John XXIII (1961), John Paul II (1980, 1982, 2000), Benedict XVI (2010) and Pope Francis (2014).
Her marriage to Prince Philip lasted 73 years before his death in April 2021, which also represents a record for a British monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II was the first British monarch to visit China, in 1996.
She was the first British monarch to address the US House of Representatives, on May 16, 1991.
She sent her first email on March 26, 1976, during a visit to a Defense Department research center, and in 1997 launched the first official Buckingham Palace website.
She wrote her first tweet on Twitter in 2014, while she published her first post on Instagram in 2019.
No British monarch has ever held the throne for this long. It is unlikely that any other king will achieve this, as Prince Charles, the heir to the throne is 73 years old, and his son William will soon celebrate his 40th birthday.
The British monarchy has witnessed a series of scandals in the past months, with accusations of sexual assault in the United States against the Queen’s son Prince Andrew that ended in paying millions of dollars, as well as accusations of racism against the royal family by Prince Charles’s son, Harry and his wife Megan Markle, who are currently residing in California and their relationship has become frosty with The rest of the royal family, according to AFP.