![]() Elizabeth, on a visit to Kenya, was told that she was now queen. In 1952, George VI died at 56 after years of ill health. He was followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Prince Edward in 1964. The first of their four children, Prince Charles, was born in 1948. The couple lived for a time in Malta, where Philip was stationed, and Elizabeth enjoyed an almost-normal life as a navy wife. But the bride was allowed 100 extra ration coupons for her trousseau. Postwar Britain was experiencing austerity and rationing, and so street decorations were limited and no public holiday was declared. On the night the war ended in Europe, May 8, 1945, she and Margaret managed to mingle, unrecognized, with celebrating crowds in London - “swept along on a tide of happiness and relief,” as she told the BBC decades later, describing it as “one of the most memorable nights of my life.”Īt Westminster Abbey in November 1947 she married Royal Navy officer Philip Mountbatten, a prince of Greece and Denmark whom she had first met in 1939 when she was 13 and he 18. She enthusiastically learned to drive and service heavy vehicles. In 1945, after months of campaigning for her parents’ permission to do something for the war effort, the heir to the throne became Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.” And we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. “We are trying to do all we can to help out gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen. “We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage,” she said with a blend of stoicism and hope that would echo throughout her reign. She made her first public broadcast in 1940 when she was 14, sending a wartime message to children evacuated to the countryside or overseas. Even there, 300 bombs fell in an adjacent park, and the princesses spent many nights in an underground shelter. While the king and queen stayed at Buckingham Palace during the Blitz and toured the bombed-out neighborhoods of London, Elizabeth and Margaret spent most of the war at Windsor Castle, west of the capital. She never tired of the companionship of her beloved Welsh corgi dogs.Įlizabeth was barely in her teens when Britain went to war with Germany in 1939. A horse owner, she rarely seemed happier than during the Royal Ascot racing week. Of her personality, the public saw relatively little. Her image, which adorned stamps, coins and banknotes, was among the most reproduced in the world.īut her inner life and opinions remained mostly an enigma. Through countless public events, she probably met more people than anyone in history. ![]() Married for more than 73 years to Prince Philip, who died in 2021 at age 99, Elizabeth was matriarch to a royal family whose troubles were a subject of global fascination - amplified by fictionalized accounts such as the TV series “The Crown.” She is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She headed the 54-nation Commonwealth, built around Britain and its former colonies. Despite Britain’s complex and often fraught ties with its former colonies, Elizabeth was widely respected and remained head of state of more than a dozen countries, from Canada to Tuvalu.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |