ELIZABETH II 1926 —

            “By the sudden death of my dear father I am called upon to assume the duties and responsibility of sovereignty”. These were the words of Queen Elizabeth II in her sim­ple yet moving Accession speech of 8 Feb­ruary 1952, just 36 hours after she had learnt that her father King George VI had died in his sleep. So, at the age of 25, Eliz­abeth Alexandra Mary, became the 42^nd sov­ereign of England since William the Con­queror, yet only its 6^th Queen Regnant.

                 Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning Brit­ish monarch since Queen Victoria (the last Queen Regnant), who occupied the throne for over 63 years, while their ancestor Eliz­abeth I reigned for 44 years.

                    Born on 21 April 1926, Elizabeth II is also the first female sovereign to bear the fam­ily name of Windsor, adopted by her grand­father King George V in 1917 for himself and his descendants. Since 1960, the name Mountbatten* has also been incorporated into the royal surname.

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* Windsor — official name of the British royal family since 1917, declared by royal proclamation during the anti-war atmosphere of World War I, adopted in place of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha. Since 1960 those descendants of Elizabeth II not enti­tled to the prefix HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) have borne the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. Mountbatten is the sur­name of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth's husband.

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              The full title of Elizabeth II is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North­ern Ireland, and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Common­wealth, Defender of the Faith.

               Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926 in London. The child of the younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII abdicated at her fa­ther’s favour on December 11, 1935 and she became heir presumptive.

                   The princess’s education was supervised by her mother, who entrusted her daughters to a governess, Marion Crawford; the prin­cess was also grounded in history by С. H. K. Martin, afterward provost of Eton College, and her instruction from visiting teachers in music and languages. During World War II, she and her sister, Princess Margarita Rose, perforce spent much of their time safely away from the London Blitz* and separated from their parents, living mostly at Balmoral Castle in Scot­land and Windsor Castle.

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* London Blitz— the period of heavy German bombing of London during the Second World War, especially in 1940.

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             During World War II, Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, and by an amendment to the Regency Act she became a state counsellor at 18 years old.

                     Early in 1947 Princess Elizabeth went with the King and Queen to South Africa. After her return there was an announcement of her betrothal to her distant cousin Lieuten­ant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy, whose mother was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Philip was the Prince of Greece and Denmark. The marriage took place in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. On the eve of the wedding her father, the king, conferred upon the bride­groom the titles of the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They took residence at Clarence House in London. Their first child, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born on November 14, 1948 at Buckingham Palace.

                   In the summer of 1951 the health of King George VI entered into a serious decline and Princess Elizabeth represented him at the Trooping the Colour* and on various other state occasions on October 7 she and her hus­band set out on a highly successful tour of Canada and Washington, DC.

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* Trooping theColour — a ceremony held on the British king or queen official birthday when many horse and foot soldiers march across Horse Guards Parade in London carrying their flags and the monarch himself/herself takes the salute.

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                  After Christ­mas in England, she and the duke set out in January 1952 for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but en route, at Sagana, Kenya, news reached them of the king’s death, on Febru­ary 6, 1952. Elizabeth, now queen, at once flew back to England. The first three months of her reign, the period of full mourning for her father, were passed in comparative seclu­sion. But in the summer, after she had moved to Buckingham Palace, she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and carried out her first State opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952. Her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

                       The public duties of the British monarch were then entirely ceremonial, but Queen Eliza­beth took her responsibilities seriously, inspecting state papers daily and consulting with prime ministers. She was educated in the role of constitutional monarch by her father and her grandmother Queen Mary, wife of George V. She was also trained by her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Harold Macmillan (1894-1986), prime minister from 1957 to 1963, wrote of her. “She loves her duty, and means to be a Queen and not a puppet.” Her constitutional role obliges her to keep opinions to herself. This makes her a somewhat colourless pub­lic personality, but those who know her speak of her shrewdness and sense of humour.

                  Beginning in November 1953, the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh made a 6-month round-the-world tour of the Commonwealth, which included the first visit to Australia and New Zealand by a reigning British mon­arch. In 1957, after state visits to various European nation, she and the duke visited Canada and the USA. In 1961, she made the first royal British tour to the Indian subcontinent in 50 years, and she was also the first British reigning monarch to visit South Africa (in 1968) and the Persian Gulf countries (in 1979).

                  On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles became heir apparent, he was named Prince of Wales on July 26, 1958, and was so invested on July 1, 1969. The Queen’s other children are Princess Anna (born 1950), Prince Andrew (born 1960) and Prince Edward (born 1964).

                  The queen seemed increasingly aware of the modern role of the monarchy, allowing, for example, the televising of the royal family’s domestic life in 1970 and condoning the formal dissolution of the sister’s marriage in 1978. She was known to favour simplicity in court life and was also known to take a serious and informed interest in govern­ment business, aside from the traditional and ceremonial duties. Privately she has become a keen horsewoman; she keeps racehorses, frequently attends races, and periodically vis­its the stud farms of Kentucky, U.S.

                Elizabeth’s reign has been marked by vast changes in the lives of her people and in the power and prestige of her nation. From the late 1940s through the early 1950s, some 40 former British colonies, protec­torates, and mandate territories were granted their independence. Beginning in the mid-1950s, there was constant turmoil in North Ireland. On this home front the nation suffered economic difficulties af­ter World War II, and major industries were nationalised; many of these were re­turned to private control during the 1980s and 1990s. Great Britain became a mem­ber, successively, of the European Econom­ic Community in 1973, and the European Union 1993. As head of the Common­wealth, Elizabeth’s primary role through­out this period was a symbol of unity and continuity within the Commonwealth, the member nations of which she frequently visited along with her husband.

                 The prestige of the monarchy declined in the 1990s, in large part because of scandals involving the marriages of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, and of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Both marriages ended in divorce in 1996. On the death in 1997 of Diana, who had been estranged from the royal family since her divorce, the outpour­ing of grief appeared to confirm the pub­lic’s disaffection with the monarchy.

                Elizabeth’s financial and property holdings have made her one of the world’s richest women. In April 1993 she voluntary began paying full rates of income tax and capital gains on her private income, which chiefly consists of the proceeds of a share portfolio and is esti­mated to be worth around 45 million pounds.

                    The Queen is the country’s official hostess entertaining, on behalf of her people, guests from all over the world. She has been described as the most generous hostess in the world with no other Head of State entertaining on quite the same scale. She welcomes visiting monarchs, princes, sheikhs and presidents to her palaces, castles, and even to her private homes at Balmoral and Sandringham, where they are treated to a unique hospitality.

                    Perhaps the most significant change in royal entertainment in recent years has been The Queen’s decision to open the doors of Buck­ingham Palace to the public. During the summer months, from early August until October, the 19 magnificent State Apart­ments can be inspected and thousands of visitors from all over the world spend hours enjoying the splendours of the rooms.

                    Royal hospitality could so easily become a cold and formal affair. The Queen has turned it into a warm, human activity by the obvious pleasure she takes in sharing her homes with others.