Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II, full name Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (1926- ), Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1952- ), daughter of King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, born in London. In 1944 she served as a councillor of state while her father was on the war front in Italy. She married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947, and a year later gave birth to a son, Charles. In 1950 she gave birth to a daughter, Anne. Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on the death of her father in February 1952. A second son, Andrew, was born to Elizabeth in 1960 and a third, Edward, in 1964.

Elizabeth’s reign has been marked by vast changes in the lives of her people and in the power and prestige of her country. The primary role of Elizabeth throughout this period was that of a symbol of unity and continuity within the Commonwealth of Nations, the member countries of which she frequently visited along with her husband. In 1992 a series of disasters struck the royal family, with a damaging fire in the state apartments at Windsor Castle, and the announcement of the formal separation of Prince Charles from his wife Diana, Princess of Wales, and of Prince Andrew from his wife, Sarah. In the same year, Elizabeth made private enquiries about the possibility of paying a voluntary tax on her personal income, and in February 1993 the government duly announced that she would be subject to normal tax rules.

In December 1995 Elizabeth wrote to Prince Charles and Princess Diana urging them to divorce, following the Princess’s public statements about their marriage, which led to formal divorce proceedings being instituted. The couple were formally divorced on August 28, 1996. Following the death of Diana from injuries received in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, Elizabeth came in for some public criticism for the apparent coolness of her response. Her live broadcast to the nation in tribute to Diana, which she made a week after the crash, partly restored public opinion. Diana’s death, however, sparked much debate on the role of the monarchy, its perceived lack of “popular” touch, the formality of its institutions, and its size in terms of the number of royals with public duties.

In November 1999 Australia voted in a referendum to retain their country’s constitutional monarchy, thus maintaining Australia’s ties with Britain. Elizabeth visited the country in 2002 during her tour of Commonwealth countries to mark the golden jubilee of her accession to the throne; a year also marked by the deaths of her mother, and sister Margaret. It is estimated that two million people attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations around Buckingham Palace, which included concerts and fireworks, in June.

See also Windsor.