Elizabeth II, symbol of British stability from the Empire to Brexit

He ascended the throne in 1952, at the age of 25, after the untimely death of his father, King George HIVhas been the longest-living queen in history, respected not only in the United Kingdom but throughout the world for her simplicity and because of her austerityIn 1992 she lived her ‘Annus Horribilis’ with the separation of three of her children and the fire in Windsor Isabel Alejandra Margarita Windsor was born on April 21, 1926 at 17 Bruton Street, the Victorian house that her parents had in the London neighborhood of Mayfair. She was the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Albert, later to become King George VI, and the aristocrat Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later known as the Queen Mother. In her privacy, she was nicknamed “Lilibet” because it was the way she pronounced her own name when she was little. She had a sister four years younger, Princess Margaret. The two were educated at home by their mother and by various governesses, the main one being Marion Crawford, whom they called “Crawfie”. At the age of ten, when their father became king, they established their official residence at Buckingham Palace. . She would later study History, Constitutional Law, Music and Art through private tutors. Like all people of her generation, her adolescence was marked by the Second World War (1939-1945), which broke out when she was 13 years old, and by the Nazi bombing of the entire United Kingdom, the so-called ‘Blitz’, which practically destroyed the country and which lasted from 1940 until the end of the war. In fact, Buckingham Palace was one of the first buildings to be bombed by German aircraft. That was a decisive moment for the Royal House as King George VI decided to stay in London, instead of going to a safe place outside the country, to set an example for the population. They stayed at the palace and sent her two girls, then 14 and 10 years old, to Balmoral Castle in Scotland. They could have sent them to one of their colonies in the other part of the world to be safe, but they chose to stay in the country. Many London families sent their little ones to the countryside, to rural and remote areas to protect them from the bombs of Hitler’s Luftwaffe that fell from the sky. The Churchill government also launched a program to send 2,600 children to the colonies. Elizabeth and Margaret spent World War II between Balmoral and Windsor castles. The trucker princess Elizabeth first entered public life in 1940, at the age of 14, when she gave a radio address for the BBC’s children’s program ‘The Children’s Hour’ in which she tried to lift the spirits of the other children in the country who, like her, were estranged from their parents. She and her sister also allowed themselves to be photographed while gardening in the fields of Windsor to inspire other compatriots to grow their own food in the face of the scarcity that loomed in the country. But the young Elizabeth wanted to participate in the war, to serve her country. She always ran into the refusal of her parents until when she turned 18 they allowed her to enlist in the Territorial Auxiliary Service, the female branch of the Army, which provided support on British soil. The young Isabel joined as a mechanic and truck driver at the beginning of 1945, although she went to sleep in Windsor at night unlike her companions, and was nicknamed by the press as “the trucker princess”. On May 8, 1945, D-Day, the Allied Victory Day over the Nazis, Elizabeth and Margaret received royal permission to join the popular celebrations. They mingled among the people for the first time in their lives without anyone recognizing them, and they could feel for a day what burned inside the citizens and allowed the euphoria to be unleashed on a date they would never forget. Isabel II never missed the memorial for the dead in World War II, which is celebrated in the United Kingdom on the second Sunday of November, beyond the times she was traveling or in recent years due to her deteriorating state of health. 13-year-old love Elizabeth II was an unexpected queen. Nothing predicted that she would end up being crowned. At birth she became third in the line of succession behind her uncle, Prince David, who was still very young and could have children and any male child would go ahead of her. And she also had her father ahead of her, who was also very young. Despite this, the events unfolded unpredictably. David ascended the throne at age 42 in January 1936 as King Edward VIII, but abdicated eleven years later so he could marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, and his brother, Elizabeth’s father Albert, succeeded him in December 1936 as George VI. But George VI was a heavy smoker and was diagnosed with lung cancer and died of a heart attack in 1952, prompting Elizabeth II’s premature accession to the throne at the age of 25. Isabel had made her first official trip abroad, to South Africa, in 1947, at the age of 21, accompanying her father. On her return she married Philip Mountbatten, Prince of Greece and Denmark, war hero, five years older than her. Isabel fell in love with him the first time she saw him at the age of 13 and since then they have been corresponding. Philip renounced her titles in order to marry her. That same year they were married in Westminster Abbey and a year later they had their first child, Carlos. When she was crowned, the queen already had two children, Carlos and Ana. The other two, Andrés and Eduardo, would arrive later. A six-month trip The death of her father surprised Princess Elizabeth and her husband in Kenya, where they had made stopover after an official trip to Australia and New Zealand. For months, due to the illness of her father, Isabel had begun to assume part of her functions. She was named queen on February 6, 1952, but was not crowned until June 2, 1953. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey and for the first time was broadcast around the world on television and radio. BBC with the unprecedented impact this had in its time. She became the 40th monarch of the United Kingdom since the Norman William the Conqueror became William I in 1066 and the sixth woman to ascend the throne. Elizabeth was then 25 years old and barely experienced. For this reason, the first six months of her mandate were spent traveling with her husband and without her two children of hers at the time. She traveled the entire British Empire from Canada to New Zealand and from the Caribbean to Cameroon, more than 85,000 kilometers. The first years of his reign were not easy due to the loss of influence of the United Kingdom in the world due to decolonization and the forced withdrawal of Franco-British troops from the Suez Canal in 1957. His reign coincided with the end of the British Empire. , which had dominated a third of the world. The owner of all dolphins and whales In 1952, Elizabeth II was appointed queen and head of state of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) . After the independence processes of several colonies, she ended up being the head of state of 16 countries and overseas territories, all of them belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth, made up of 54 former British colonies. She was also the head of the Anglican Church, the equivalent of the Pope in the Catholic Church, and the owner of all dolphins, sturgeons and whales that were within 5 kilometers of the British coast (by a 1324 decree of King Edward II ) and the largest landowner in the world. In 1997 she lived what she called her ‘Annus Horribilis’. Two of her sons, Charles from Diana and Andrew from Sarah Ferguson, separated, Princess Anne divorced Captain Mark Phillips, and part of Windsor Castle burned down. The moment of lowest popularity of the queen and the Royal House was in 1997 when, after the death of Princess Diana in a car accident in Paris, the queen and all her relatives locked themselves in Balmoral, Scotland, and refused to raise the British flag at half-staff in Buckingham, Lady Di had divorced the year before Carlos, who continued to maintain a parallel relationship with Camila Parker-Bowles during the 17 years of marriage. But the queen did not count on the expression of sadness and affection that the death of Diana, who was nicknamed “the people’s princess”, caused throughout the country. Tears and flowers for Diana Millions of Britons filled the palace fence with flowers and tears of Kensington, in Hyde Park, where Diana resided, while the queen was silent. The anger against the monarchy was growing among the population. It was pointed out that it even endangered the institution. It was thanks to the intervention and advice of the then prime minister, Tony Blair, that the queen changed her tune. She delivered a televised memorial address for Diana, welcoming all the bereaved citizens who came to Kenington and Buckingham to lay flowers, and ordered the ‘Union Jack’ to fly at half-staff. The popularity of the monarchy and Elizabeth II recovered at the turn of the century. First with the celebration of his golden jubilee for his 50 years on the throne, celebrations that were marred by the death that same year of his mother, the Queen Mother, at the age of 101, and of his sister, the long-suffering princess Daisy flower. And second for the massive weddings of William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, which rejuvenated the monarchy. In 2015 she overtook her great-great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria I, as the longest-serving monarch at 63 years and 7 months. In total, she has been in power for 70 years, being the longest-serving monarch in history, respected not only in the United Kingdom but throughout the world for her simplicity and her austerity. Elizabeth II no longer participated in the massive Platinum Jubilee celebrations this year. For most Britons, she has been the only queen they have ever known. Many non-British also felt like queen. She will rest in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor alongside her father and her husband of 73 years, who have been waiting for her there since April 9, 1921.