Elizabeth II: Queen in the Spotlight

Elizabeth II, who took the throne in 1952, is the longest reigning and longest-serving monarch in British history at the age of 68 (and counting). She is also the longest reigning female head of state in world history.

In addition to her royal duties to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II was head of the Commonwealth, supreme governor of the Church of England and queen of 15 other sovereign states that together with the United Kingdom had a population of some 151 million people.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on April 21, 1926 to the Duke and Duchess of York, who would become George VI and Elizabeth, respectively.

Third in line of succession to the throne, Elizabeth was never expected to become queen because her father was only the second son of the ruling monarch (George V).

However, in 1936, George V died suddenly and Edward succeeded to the throne. Then, shamefully, Edward VIII abdicated later that same year in order to marry the American socialite Wallis Simpson.

Elizabeth's father became king and succeeded as George VI.

Now, rather unusually, at the age of 10, Elizabeth became the "heir presumptive" - even though she was first in line to the throne because she was female and she had never been the "heir ".

Three years after the "Year of the Three Kings", World War II broke out. Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, moved to the Royal Lodge at Windsor until they moved to Windsor Castle, where they lived for most of the next five years.

The royal family's refusal to evacuate abroad during the war was welcomed by the public. This apparent desire to share the fate of the nation sparked more informal artistic expressions of the monarchy, as illustrated by the afternoon tea scenes captured by Scottish painter Herbert James Gunn.

In 1947, Elisabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. Their engagement was somewhat controversial, as Philip had no financial status, was born in a foreign country (despite being a British subject), and had sisters married to German aristocrats with Nazi ties. In order to marry Elizabeth, Philip had to renounce his Greek and Danish titles and officially convert from Greek Orthodoxy to the British state religion.

Elizabeth and Philip were married in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. Since England had not fully recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth needed ration coupons to purchase the materials for her gown. At the time of his death in April 2021, Elizabeth and Philip had been married for over 73 years.

Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, Prince Charles, in 1948 (heir apparent since his mother's accession in 1952). Two years later, in 1950, their second child, Princess Anne, was born.

From 1951 onwards, George VI's health deteriorated and Elizabeth often advocated on his behalf at public events. The king died in 1952 and Elizabeth succeeded to the throne at the age of 25.

Elizabeth's coronation took place on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey.

This glorious occasion was televised to some 20 million people in the UK and parties broke out all over the country to celebrate the new Queen.

In addition to the imperial crown, the Queen wore a long white silk dress embroidered with the floral symbols of the 11 countries of the Commonwealth at the time.

The design symbolized the "unity of the Commonwealth," an enduring passion of the queen's reign.

After her coronation, Elizabeth and her husband embarked on a seven-month tour of the world, visiting 13 countries.

The Queen would go on to make hundreds of overseas visits. At home and abroad, the Queen has had to remain politically neutral, but she has made several historic and significant visits, including the first visit by a British monarch to Berlin since before World War I. She was also the first reigning monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand.

In 1960 and 1964, the Queen gave birth to her two youngest sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Their births marked the only time during her reign that the Queen did not open Parliament due to pregnancy.

In 1977, the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of her reign. Britain was in a state of political turmoil, the government under Harold Wilson was unpopular and many people were suffering economic hardship.

Punk rock was also becoming increasingly popular, with the Sex Pistols' anti-monarchist song God Save the Queen reaching number two on the official British charts.

Despite growing republican sentiment in some corners, the Queen remained a popular figure, and celebrations were held across the country. The Queen and her family are increasingly being photographed in more informal portraits to downplay the remoteness of their special place in society. One such example is this portrait by Michael Leonard of the Queen embracing one of her beloved corgis.

Popular support for the Queen continued to grow in the 1980s and 1990s. 1992 saw the Queen have what she called a terrible year - a terrible year - during which she also took two children, Anne and Andrew's marriage broke up, a book detailing Princess Diana's misfortune and the collapse of her marriage to Prince Charles became a national bestseller, and a fire destroyed Windsor Castle.

In this portrait, painted in 1991, Richard Stone depicts the queen looking contemplatively to her left against a black background, as if foreshadowing the hardships of the coming year.

The royal family was shocked again in 1997 when Princess Diana died suddenly in a car accident.

The royal family's desire to mourn privately was strongly criticized by the British media (and the public), leading the Queen to pay her respects via live television the day before Diana's funeral. The Queen's popularity declined slightly, but public hostility disappeared after her speech.

At the turn of the millennium, the image and shape of the royal family changed dramatically from the beginning of Elizabeth I's reign.

The way the world interacted with the royals changed, and vice versa, as a younger generation of royals - primarily the Queen's grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry - took a more casual approach to their royal duties.

In 2002, the Queen celebrated the 50th anniversary of her reign, although this was partially overshadowed by the deaths of her mother and sister earlier that same year.

A decade later, the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, surpassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the longest-lived British monarch in history on December 21, 2015. in 2017, the Queen became the first British monarch to mark a sapphire jubilee (65 years old) and a platinum wedding anniversary.

On April 21, 2020, the Queen turns 94 years old. the Queen's official birthday on June 13, 2020, is markedly different from previous years, as the Covid-19 pandemic prevented typical celebrations - such as military parades - from taking place .

Despite the lack of physical celebrations, Elizabeth II's extraordinary life and reign is still worth marveling at.

Since Elizabeth's accession, she has seen 14 prime ministers, the decolonization of the British Empire, amazing advances and developments in technology, and countless other events of historical and social significance around the world.