Elizabeth II, fully Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, formally Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the uk of nice {britain|United Kingdom|UK|Great Britain|GB|Britain|United Kingdom of nice Britain and Northern Ireland|kingdom} and Northern Ireland and of her alternative realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, (born April 21, 1926, London, England), queen of the uk of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from Gregorian calendar month 6, 1952. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
formative years
Elizabeth was the elder female offspring of aristocrat Albert, duke of York, and his wife, girl Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. because the child of a younger son of King patron saint V, the young Elizabeth had very little prospect of acceding to the throne till her uncle, King of England (afterward duke of Windsor), abdicated in her father’s favour on Gregorian calendar month 11, 1936, at which period her father became King George VI and he or she became heir presumptive. The blue blood’s education was supervised by her mother, who entrusted her daughters to a governess, Marion Crawford; the princess was conjointly grounded in history by C.H.K. Marten, subsequently academic administrator of Eton College, and had instruction from visiting academics in music and languages. throughout warfare II she and her sister, blue blood Margaret Rose, perforce spent abundant of their time safely removed from the London blitz associate degreed separated from their parents, living principally at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, and Windsor Castle.
Early in 1947 blue blood Elizabeth went with the king and queen to South Africa. once her come there was an announcement of her betrothal to her distant relation Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy, once Philip of Greece and Denmark. the wedding passed off in minster on Gregorian calendar month 20, 1947. On the eve of the marriage her father, the king, given upon the bridegroom the titles of duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They took residence at equipage House in London. Their 1st child, Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), was born Gregorian calendar month 14, 1948, at Buckingham Palace.
Accession to the throne
within the summer of 1951 the health of King George VI entered into a significant decline, and blue blood Elizabeth described him at the Trooping the color and on varied alternative state occasions. On Oct seven she and her husband kicked off on a extremely booming tour of Canada and Washington, D.C. once Christmas in England she and therefore the duke kicked off in Gregorian calendar month 1952 for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, however en route, at Sagana, Kenya, news reached them of the king’s death on Gregorian calendar month 6, 1952. Elizabeth, currently queen, quickly flew back to England. the primary 3 months of her reign, the amount of full mourning for her father, were passed in comparative seclusion. however within the summer, after she had stirred from equipage House to Buckingham Palace, she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and applied her DE gap of Parliament on Gregorian calendar month 4, 1952. Her installation was command at minster on Gregorian calendar month 2, 1953.
starting in November 1953 the queen {and the|and therefore the|and conjointly the} duke of Edinburgh created a six-month round-the-world tour of the Commonwealth, including the primary visit to Australia and New Sjaelland by a ruling British monarch. In 1957, once state visits to varied European nations, she and the duke visited North American country and the United States. In 1961 she made the first royal British tour of the Indian landmass in fifty years, and he or she was also the first reigning British monarch to visit South America (in 1968) and therefore the gulf countries (in 1979). throughout her “Silver Jubilee” in 1977, she presided at a London banquet attended by the leaders of the thirty six members of the Commonwealth, traveled everywhere United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and toured overseas within the Pacific Ocean and Australia, in Canada, and in the Caribbean.
On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her thusn Charles became heir apparent; he was named aristocrat of Wales on July 26, 1958, and was so endowed on July 1, 1969. The queen’s alternative youngsters were blue blood Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise), born August 15, 1950, and created princess in 1987; aristocrat Apostle (Andrew Prince Albert Christian Edward), born Gregorian calendar month 19, 1960, and created duke of royal family in 1986; and prince (Edward Anthony Richard Louis), born March 10, 1964, and created Earl of geographical area and Viscount Severn in 1999. of these youngsters have the name “of Windsor,” however in 1960 Elizabeth set to form the combined name Mountbatten-Windsor for alternative descendants not titled prince or blue blood and royal highness. Elizabeth’s 1st progeny (Princess Anne’s son) was born on Gregorian calendar month 15, 1977.
the fashionable monarchy
The queen appeared progressively responsive to the fashionable role of the autocracy, allowing, for example, the televising of the royal line’s domestic life in 1970 and condoning the formal dissolution of her sister’s wedding in 1978. within the 1990s, however, the royal family sweet-faced variety of challenges. In 1992, a year that Elizabeth stated because the royal family’s annus horribilis, Charles and his wife, Diana, blue blood of Wales, separated, as did aristocrat Apostle and his wife, Sarah, noblewoman of York. Moreover, Anne divorced, and a hearth gutted the royal residence of Windsor Castle. In addition, as the country struggled with a recession, ill will over the royals’ life-style mounted, and in 1992 Elizabeth, though in person exempt, in agreement to pay taxes on her personal income. The separation and later divorce (1996) of Charles and therefore the vastly well-liked Diana more scoured support for the royal family, that was viewed by some as archaic and unfeeling. The criticism intense following Diana’s death in 1997, particularly once Elizabeth ab initio refused to permit the flag to fly at half-staff over Buckingham Palace. In line together with her earlier makes an attempt at modernizing the monarchy, the queen afterwards sought-after to gift a less-stuffy and less-traditional image of the monarchy. These makes an attempt were met with mixed success.
In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her fiftieth year on the throne. As a part of her “Golden Jubilee,” events were command throughout the Commonwealth, as well as many days of festivities in London. The celebrations were somewhat diminished by the deaths of Elizabeth’s mother and sister early within the year. starting in the latter part of the primary decade of the twenty first century, the general public standing of the royal line rebounded, and even Charles’s 2005 wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles found abundant support among Brits people. In April 2011 Elizabeth crystal rectifier the family in celebrating the marriage of aristocrat William of Wales—the elder son of Charles and Diana—and Catherine Middleton. the subsequent month she surpassed King of Great Britain to become the second longest-reigning monarch in British history, behind Victoria. conjointly in May, Elizabeth created a historic trip to eire, turning into each the primary British monarch to go to land republic and therefore the first to line foot in Ireland since 1911. In 2012 Elizabeth celebrated her “Diamond Jubilee,” marking sixty years on the throne. On September 9, 2015, she surpassed Victoria’s record reign of sixty three years and 216 days.
In August 2017 Philip formally retired from public life, although he sporadically appeared at official engagements once that. within the meantime, Elizabeth began to scale back her own official engagements, spending some duties on to Charles and alternative senior members of the royal line, though the pool of stand-ins shrank when Charles’s younger son, aristocrat Harry, duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan, noblewoman of Sussex, polemically selected to provide up their royal roles in March 2020. throughout this period, public interest in the queen and therefore the royal family grew as a result of the widespread quality of The Crown, a Netflix tv series concerning the Windsors that debuted in 2016. Having handled many physical setbacks in recent years, Philip, who had been Elizabeth’s husband for quite seven decades, died in April 2021. On their fiftieth wedding anniversary, in 1997, Elizabeth had aforesaid of Philip, “He has, quite simply, been my strength and keep of these years.”
Elizabeth is understood to favour simplicity in court life and is additionally known to require a significant and hip interest in government business, other than the standard and ceremonial duties. Privately, she became a keen horsewoman; she keeps racehorses, oft attends races, and sporadically visits the Kentucky stud farms within the United States. Her money and property holdings have created her one amongst the world’s richest women.
