Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926, to The Duke and Duchess of York. In 1936 her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne, resulting in her father, The Duke of York, becoming King George VI of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. After their father ascended to the throne and had his Coronation along with their mother, Elizabeth and her sister Margaret both held the title “princess.”
Both princesses studied and continued their education at home, which was the norm for many girls of wealthy families. However, since Princess Elizabeth was the oldest and next in line to the throne, she studied law and constitutional history to better prepare for her role as the future queen. Along with her studies in law and history, she studied art and music and learned to ride horses, and in 1944 she competed in the first Royal Windsor Horse Show.
In February 1952, while on a trip to Kenya with Prince Philip on a Commonwealth tour, Princes Elizabeth received the news of her father’s death, resulting in her immediate accession to the throne. June 2, 1953, was Queen Elizabeth II’s official Coronation. Her Coronation ceremony, per her request, was the first Coronation to be televised as well as broadcast on radio for those all around the world to watch and listen to.
Queen Elizabeth II had the longest reign of any British monarch in recorded state history— just over 70 years. The announcement of her death on Sept. 8 shocked the world. Now, her son will become King Charles III, and the British monarchy has turned into a patriarchy. During her life and reign as queen, Queen Elizabeth II had been a constant face and figurehead within an ever-changing world. During her reign, there was World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. During times of war, unrest, and turmoil, Queen Elizabeth has been a face to the countries she ruled over and the world watched on, especially in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.
Queen Elizabeth II has been there for many new inventions and milestones that have impacted the world. She lived through the invention of the iPhone and the technology wave to follow after 2007, the invention of Google in 1998, the internet in 1969, and saw the first man in space in 1961. She also met many celebrities during her time as the queen that many of us today have only heard of, such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Winston Churchill. She lived through the pandemonium that was The Beatles, The Spice Girls and One Direction.
Queen Elizabeth has endured and witnessed many triumphs and sad events the world had to bear witness to, but that’s what gave so many people around the world a sense of comfort during trying times. She was a face always there during constantly changing times and adapted herself to better suit the period she was living in. In this new era of King Charles III, we should always remember the reign of her majesty the Queen and everything she had seen and been through during her life.