The Legacy of Queen Elizabeth II: Reflections on a 70-Year Reign

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II: The Monarch Who Ruled 70 Years

Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years and celebrated her platinum jubilee before she died in September 2022. She was 96 years old and the longest-reigning monarch in history.

Queen Elizabeth II: A Brief Biography

Born in 1926, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne at the age of 26. During her reign, she was a contemporary of notable figures such as Winston Churchill, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and Harry Truman. During her reign, 14 prime ministers came and went from office in the UK.

In 2015, she exceeded the longest reign record previously held by Queen Victoria.

Queen Elizabeth II never participated in interviews but delivered numerous public speeches. She was homeschooled by her governess, Marion Crawford, and later by other teachers. Elizabeth ascended to the throne through an unexpected shift of power within her family. Her father was the second in line for succession, but his elder brother Edward, who was to be the king, abdicated the position to marry a divorced woman. The Church of England dictates that a king should never marry a divorced woman. As her father became the king instead of Edward, Elizabeth became the next in line for succession, being his eldest daughter. She was married to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy, formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. She was also one of the richest women in the world by way of her properties and financial holdings.

Prince Charles, who is her heir apparent, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward are her children. She also had eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

The queen always tried to modernise her reign and even allowed the televising of the life of the royal family.

Faced with the economic recession of the 1990s, she agreed to pay taxes on her private income. The palace and the queen faced criticism from the UK public when her son, Prince Charles, and his widely admired wife, Princess Diana, separated.

The belief that the palace's rules were outdated grew stronger after Diana's tragic death in 1997. Elizabeth had initially disallowed flying the national flag at half-staff over Buckingham Palace upon Diana's death. Her approach to the monarchy remained a balancing act between tradition and modernity. The Diana episode was the only incident when she seemed to slip a little.

The Queen and the Modern United Kingdom

In 2011, at the invitation of Irish President Mary McAleese, the Queen visited Ireland, becoming the first reigning British monarch to set foot in the Irish Republic since 1911. In 1911, Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, visited Ireland when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following a popular uprising, the Irish Republic was established, resulting in the partition of the original Ireland, with the UK retaining only Northern Ireland. As early as 1936, this new republic had removed all references to its association with the British monarchy, and in 1949 it had quit the Commonwealth.

The queen's visit stabilised the relationship between the two countries, and her speech during the event was praised as balanced and significant for the future of both nations.

In 2021, Elizabeth lost her husband Philip to old age. In 2016, when Netflix telecast a new series, The Crown, based on the lives of the royals, it evoked a renewed interest in the Queen and her life worldwide. The queen brought a unique kind of joy to the people of the UK in her public appearances, but she was never known for playing up to the gallery.

Queen Elizabeth II: The Perfect Queen

People close to the queen have reported that she was a very normal person in private. Her genuine and unwavering belief that she was destined for the role of queen allowed her to effortlessly and naturally embody the demeanour of a perfect queen. She lived her role wholeheartedly. Always standing up for tradition and ceremony, she knew that it is the binding thread of a country like Britain. Only a few know that she was the head of state of the Commonwealth realm, in which the countries, the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines belong. Recently, Barbados had disassociated itself from the monarchy in a constitutional amendment. The Caribbean countries Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Kitts and Nevis have also been planning to follow the course. In Britain, a recent survey showed that 62% of the population thinks that the institution of the monarchy should continue. It was only in 2013 that the royal family rules were amended to cancel the sons taking precedence over daughters while succeeding to the British throne. If Queen Elizabeth’s father had a son, she would never have become the queen, but now the eldest child in the royal family, irrespective of gender, can ascend to the throne.

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Routine Life

Queen Elizabeth II was a creature of habit, maintaining a consistent daily routine with little variation, including eating nearly the same menu each day.

She took a stroll every day, walking either around the palace grounds or the beach. She loved horses and dogs. Her preferred dog breed was the Corgi. At the age of seven, her father presented her with a Welsh Corgi named Dookie. And when later her corgi dog was bred with a dachshund, she called it a ‘dorgi’. Thus, she even invented a new dog.

The Queen enjoys a cup of Twinings tea in the morning, followed by a bowl of breakfast cereal with assorted fruits. Occasionally, she added scrambled eggs or smoked salmon to her breakfast. For lunch, she had grilled fish or chicken. Her preferred fish was Dover sole. She took it with wilted spinach or courgettes. Chicken was always grilled and taken with a salad. With her evening tea, she sometimes had chocolate biscuit cake. Dinner would comprise cooked meat and vegetables. Pheasant and venison topped the list of meats. Strawberries, chocolate, and peaches were her preferred desserts. She concluded her dinner with a glass of champagne.

She enjoyed a glass of champagne with her dinner and a gin and Dubonnet with lemon and ice before lunch. In 2021, she discontinued her routine of having a daily dry martini. Horse riding was among her favourite hobbies, but she stopped doing it in 2021. In 2018, when she was 92, she underwent cataract surgery. Though she was fully vaccinated and had her booster dose too, she contracted Covid but got over it with mild symptoms. The palace has always been secretive about her health.

On the 70th anniversary of her rule, she said, "And so as I look forward to continuing to serve you with all my heart, I hope this Jubilee will bring together families and friends, neighbours and communities – after some difficult times for so many of us – in order to enjoy the celebrations and to reflect on the positive developments in our day-to-day lives that have so happily coincided with my reign."

Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022, marking the end of an era.

The Quotes of Queen Elizabeth II That Reflect Her Personality

“Good memories are our second chance at happiness.” “When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.” “The world is not the most pleasant place. Eventually, your parents leave you, and nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally. You need to learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass.” “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” “It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind.” “Grief is the price we pay for love.” “There are long periods when life seems a small, dull round, a petty business with no point, and then suddenly we are caught up in some great event which gives us a glimpse of the solid and durable foundations of our existence.” “I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else – I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.” “In the turbulence of this anxious and active world, many people are leading uneventful, lonely lives. To them, dreariness, not disaster, is the enemy. They seldom realise that on their steadfastness, on their ability to withstand the fatigue of dull, repetitive work, and on their courage in meeting constant small adversities depend in great measure the happiness and prosperity of the community as a whole. ... The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.”

References

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Factbox: The health of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, reuters.com

Factbox: Key facts about Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, reuters.com

Factbox: Notable quotes of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Reuters.com

What does Queen Elizabeth eat every day? britishheritage.com

The One Major Secret to Living to 95, According to Queen Elizabeth, eatthis.com

Who is Queen Elizabeth II? Megan Stine, 2021.

Queen Elizabeth II, The Oral History, Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald Strober, 2021.

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, Britannica.com

UK Royal Family: Who Is In It and What Does The Queen Do? bbc.com

Queen Elizabeth II Quotes, azquotes.com