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    LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch
    LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch
    LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch
    Ebook159 pages38 minutes

    LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch

    By The Editors of LIFE

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Celebrate the Queen Elizabeth's 65 years with the crown in this special collector's edition of LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLife
    Release dateMay 11, 2018
    ISBN9781547843572
    LIFE Queen Elizabeth: Britain's Longest Reigning Monarch

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      Book preview

      LIFE Queen Elizabeth - The Editors of LIFE

      Today

      INTRODUCTION

      A QUEEN FOR ALL TIMES

      BY SIMON PERRY

      PHOTOGRAPH © HARRY BENSON 2014

      A SUBTLE DISPLAY OF HER LOVE FOR SCOTLAND The Scottish National Gallery commissioned this portrait, taken in a private study at Buckingham Palace in 2014. The queen’s gold and diamond brooch depicts the thistle, Scotland’s national emblem.

      In a life of milestones, Queen Elizabeth II has normally been reticent to talk publicly about them and to dwell on the past. But, as she neared yet another one—the 65th anniversary of her coronation—she allowed herself a little look back. Speaking, in a television special, for the first time at length about that day in June 1953, she also had a fond reunion with a most spectacular of emblem of her position as head of state, the Imperial State Crown. Its height had been slightly lowered since her father George VI wore it and fortunately my father and I have about the same sort of shaped head. But once you put it on it stays. I mean it just remains on.

      But, she warned, because of its weight, You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up; because if you did your neck would break, it would fall off, she remarked drily. So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.

      She should know. A record-breaker—it is now more than two years since she eclipsed Queen Victoria’s 63-year, seven-month record as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch—she has borne its weighty expectation at both ceremonial occasions and in quiet behind-the-scenes meetings with 13 prime ministers and meetings with 1o sitting American Presidents for more than 66 years. On, September 9, 2015, the day she passed Victoria’s record, she undertook one of those unfussy, mundane royal duties that are the hallmark of her reign. Standing at Tweedbank, Scotland, where she formally declared a new $500 million Scottish Borders Railway open, it was what her officials called business as usual. She made a brief reference to the landmark moment but moved on swiftly. Soon after carrying out her duty, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, 96, she headed back north to her residence Balmoral Castle, where she had a quiet dinner with her grandson Prince William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge.

      If it were not for a quirk of historical fate, her life would have been one of Edwardian grandeur, an extension of her childhood spent paddling in streams, walking her dogs, riding her horses. But when her uncle King Edward VIII gave up the throne to marry a commoner, her father became King George VI, and Elizabeth became the direct heir to the throne.

      Her stoic nature and determination exceeded the expectations of many. The array of world leaders she has met and influenced boggles the mind. Her first prime minister was a man more than twice her age, Winston Churchill; 12 more prime ministers have followed. Some, such as Harold Macmillan, became favorites. Others, such as Margaret Thatcher, did not. Elizabeth has reigned during the terms of 13 American presidents, from Harry Truman to Donald Trump. She has officially hosted more than 110 state visits from leaders from around the globe.

      The British Empire on which the sun never set may not exist today, but the United Kingdom is still part of the group of 16 nations, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, that call her queen, and she is the head of the British Commonwealth which includes another 37 countries, including India and South Africa.

      From her home in Buckingham Palace, she is a nonpolitical beacon in times of national celebrations or national tragedies. Her annual Christmas messages offer inspiration to her subjects; her public appearances often encourage a smile. Every summer, she hosts at least three garden parties at the palace, inviting people from all walks of life (as many as 30,000 attend) to enjoy tea, cakes, and a stroll through the grounds. As she prepares for her 92nd birthday, she is more beloved than ever.

      It has not always been easy, especially in her personal life.

      The sorrows are clear. The marriages of her children Charles, Anne, and Andrew fell apart (although her son Edward remains happily wed to former publicist Sophie Rhys-Jones). When Charles’s ex, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in an automobile crash in Paris in 1997, the public disapproved of the royal family’s initial reluctance to show any signs of grief. Elizabeth overcame that disapproval by touring the floral tributes to Diana placed at the gates of Buckingham Palace and addressing the nation on the eve of Diana’s funeral.

      In 2002 her sister, Margaret, passed away; a month and a half later, her mother, Elizabeth, died as well. As the nation mourned the double loss, there was a noted increase in affection for the surviving queen. Elizabeth’s own attitudes were softening, too. She accepted Camilla Parker Bowles into her family as Prince Charles’s second wife in 2005; they share a love of horses as well as a love of Charles. And the wedding of her grandson William to the middle-class Kate Middleton in April 2011 introduced a new energy to the family, as well as strengthening the line of succession. With the arrival of Will and Kate’s three children—bringing her tally of great-grandchildren to six—she rests assured of the future of the House of Windsor.

      Having entered her 10th decade, Elizabeth finds that age is finally catching up with

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