The life of Queen Elizabeth II

On Sept. 8, Buckingham Palace announced that the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ, has passed away, signifying the end of her 70 year reign. 

Before the start of her reign, King Edward Ⅷ, abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. At that time, the idea of the King of England marrying a divorcee, let alone an American, was not accepted in English Society. Because of this, Queen Elizabeth’s father, Prince Albert, took over and became King George Ⅵ, which in turn, made Queen Elizabeth the next ruler of England after her father.

Queen Elizabeth’s time on the throne came when she was 25 after her father passed away in 1952. Throughout her reign, she encountered a great deal of Prime Ministers: Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major,Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron,Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss, as well as numerous foreign leaders. In addition to that, she witnessed the appointment of the first female British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the newly appointed Liz Truss, just a mere two days before her death. In addition to that, she is widely known for her neutral views regarding politics and for being the longest reigning monarch for her 70 years of service on the British Throne.

In her personal life, Queen Elizabeth was married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh for over 70 years, and shared four children: King Charles Ⅲ, Prince Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward, including numerous amounts of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Throughout her reign, she was hit with many scandals related to her family that were greatly known throughout the world. This included the infidelity rumors surrounding her and Prince Philip, King Charles Ⅲ scandalous affair with Queen Camilla while he was married to Princess Diana, and most recently, the interview that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did with Oprah. But throughout those scandals, Queen Elizabeth faced them by not making any comments.

While one of the things that Queen Elizabeth is widely known for is for her love of corgis that began with her father’s corgi, Dookie. Then on her 18th birthday, she was finally gifted her own corgi named Susan, to whom gave the Queen many descendants of corgis throughout her life. Because of this, corgis became a famous type of dog breed throughout the world.

As her reign went on, there were numerous events that occurred during that time. One of them was her first state visit to West Germany in 1965. This state visit was a significant event for the Queen’s reign because this was the first time a British Royal visited the country since 1913.

While another notable event that has occurred in Queen Elizabeth’s reign is her visit to China in 1986. The reason why this event is important to the Queen’s reign is because this is the first time that a British Monarch visited China, two years after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government agreed to return sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in late 1984.

Then in 1998 she drove then-Crown Prince Abdulla of Saudi Arabia around her Balmoral Estate. At the time, women in Saudi Arabia were forbidden from driving a car, and the Prince was unaware of the Queen’s experience as a truck mechanic during World War Ⅱ.

Finally, on September 6, 2022, Queen Elizabeth appoints Liz Truss as Prime Minister of Britain. Truss’ appointment was the last time Queen Elizabeth was seen in public before the announcement of her death. 

Clarise Tujardon can be reached via email at ctujardon@twu.edu.