| Elizabeth II | |
|---|---|
| Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms (more...) | |
 |
|
| Elizabeth II in 2007 | |
| Reign | 6 February 1952 – present |
| Coronation | 2 June 1953 |
| Predecessor | George VI |
| Heir Apparent | Charles, Prince of Wales |
| Consort | Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh |
| Issue | |
| Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Princess Anne, Princess Royal Prince Andrew, Duke of York Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex |
|
| Full name | |
| Elizabeth Alexandra Mary[1] | |
| Titles and styles | |
| HM The Queen HRH The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh HRH The Princess Elizabeth HRH Princess Elizabeth of York |
|
| Royal house | House of Windsor |
| Royal anthem | God Save the Queen |
| Father | George VI |
| Mother | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
| Born | 21 April 1926 Mayfair, London |
| Baptised | 29 May 1926[2] Buckingham Palace, London[2] |
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary;[1] born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of 16 independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, she is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, her oldest realm; part of her lineage traces through the royal houses of England, Wessex, and Scotland for over fifteen hundred years. She ascended the thrones of seven countries in February 1952, on the death of her father King George VI. (See Context below.) In addition to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth realms, and their combined population, including dependencies, is over 129 million. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice (and in accordance with convention), she rarely intervenes in political matters.
Elizabeth II also holds a variety of other positions, among them Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. Her long reign has seen sweeping changes in her realms and the world at large, perhaps most notably the dissolution of the British Empire (a process that began in the last years of her father's reign) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations.
Since 1947, Elizabeth has been married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren; the eighth (Viscount Severn) was born on 17 December 2007.[3]
Elizabeth became Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952. As other colonies of the British Empire attained independence from the UK during her reign, she acceded to the newly created thrones as queen of each respective realm, so that, throughout her 56 years on the throne, she has been the sovereign of 32 individual nations, half of which, after varying periods of time, subsequently became republics. She is currently the only monarch of more than one independent state.
Elizabeth II is currently the second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, ranking behind Victoria, who reigned over the UK for 63 years. She is also one of the longest-reigning monarchs of any of its predecessor states, ranking behind George III (who reigned over Great Britain and subsequently the United Kingdom for 59 years) and James VI (who reigned over Scotland for 57 years). In March 2008, she surpassed Henry III of England.
Following tradition, she is additionally titled Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy, and is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of many of her realms, Lord Admiral of the United Kingdom, and is styled Defender of the Faith in various realms for differing reasons.
Elizabeth was born at 17 Burton Street, in Mayfair, London,[2] the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Elizabeth, Duchess of York, and the first granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was baptised by Archbishop of York Cosmo Lang, in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace (which was subsequently destroyed during World War II); her godparents were her paternal granparents; Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; her maternal grandfather, Claude Bowes-Lyon, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; and Mary Elphinstone, Lady Elphinstone. Elizabeth was named for her mother, while her two middle names are those of her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, and grandmother, respectively. As a child, however, her close family dubbed her as Lilibet.[4]
Elizabeth had a close relationship with her grandfather, and was credited with aiding in his recovery from illness in 1929,[5][6] the same year a young P'incess Lilybet appeared on the cover of an issue of Time magazine that held an article describing Elizabeth's third birthday.[7] Her only sibling was Princess Margaret, born in 1930, around the same time that it was suggested their father be appointed as Governor General of Canada, meaning Elizabeth would have spent approximately five years living in Rideau Hall as part of the vice-regal family. This proposal was put down, however, by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Colonial Affairs,[8] meaning the two princesses remained in London, where they were educated at home, under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Mary Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie.[9] Elizabeth studied history with C.H.K. Marten, then Provost of Eton College, religion with the Archbishop of Canterbury,[10] and also learned modern languages; she still speaks French fluently.[11] A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so Elizabeth could participate in guiding, wherein she gained the interpreter, swimmer, dancer, horsewoman, cook, child nurse, and needlewoman badges, and eventually became patrol leader of the Swallow Patrol.[12]
As a granddaughter of the monarch of the United Kingdom in the male line, Elizabeth held the title of a British princess, with the style Her Royal Highness, her full style being Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. This was her only title, as she was born before the Statute of Westminster severed the UK's ability to legislate for the other Dominions of the Commonwealth, and following 1931, these countries did not adopt any legislation granting titles to anyone other than the monarch; there, Elizabeth was addressed with the title she held in the UK, as a courtesy title. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth did generate public interest, there was no reason to believe then that she would ever become queen, as it was widely assumed that the Prince of Wales would marry and produce children of his own. However, Edward did not have any children between Elizabeth's birth and his abdication, and Elizabeth's parents did not have any sons, who would have taken precedence over the Duke and Duchess' daughters. Therefore, Elizabeth would have become queen, whether Edward had abdicated or not.
When, after the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, Elizabeth became heiress presumptive, and was thenceforth known as Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth. There was some demand in Wales that she be created Princess of Wales, but the King was advised that this was the title of the wife of a Prince of Wales, not a title in its own right. Some feel that George VI missed the opportunity to make an innovation in royal practice by re-adopting Henry VIII's idea of proclaiming his daugther, Lady Mary, as Princess of Wales in her own right, in 1525.[13] The possibility, however remote, remained, though, that Elizabeth's father could have a son, who would have supplanted Elizabeth in the line of succession to the throne as heir apparent.
In 1939, the Canadian government desired that Elizabeth accompany her parents on their upcoming tour of Canada; however, the King decided against taking that advice, stating that his daughter was still too young to undertake such a strenuous tour, which ended up being over a month long.[8]
Elizabeth was 13 years old when World War II broke out, and she and her younger sister were evacuated to Windsor Castle. There was some suggestion that the two princesses be evacuated to Canada, where they, along with their parents, would have lived at Hatly Castle in British Columbia. This plan never came to fruition; to the proposal, Elizabeth's mother made the famous reply: "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave."[14] Thus, the children remained at Windsor, where they staged pantomimes at Christmas, to which family and friends were invited, along with the children of Royal Household staff. It was from Windsor that Elizabeth, in 1940, made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities. Soon after this, when she was 13 years old, Elizabeth first met her future husband, Philip Mountbatten,[15] a Greek royal and member of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the Danish royal house and a line of the House of Oldenburg. Elizabeth thereafter fell in love with Philip and beginning to write to him when he was in the Royal Navy. During Elizabeth's years at Windsor, plans were drawn up by then constitutional expert Edward Iwi to have a member of the Royal Family present in Wales, in order to quell the growing nationalist influence of Plaid Cymru.[16] In a report he gave to then Home Secretary Herbert Morrison, Iwi proposed having Princess Elizabeth serve as Constable of Caernarfon Castle (the post then held by Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor) and patron of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, to tour Wales as such.[16] The ideas, none-the-less, were rejected by the Home Secretary, on the grounds that it might cause conflict between north and south Wales; by the King, who refused to subject his young daughter to the pressures of conducting official tours;[16] and by the government, as two leading members of Urdd Gobaith Cymru were discovered to be conscientious objectors.[16]
In 1945, Princess Elizabeth did, however, manage to convince her father to allow her to contribute directly to the war effort, after which she accompanied her parents on visits to Commonwealth service personnel, began to carry out solo duties, such as reviewing a parade of Canadian airwomen in 1945,[8] and joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, where she was known as No. 230873, Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor. She trained as a driver, and drove a military truck while she served,[17][18] making her the first, and so far only, female member of the Royal Family to actively serve in the armed forces,[19] although every monarch is nominally the Commander-in-Chief of both the British and Canadian Armed Forces, and other royal women have been given honorary ranks. This training was the first time Elizabeth had been taught along with other students, and it was said that she greatly enjoyed the experience, which led her to send her own children to school rather than have them educated at home.
At the end of the war in Europe, on VE Day, Elizabeth and her sister stole away from Buckingham Palace and mingled with the celebratory crowds after midnight.[20][21] Two years later, the Princess made her first official overseas tour, when she accompanied her parents to South Africa. It was there that she marked her 21st birthday, when she made a broadcast to the British Commonwealth, pledging "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.[22]
Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 November 1947. The couple are second cousins once removed – both being descended from King Christian IX of Denmark; Elizabeth is a great-great-granddaughter through her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, while the Philip is a great-grandson through his paternal grandfather, King George I of Greece – as well as third cousins, sharing Queen Victoria as a great-great-grandmother; Elizabeth's great-grandfather was King Edward VII, and his sister was Princess Alice, Philip's great-grandmother. Before Elizabeth's marriage to him, Philip had renounced his claim to the Greek throne, and was then simply referred to as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, an anglicisation of his mother's titular designation, Battenberg; it was just before the wedding that he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style of His Royal Highness.
The marriage was not without controversy: Philip was Greek Othrodox, had no financial standing, and had sisters who had married Nazi supporters. Elizabeth's mother was reported, in later biographies, to have strongly opposed the union, even dubbing Philip as The Hun.[23] Still, the Commonwealth had not yet completely rebounded from the devistation of the second World War – though Elizabeth and Philip received over 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world, rationing still required that the Princess save up her rationing coupons to buy the material for her gown[24] – and the wedding was seen as the first glimmer of a hope of rebirth. At the ceremony, Elizabeth's bridesmaids were her sister; her cousin, Princess Alexandra of Kent; Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott, a cadet relative through their mutual aunt; Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; her second cousin, Lady Mary Cambridge; Lady Elizabeth Mary Lambart (now Longman), daughter of Frederick Lambart, Earl of Cavan; The Honourable Pamela Mountbatten (now Hicks), Philip's cousin; and two maternal cousins, The Honourable Margaret Elphinstone (now Rhodes) and The Honourable Diana Bowes-Lyon (now Somervell),[25] while her page boys were her young paternal first cousins, Princes William of Gloucester and Michael of Kent.[26]
Following the wedding, the couple leased their first home, Windlesham Moor, until 4 July 1949,[27] when they took up residence at Clarence House. However, at various times between 1946 and 1953, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in Malta (at that time a British Protectorate) as a serving Royal Navy officer. Both he and Elizabeth lived for two years, between 1949 and 1951, in the Maltese hamlet of Gwardamangia, at the Villa Gwardamangia (or Villa G'Mangia), which Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma had purchased in about 1929.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948, several weeks after letters patent were issued by her father allowing her children to enjoy a royal and princely status to which they otherwise would not have been entitled, instead being titled as merely children of a duke.[28] Further, though the Royal House is named Windsor, it was decreed through a British Order-in-Council in 1960, that those male-line descendants of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip who were not princes and princesses of the United Kingdom should have the personal surname Mountbatten-Windsor.[29] In practice, however, all of their children have used Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname (or, in Anne's case, her maiden surname), to honour their father; both Charles and Anne used the surname as their own in the published banns for their first marriages.[30]
George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events, visiting Greece, Italy and Malta. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, in Washington, D.C.; on that trip, the Princess carried with her a draft Accession Declaration for use if the King died while she was out of the United Kingdom.[8] By January of 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand; however, when they reached Kenya, word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father, from lung cancer, on 6 February. The royal party was staying at Sagana Lodge at the time, and Philip broke the news to the new queen.[31] Martin Charteris, then Assistant Private Secretary to Elizabeth, asked her what she intended to be called as monarch, to which she replied: "Oh, my own name; what else?"[32] Thereafter, the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom, while Elizabeth was proclaimed queen first in Canada, by the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, on 6 February,[33] followed by her British proclamation, read at St. James's Palace the following day.
In 1953, the Queen's grandmother Queen Mary died of lung cancer, on 24 March. Reportedly, her dying wish was that the coronation not be posponed because of her passing. The ceremony thus took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, amid much talk of a "new Elizabethan age." At the Queen's request, the entire procession was, save for the anointing and communion, televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated twenty million people,[34] who saw Elizabeth in a gown commissioned from Norman Hartnell, which consisted of embroidered floral emblems of the countries of the Commonwealth: the Tudor rose of England, the Scots thistle, the Welsh leek, shamrocks for Ireland, the wattle of Australia, the maple leaf of Canada, the New Zealand fern, South Africa's protea, two lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.[35] Following the ceremony, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace. It has been reported, though, that, as with many of her predecessors, Elizabeth dislikes the palace as a residence, and considers Windsor Castle to be her home.[36]
The metamorphasis of the British Empire began following the Balfour Declaration at the Imperial Conference of 1926, followed by its formalisation in the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Thus, by the time of Elizabeth's accession in 1952, one of her main roles as Queen was already established as a president over a United Kingdom in the process of sharing, more and more, world economic and military power with a growing host of independent nations and principalities. Thus, as countries developed economically and culturally, Elizabeth witnessed, over her reign, the ongoing transformation of the old empire into the new British Commonwealth, and its modern successor, the Commonwealth of Nations. In these circumstances, she focused much of her attention on maintining links with former British possessions, and, in some cases, such as South Africa, she played an important role in retaining or restoring good relations.
Government papers dating from 1956 were declassified in 2007, and revealed that then French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden had discussed the possibility of France joining in a union with the United Kingdom; among the ideas put forward was one in which Elizabeth was to be the French head of state. A document from 28 September 1956 stated that Mollet "had not thought there need be difficulty over France accepting the headship of Her Majesty." This proposal, however, was never accepted, and the following year France signed the Treaty of Rome.[37]
Not long after, the Queen and her husband, from 1953 to 1954, made a six month, around the world tour, making Elizabeth the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe. She also became the first reigning monarch of Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji to visit those nations. By 1957, she made a state visit to the United States as Queen of Canada,[38][39][40] where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly, and, upon returning to Canada, opened the 23rd session of parliament, becoming the first Canadian monarch to do so. Two years later, she was back in the United States, again as sovereign of Canada, to meet with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and, in February of 1961, she visited Ankara with Cemal Gursel, and toured India, Iran, Pakistan, and Nepal for the first time. Throughout her reign Elizabeth has undertaken a large number of state visists to foreign countries, as well as numerous tours of every Commonwealth country, including attending every Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings since the practice was established by Canada in 1973. Altogether, Elizabeth II is the most widely-travelled head of state in history.[41][42]
With the birth of Andrew in 1960, Elizabeth became the first queen regnant to give birth since Victoria bore her daughter, Princess Victoria in 1840. Elizabeth's pregancies with both Andrew and Edward, in 1959 and 1963, respectively, also marked the only two times Elizabeth did not perform the State Opening of the British parliament during her reign, delegating the task to the Lord Chancellor instead. Elizabeth also sent, in 1969, one of 73 Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages to NASA for the historic first lunar landing, the crew of which the Queen would later meet with during their world tour; the message is etched on a tiny silicon disc that still rests on the moon's surface.[43] In 1991, she became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the United States Congress; in 2005, the first Canadian monarch to address the Legislative Assembly of Alberta; and, in 2007, the first British monarch to address the Virginia General Assembly.
Having reigned for over five decades as queen, Elizabeth marked a number of significant anniversaries during her time on the throne, the first being the 1977 Silver Jubilee of her accession.[44] The events – which took place in many countries throughout the Queen's associated Commonwealth tour, and included a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral attended by dignitaries and other heads of state – were watched on television by millions, and parties were held throughout the Commonwealth realms, culminating in several Jubilee Days in the UK, in June. In Britain, commemorative stamps were also issued; the Jubilee Line of the London Underground (though opened in 1979) was named for the anniversary; and several other public locations and spaces were similarly named, including the Jubilee Gardens in London's South Bank, while, in Canada, the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal was issued. A quarter century later, in 2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee as queen,[45] again undertaking an extensive tour of her realms. Though public celebrations in the UK were more muted than those that had taken place 25 years earlier, due, in part, to the death of both the Queen's mother and sister earlier that year, street parties and commemorative events were still planned in many locales. Also, as in 1977, monuments were named and gifts offered to honour the occasion, including, in Canada, the Golden Jubilee Journalism New Media Centre at Sheridan College, and the Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in five years following the Golden Jubilee, with a special service at Westminster Abbey and private dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House on 19 November, and, the following day (their actual anniversary) a dinner party with other members of the Royal Family, former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, sitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition David Cameron, and the surviving bridesmaids and pages from the original wedding party. On 21 November, Elizabeth and Philip travelled to Malta, where a Royal Navy ship that was docked in the viscinity arranged its crew members on deck in the form of the number 60.
At the time of her 80th birthday, the Queen made it clear that she harboured no intentions of abdicating;[36] For a number of years preceeding the Queen's birthday, both Prince Charles and Princess Anne had been each standing in for their mother at events such as investitures, and acting as Counsellors of State, leading to some speculation in the British press that Prince Charles would start to perform many of the day-to-day duties of the monarch while Elizabeth effectively went into retirement.[46] However, Buckingham Palace announced, at the time, that Elizabeth would continue with her duties, both public and private, well into the future.[47] This adherance to duty reflected well with the public, as revealed in polls conducted just before the Queen's 80th birthday, in which it was revealed that the majority of respondents desired that Elizabeth remain on the throne until her death, many feeling that she had become an institution in herself.[48]
In late February 2003, the Queen's reign, then just over 51 years, surpassed the combined reigns of her four immediate predecessors: Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI. She is currently the second-longest-serving head of state in the world, after King Bhumibol of Thailand (fourth if one includes the rulers of the subnational entity Ras Al Khaimah and of the Government of Tibet in Exile), and the third-longest serving British or English monarch. Her reign of over half a century has seen eleven different Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom (twelve terms) and numerous Prime Ministers in the Commonwealth Realms.
In June 2005, she was forced to cancel several engagements after contracting what the Palace described as a bad cold. Nonetheless, the Queen has been described as being in excellent health, and is seldom ill.[49]
In October 2006, she suffered a burst blood vessel in her right eye, causing her entire eye to appear deep red in colour.[50] While the palace would not comment on the Queen's condition, medical experts stated that the Queen would be in no pain and that her eye would heal within a week or two with no lasting damage. They also stated that blood vessel bursts are common amongst the elderly, but can also be a sign of high blood pressure. Later that month, on 26 October, she was due officially to open the new Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal F.C., but she was forced to cancel the engagement due to a strained back muscle that had troubled her since the end of her Balmoral holiday.[51] Her back troubles appear to be ongoing. There was serious concern in November 2006 that she would not be well enough to open Parliament, and plans were drawn up to cover her possible absence. However, she was able to attend. The following month, the Queen faced more rumours that she was in declining health when she was seen in public with a plaster on her right hand. The positioning of the plaster seemed to suggest that the Queen may have been fitted with an intravenous drip. Medical experts suggest that given her back troubles and age she may be suffering from osteoporosis. Buckingham Palace refused to comment.[52] However, it was later revealed that the plaster was as a result of one of her corgis biting her hand as she separated her two fighting pets.[53]
On 21 December 2007, the Queen surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the oldest reigning monarch in both British and the Commonwealth realms' history. Should she still be living on 29 January 2012, she would surpass Richard Cromwell as the longest-lived British head of state, including those who did not hold the office to their death. If she lives until 19 September 2013 but is still survived by the Prince of Wales, he would be the oldest to succeed to the throne, surpassing William IV, who was 64. Should she still be reigning on 10 September 2015, at the age of 89, her reign will surpass that of Queen Victoria and she will become the longest reigning monarch in British history. If she is still reigning on 26 May 2024, at the age of 98, she will surpass the reign of Louis XIV of France and become the longest reigning monarch in European history.
She has a strong sense of religious duty and takes her Coronation Oath seriously.[54] This is one reason (as well as the example set by her uncle who abdicated) why it is considered highly unlikely that she will ever abdicate.[55]
The Queen has shown a strong constitution in the face of turmoil; for example, during a trip to Ghana in 1961 she pointedly refused to keep her distance from the then President, Kwame Nkrumah, despite the fact that he was a target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote at the time: "the Queen has been absolutely determined all through. She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as… a film star... She has indeed 'the heart and stomach of a man'... She loves her duty and means to be a Queen." One author describes another incident thus: " …in 1964, when the Queen was invited to Quebec, according to Robert Speaight in Vanier, Soldier, Diplomat and Governor General: A Biography. There were fears for the Queen’s safety, while the media whipped up a campaign of fear around the risks involved from separatist threats, and there was talk of cancelling the tour. The Queen’s Private Secretary replied that the Queen would have been horrified to have been prevented from going because of the activities of extremists."[56] Further, during the Trooping the Colour in 1981 there was an apparent attempt on the Queen's life: six rounds of blanks were fired at her from close range as she rode down The Mall. Her only reaction was to duck slightly and then continue on. The Canadian House of Commons was so impressed by her display of courage that a motion was passed praising her composure.[56]
As a constitutional monarch, Elizabeth II does not express her personal political opinions publicly. She has maintained this discipline throughout her reign, doing little in public to reveal what they might be, and thus her political views are not clearly known. However, there is some evidence to suggest that, in economic terms, she leans towards a One Nation point of view. During Margaret Thatcher's years as British Prime Minister, it was rumoured that the Queen worried that Mrs. Thatcher's economic policies were fostering social divisions, and she was reportedly alarmed by high unemployment, a series of riots in 1981, and the violence of the miners' strike.[57] Mrs. Thatcher once said to Brian Walden, referring to the Social Democratic Party: "The problem is, the Queen is the kind of woman who could vote SDP."[57]
During an event in Westminster Hall marking her Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Queen stated, "I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." This reference came at a time when the Labour government was attempting to introduce a controversial devolution policy to Scotland and Wales, and was interpreted as opposition to devolution. Her reference in the Silver Jubilee speech is also believed, by some, to refer to the disturbances in Northern Ireland at that time.
Her statement of praise for the Northern Ireland Belfast Agreement raised some complaints among some Unionists (who were traditionally strong monarchists). Ian Paisley, leader of the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party and founder of the evangelical Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, famously broke with Unionism's traditional deference for the British Crown by calling the Queen "a parrot" of Tony Blair. He suggested that her support for the Belfast Agreement would weaken the monarchy's standing among Northern Irish Protestants, a substantial number of whom remained opposed to certain parts of the Agreement. However, Paisley's criticism of the Queen on this matter was rejected by more traditional and moderate unionists.[58]
In the late 1990s, after referendums approved a devolution policy, the Queen sent her best wishes to the new Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Wales, the first sessions of which she opened in person. Several MSPs stayed away from the ceremony, attending a republican rally instead. A number of AMs boycotted her opening of the first session of the National Assembly for Wales. Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood AM also boycotted the opening of National Assembly's new building (the Senedd) in 2006 and was thrown out of chamber for calling the Queen 'Mrs. Windsor' during an Assembly debate.[59]
On 20 March 2008, The Queen broke with tradition and for the first time ever held a Maundy Service outside of England and Wales; accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh. Her Majesty attended the Maundy Thursday Service in Northern Ireland at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh during a 3-day visit to coincide with Easter. [60]
While not speaking directly against Quebec sovereignty in Canada, she has publicly praised Canada's unity and expressed her wish to see the continuation of a unified Canada, sometimes courting controversy over the matter. Like her mother, the Queen has shown an affection for Canada, stating in 1983, when departing California, "I am going home to Canada tomorrow," and at a dinner in Saskatchewan in 2005: "this country and Canadians everywhere have been a constant presence in my life and work."[61] She has also stated that Canada feels like "a home away from home".[62]
In a speech to the Quebec Legislature, at the height of the Quiet Revolution of 1964, she ignored the national controversy (including riots during her appearance in Quebec City – see History of Monarchy in Canada) in favour of praising Canada's two "complementary cultures", speaking, in both French and English, about the strength of Canada's two founding peoples, stating, "I am pleased to think that there exists in our Commonwealth a country where I can express myself officially in French," and, "whenever you sing [the French words of] 'O Canada' you are reminded that you come of a proud race."[8][63]
After she proclaimed the Constitution Act in 1982, which was the first time in Canadian history that a major constitutional change had been made without the agreement of the government of Quebec, the Queen attempted to demonstrate her position as head of the whole Canadian nation, and her role as conciliator, by privately expressing to journalists her regret that Quebec was not part of the settlement.[8]
In 1995, during a separatist referendum campaign, the Queen was tricked into speaking, in both French and English, for fourteen minutes with Pierre Brassard, a DJ for Radio CKOI-FM Montreal, pretending to be the then Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. When told that the separatists were showing a lead, the Queen revealed that she felt the "referendum may go the wrong way," adding, "if I can help in any way, I will be very happy to do so." However, she pointedly refused to accept Chrétien's advice that she intervene on the issue without first seeing a draft speech sent by him. (Her tactful handling of the call won plaudits from the DJ who made it.)[64] Chrétien later, in his memoirs, recounted the Queen's tongue-in-cheek comments to him regarding this affair: "'I didn't think you sounded quite like yourself,' she told me, 'but I thought, given all the duress you were under, you might have been drunk.'"[65]
On 18 November 1965, the Governor of Rhodesia, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, an honour in the personal gift of the Queen, a week after Ian Smith had made his Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Gibbs was intensely loyal to Rhodesia, and, although he had refused to accept the UDI, the award was criticised by some as badly timed. Others praised it as indicating support for her Rhodesian representative in the face of an illegal action by her Rhodesian prime minister.
Elizabeth II, as the Monarch of the United Kingdom, is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and sworn protector of the Church of Scotland. She holds no religious role as Sovereign of the other Realms.
The Queen takes a keen personal interest in the Church of England,[citation needed] but, in practice, delegates authority in the Church of England to the Archbishop of Canterbury. She regularly worships at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, or at St. Mary Magdalene Church when staying at Sandringham House, Norfolk.
The Royal Family also regularly attends services at Crathie Kirk when holidaying at Balmoral Castle, and when in residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the family attends services at the Canongate Kirk. The Queen has attended the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on several occasions, most recently in 2002, although, in most years, she appoints a Lord High Commissioner to represent her.
The Queen made particular reference to her Christian convictions in her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2000, in which she spoke about the theological significance of the Millennium as marking the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ:[66]
| “ | To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me, the teachings of Christ, and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example. | ” |
The Queen often meets with leaders from other religions as well. She is Patron of The Council of Christians and Jews in the UK.[67]
The Jubilee year coincided with the deaths, within a few months, of the Queen's mother and sister. Her relations with her children have become much warmer in recent years. She is particularly close to her daughter-in-law, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and is very close to her grandchildren, noticeably Prince William, Princess Beatrice and Zara Phillips.
Constitutionally, the Queen is an essential part of the legislative process of her Realms. In practice, much of the Queen's role in the legislative process is ceremonial, as her reserve powers are rarely exercised.
She does decide the basis on which a person is asked to form a government; that is, whether a government should be formed capable of surviving in the House of Commons — the standard requirement — or capable of commanding majority support in the House of Commons (i.e. forming a coalition if no one party has a majority). The requirement is normally only made in emergencies or in wartime, and, to date, Elizabeth II has never set it.
On three occasions during her reign, Elizabeth II has had to deal with constitutional problems over the formation of UK governments. In 1957 and again in 1963, the absence of a formal open mechanism within the Conservative Party for choosing a leader meant that following the sudden resignations of Sir Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan it fell to the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government. In 1957, Eden did not proffer advice, and so the Queen consulted Lords Salisbury and Kilmuir for the opinion of the Cabinet, and Winston Churchill, as the only living former Conservative Prime Minister (following the precedent of George V consulting Salisbury's father and Arthur Balfour upon Andrew Bonar Law's resignation in 1923). In October 1963, the outgoing Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, advised the Queen to appoint Alec Douglas-Home, the Earl of Home.
On the third occasion, in February 1974, an inconclusive general election result meant that in theory the outgoing Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had won the popular vote, could stay in power if he formed a coalition government with the Liberals. Rather than immediately resign as prime minister he explored the option and only resigned when the discussions foundered. (Had he chosen to, he could have stayed on until defeated in the debate on the Queen's Speech.) Only when he resigned was the Queen able to ask the Leader of the Opposition, the Labour Party's Harold Wilson, to form a government. His minority government lasted for eight months before a new general election was held.
In all three cases, she appears to have acted in accordance with constitutional tradition, following the advice of her senior ministers and Privy Councillors. Indeed, since constitutional practice in the UK is based on tradition and precedent rather than a written set of rules, it is generally accepted that the sovereign cannot be acting unconstitutionally when acting on the advice of her or his ministers.
Since becoming Queen, Elizabeth spends an average of three hours every day "doing the boxes" – reading state papers sent to her from her various departments, embassies, and government offices.[68] She meets weekly with the British Prime Minister, usually on Tuesdays, and usually with no other advisers present.[69]
The Queen also has regular meetings with her individual British ministers, the First Minister of Scotland, and occasional meetings with ministers from her other realms, either when she is in the particular country, or the minister is in London. Though bound by convention not to intervene directly in politics, her having reviewed state documents from all her realms since 1952 means she has seen more of public affairs from the inside than any other person presently in any of her governments. This, coupled with her many interactions with a great many prime ministers in all of her realms, as well as with her knowledge of world leaders, means that when she does express an opinion, however cautiously, her words are taken with gravity. British Prime Ministers take their weekly meetings with the Queen very seriously; one Prime Minister said he took them more so than Prime Minister's Questions, because she would be better briefed and more constructive than anything he would face at the dispatch box.[citation needed]
In a BBC documentary broadcast in 1992, Elizabeth R., she was shown teasing former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath about how he could travel to world trouble spots like Iraq because politicians saw him as "expendable." He laughed at the comment.
In her memoirs, Margaret Thatcher offered the following description of her weekly meetings with the Queen: "Anyone who imagines that they are a mere formality or confined to social niceties is quite wrong; they are quietly business like and Her Majesty brings to bear a formidable grasp of current issues and breadth of experience."
The Queen was thought to have had strained relations with Thatcher during Thatcher's eleven years as British Prime Minister. Reports throughout the period varied over the extent of this difference and to what degree it was due to concerns over policies of the Thatcher government, or a personality clash between the two women themselves.[70] During the 1980s, the Queen was even reported to "cordially dislike" Mrs Thatcher.[71] During an argument within the Commonwealth over sanctions on South Africa, the Queen made a pointed reference to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, which was interpreted at the time as a disagreement with Thatcher's policy of opposing sanctions. However, whatever the differences between them, Thatcher has clearly conveyed her personal admiration for the Queen and believes that the image of animosity between the two of them has been played up because they are both women. In the aforementioned BBC documentary Queen & Country, Thatcher describes the Queen as "marvellous" and "a perfect lady" who "always knows just what to say," referring in particular to her final meeting with the sovereign as prime minister. Since leaving office, Thatcher has been awarded a life peerage, the Order of Merit, and the Order of the Garter, which would seem to indicate a basic respect for Thatcher on the part of the Queen, as membership of the two Orders is entirely the personal gift of the sovereign. In October, 2005, the Queen and Prince Philip attended Thatcher's 80th birthday party in London.
Elizabeth was thought to have had very good relations with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, during the first years of his time in office. However, evidence mounted that their relationship had hardened over the years,[72] until it was revealed in May 2007 that the Queen was "exasperated and frustrated" by the actions of then Prime Minister Tony Blair, especially by what she saw as detachment from rural issues, as well as a too-casual approach (he requested that the Queen call him "Tony") and a contempt for British heritage, on his part. She was also rumoured to have shown concern with the over-taxation of the British Armed Forces through overseas engagements, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as "surprise" over Blair's shifting of their weekly meeting from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoons. She was supposed to have raised her concerns with Blair repeatedly at these meetings, though she has never revealed her opinions on the Iraq War itself.[73] The relationship between the Queen and her husband and Blair and his wife was also reported to be distant, as the two couples shared few common interests. The Queen did, however, apparently admire Blair's efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.[74]
The Queen's relations with her Canadian Prime Ministers have varied throughout the years. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau seemed to have caused her some concern, perhaps due to his documented antics around the monarch, such as his sliding down Buckingham Palace banisters, and his famous pirouette behind the Queen, captured on film in 1977, as well as the removal of various royal symbols from Canada during his premiership. The Queen was reported, by Paul Martin, Sr., as worrying that the Crown "had little meaning for [Trudeau]."
However, the Queen was invited by Trudeau to the 1973 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in Ottawa, Canada's capital; she and Prince Philip attended, and by several accounts the meetings were much more productive than the 1971 Singapore Conference, which she did not attend. The Queen had an important leadership role; the heads of government were much better behaved when she was there.[75]
Martin, who, along with John Roberts and Mark MacGuigan, was sent to the UK in 1980 to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution, noted that during this time the Queen had taken a great and deep interest in the constitutional debate, especially following the failure of Bill C-60, which affected her role as head of state. They found the Queen "better informed on both the substance and politics of Canada's constitutional case than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats."[76] However, as part of these changes, orchestrated by Trudeau, the Monarchy was entrenched within Canada's governing system. Following this, Trudeau stated in his memoirs: "I always said it was thanks to three women that we were eventually able to reform our Constitution. The Queen, who was favourable, Margaret Thatcher, who undertook to do everything that our Parliament asked of her, and Jean Wadds, who represented the interests of Canada so well in London... The Queen favoured my attempt to reform the Constitution. I was always impressed not only by the grace she displayed in public at all times, but by the wisdom she showed in private conversation."[77]
The Queen travelled to Ottawa in April 1982 to take a direct role in the ceremony which patriated the Canadian constitution, signing on behalf of the United Kingdom.[78]
Elizabeth's relations with the Prime Ministers of Australia have been much less direct. Worthy of note was the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, at the height of which Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was summarily removed from office by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, who was the Queen's official representative in Australia. Gordon Scholes, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives appealed to the Queen on behalf of the House to reverse the decision, on the basis that Whitlam's Australian Labor Party still enjoyed the confidence of the House, but she declined to act, saying it was not appropriate to intervene in affairs reserved to the Governor-General by the Australian Constitution.[79] Also, it has been rumoured based on some unverified statements attributed to Elizabeth's longtime, and now retired, Private Secretary Sir Robert Fellowes that there were several discussions about intervening in the crisis. Nothing was ultimately done, speculation being because of concern about the dangers of strengthening the Australian republican movement.[citation needed]
Elizabeth II's personal relationships with world leaders are warm and informal, and she has developed friendships with many foreign leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson, and George W. Bush, who was the first American President in more than 80 years to stay at Buckingham Palace.
Mary McAleese, now President of Ireland, recounted how, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast, she was, to her shock, invited to a lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, on the basis that the Queen wished to talk to her, as a leading Northern Ireland nationalist, and hear her views on Anglo-Irish relations. The two women struck up an instant rapport, with McAleese, during the 1997 Irish presidential election, calling the Queen "a dote" (a Hiberno-English term meaning a "really lovely person") in an Irish Independent interview. Nelson Mandela, in the BBC documentary, repeatedly referred to her as "my friend, Elizabeth".
The Queen has never given a press interview, and her views on political issues are largely unknown except to those few heads of government in her confidence. Conservative in dress, she is well known for her solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats which allow her to be seen easily in a crowd.[80] She attends many cultural events as part of her public role. Her main leisure interests include horse racing,[81] photography,[82] and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis.[83]
