Queen Elizabeth, who died Thursday afternoon, was the longest reigning monarch in British history. She sat on the throne for 70 years. Until 2015, the record was held by 19th-century Queen Victoria, who reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes.
Invariably dressed in a plain dress with a matching colored hat and a handbag, 96-year-old Elizabeth was always relatively healthy. Other than a few knee surgeries, she has not undergone any major medical treatment. She has always said she reigns for life – Elizabeth would not retire like the Dutch queens. She stuck to that.
In general, the queen behaved impeccably and even somewhat invisible. That made her consistent and, according to many Britons, reliable, but also caused a low point in her reign.
Different world
Born in 1926, Elizabeth grew up in a different world. She was brought up in the heyday of the ‘stiff upper lip’, the protocol that dictates that one never, never falls out of one’s role. She spent her childhood among hordes of submissive lackeys, while her father George VI adorned himself with titles of Emperor of India.
When she took office in February 1952, she symbolized another empire where, according to the saying, ‘the sun never set’. Decolonization changed that in the second half of the last century, but Elizabeth was still head of state of fifteen countries and proud president of the Commonwealth of 56 countries.
Her marriage to Philip Mountbatten in 1947 did not help the royal popularity in the long run. Philip was full of politically incorrect remarks and made himself notorious for his aversion to innovation. The marriage was loveless, according to insiders, and the couple would hardly have been together with the children before. Love was indeed there, as their children and grandchildren said after Philip’s death in April 2021. The Queen even took a short time to mourn the loss of her beloved.
marital problems
In the 1980s and 1990s, her children Charles, Anne and Andrew became embroiled in marital problems that were quickly exploited by the tabloid press. Elizabeth couldn’t stop the drama between her son Charles and his wife Diana or Prince Philip’s blunt comments from discrediting the family. The new generation of royals may have erased the image of rigidity, but the image that replaced it has long been that of a pool of decadence and moral decay. Only the youngest scion, Edward, was spared riots.
Elizabeth’s popularity hit rock bottom with the death of the intensely popular Princess Diana. “Madam, show us you care!”, a newspaper headlined, after Elizabeth appeared indifferent to the dramatic death of her daughter-in-law. By refusing to fly the flag at Buckingham Palace at half-mast, she incited a veritable popular anger. Still, during the funeral procession, Elizabeth broke the royal credo that the queen never bows: she bowed her head in front of the bier with Diana’s coffin.
The massive attention to Diana’s death shook the Queen awake. She went looking for a PR manager to polish her image. The Windsors curbed their money-grubbing lifestyle; they began to travel by scheduled flight or train and agreed to a salary freeze.
Quieter waterway
Elizabeth finally gave Prince Charles permission in 2005 to marry the love of his life Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles’ eldest son William generally refrained from scandalous escapades, which finally brought the British royal family into calmer waters. Only the youngest descendant of Charles, Harry, became known for some high-profile affairs in his younger years. For example, in 2002 he admitted to smoking hashish, two years later he beat up a press photographer and in 2005 The Sun published a photo of Harry dressed as a Nazi, including a red band with swastika. He apologized for that. After his marriage to Meghan in 2018, with whom he had two children, the media attention became too much for him. In 2020, the prince took a step back into the British royal family.
The grand wedding between William and Catherine in 2011 and the birth of their children George, Charlotte and Louis have made the British love their royal family again. When Elizabeth celebrated her sixtieth anniversary in 2012, approximately 90 percent expressed appreciation for the queen.
On April 9, 2021, Queen Elizabeth lost her husband, Prince Philip, after 74 years of marriage. He died in his sleep at the age of 99. Only a small group was allowed to be present during the funeral due to the corona measures. The image of Queen Elizabeth dressed in black clothes and a mouth cap alone in the pews went around the world.