However, during the s and s, many of these possessions achieved independence and the British Empire evolved into the Commonwealth of Nations. Elizabeth II has thus made visits to other countries as head of the Commonwealth and a representative of Britain, including a groundbreaking trip to Germany in She became the first British monarch to make a state visit there in more than five decades.
During the s and s, Elizabeth continued to travel extensively. More than a week later she was in Montreal, Canada, to open the Summer Olympics. Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a clash that lasted for several weeks. While more than British soldiers died in the conflict, Prince Andrew returned home safe and well, much to his mother's relief. In , Elizabeth showed that the crown still had symbolic and diplomatic power when she became the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since when all of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom.
As queen, Elizabeth has modernized the monarchy, dropping some of its formalities and making certain sites and treasures more accessible to the public.
As Britain and other nations struggled financially, Britain abolished the Civil List in , which was a public funding system of the monarchy dating back roughly years. The royal family continues to receive some government support, but the queen has had to cut back on spending. Despite the occasional call to step aside for Charles, Elizabeth remained steadfast in her royal obligations as she passed her 90th birthday.
She continued making more than engagements per year, maintaining her support of hundreds of charitable organizations and programs. However, in late the monarchy took what was considered a major step toward transitioning to the next generation: On November 12, Charles handled the traditional Remembrance Sunday duty of placing a wreath at the Cenotaph war memorial, as the queen watched from a nearby balcony.
In August , Elizabeth made a rare intrusion into political matters when she agreed to a request by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prorogue suspend Parliament until October 14, less than three weeks before Britain's planned departure from the European Union.
Elizabeth has had 14 prime ministers placed into power during her reign, with queen and PM having a weekly, confidential meeting. Elizabeth has also met about a quarter of all the U.
She enjoyed a father-figure relationship with the iconic Winston Churchill and was later able to loosen up a bit and be somewhat informal with Labour leaders Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
In contrast, she and Margaret Thatcher had a very formal, distant relationship, with the PM tending to be a grating lecturer to the queen on a variety of issues. Tony Blair saw certain concepts around the monarchy as somewhat outdated, though he did appreciate Elizabeth making a public statement after the death of Diana.
Later, Conservative leader David Cameron, who is Elizabeth's fifth cousin removed, enjoyed a warm rapport with the queen. He apologized in for revealing in a conversation that she was against the Scottish referendum to seek independence from Great Britain. Theresa May was described as being tight-lipped about Brexit plans to leave the European Union, with a rumor circulating that Elizabeth was perturbed over not being informed about future exit strategies.
Elizabeth has worked tirelessly to protect the image of the monarchy and to prepare for its future. But she has seen the monarchy come under attack during her lifetime. The once-revered institution has weathered a number of storms, including death threats against the royal family. In , Elizabeth suffered a great personal loss when Lord Mountbatten, her husband's uncle, died in a terrorist bombing.
Mountbatten and several members of his family were aboard his boat on August 27th, off the west coast of Ireland, when the vessel exploded. He and three others, including one of his grandsons, were killed. In June , Elizabeth herself had a dangerous encounter. She was riding in the Trooping the Colour, a special military parade to celebrate her official birthday, when a man in the crowd pointed a gun at her.
He fired, but, fortunately, the gun was loaded with blanks. Other than receiving a good scare, the queen was not hurt. Elizabeth had an even closer call the following year when an intruder broke into Buckingham Palace and confronted her in her bedroom.
When the press got wind of the fact that Prince Philip was nowhere to be seen during this incident, they speculated about the state of the royal marriage. In the wake of Diana's death in a Paris car crash on August 31, , Elizabeth experienced intense media scrutiny.
For days, Elizabeth remained silent while the country mourned Diana's passing, and she was sharply criticized for her lack of response. Stories circulated that the queen did not want to give Diana a royal funeral, which only fueled public sentiment against the monarch. Nearly a week after Diana's death, Elizabeth returned to London and issued a statement on the late princess. Elizabeth also initially objected to the relationship between her son Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Known to be a stickler for ceremony and tradition, she eventually started to show signs of softening her stance over the years. When Charles and Camilla wed in , Elizabeth and Prince Philip did not attend the civil ceremony but attended a religious blessing and held a reception in their honor at Windsor Castle.
It has been reported that Susan accompanied the Queen on her honeymoon — to Broadlands, Hampshire, and Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate — in Many of the corgis since owned by the Queen were direct descendants from Susan. The first ship Elizabeth launched as queen, on 16 April , was the Britannia , which was also from Clydebank. Other ships launched by the Queen include Elizabeth 2 in , and Queen Mary 2 in For a bill to become an act of law, it must first be passed by both the houses of Lords and Commons, and then receive royal assent from the Queen.
The queen has, over the course of her reign, held regular evening meetings with 12 British prime ministers : Winston Churchill —55 ; Sir Anthony Eden —57 ; Harold Macmillan —63 ; Sir Alec Douglas-Home —64 and Harold Wilson —70 and — The tradition continued with prime minister David Cameron — — the pair usually met on a Wednesday evening.
She is also the oldest monarch to have celebrated a Golden Jubilee in at the age of 76 — the youngest was James VI and I, at the age of Elizabeth was also the first British monarch to celebrate her diamond wedding anniversary, on 20 November , and her platinum wedding anniversary on 20 November Only five other kings and queens in British history have reigned for 50 years or more.
Sign in. Back to Main menu Virtual events Masterclasses. They had neither the intelligence nor the strength of character to make their own way in the world. Whereas Mary had confirmed such prejudices during her brief, disastrous reign, Elizabeth set out to confound them. She started by refusing to marry — a deeply shocking concept in an age when it was universally accepted that a woman let alone a queen could not make her way in the world without the guidance of a husband.
Although she encountered fierce resistance to this at first, over time her single state became one of the cornerstones of her success: it secured her place as the Virgin Queen of legend. But she also knew exactly when to flaunt her femininity. She created a court based upon the principles of chivalric love, with herself at the centre — at turns delighting, frustrating and enslaving the male courtiers who flocked to pay her homage.
This implies that she triumphed in spite of being a woman, whereas in fact she triumphed because of this.
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