67: Queen Elizabeth II

67 years ago today (February 6, 1952) Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. After a long illness, her father, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland died in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya (then a British Colony) at the time of her father’s death; she was  crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27.

Queen Elizabeth, born on April 21, 1926, and known to her family as Lilibet, was groomed as a girl to succeed her father. She married a distant cousin, Philip Mountbatten, on November 20, 1947, at London’s Westminster Abbey. The first of Elizabeth’s four children, Prince Charles, was born in 1948. From the start of her reign, Elizabeth understood the value of public relations and allowed her 1953 coronation to be televised, despite objections from Prime Minister Winston Churchill and others who felt it would cheapen the ceremony. Elizabeth, the 40th British monarch since William the Conqueror, has worked hard at her royal duties and become a popular figure around the world. She is patron of over 600 organizations and charities. In 2003, she celebrated 50 years on the throne, only the fifth British monarch to do so. In 2017, she became the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee (65 years on the throne.) She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch as well as the world's longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state, the oldest and longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state.

The queen’s reign, however, has not been without controversy. She was seen as cold and out-of-touch following the 1996 divorce of her son, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana, and again after Diana’s 1997 death in a car crash. Additionally, the role in modern times of the monarchy, which is largely ceremonial, has come into question as British taxpayers have complained about covering the royal family’s travel expenses and palace upkeep. Still, the royals are effective world ambassadors for Britain and a huge tourism draw. Today, the queen, an avid horsewoman and Corgi dog lover, is one of the world’s wealthiest women, with extensive real-estate holdings and art and jewelry collections.

Not only is Queen Elizabeth II the Queen of the United Kingdom, but she is also the separate Queen of the 16 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom. All 16 Commonwealth realms are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organization of 53 member states. Elizabeth II is also the Head of the Commonwealth.

The picture is her official portrait as Queen of Canada (she is the first Monarch of Canada as the title was created in 1953.) In the official Canadian portrait she is wearing her Canadian insignia as sovereign of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elizabeth-becomes-queen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pch/images/services/royal-portraits/queen-pic6x7-eng.jpg