Farewell to an era: how the world remember Queen Elizabeth

In the history of Great Britain, an entire era that lasted more than seven decades ended - Queen Elizabeth II passed away. Until her death, the Queen was one of the most popular people in Great Britain. According to various polls, about 80% of citizens supported her.

Princess Lilibeth

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on April 21, 1926 in the Prince Albert, Duke of York family. As a child, the future queen called herself Lilibeth, and later this nickname stuck to her. At the age of 4, the princess had her own house, she kept it clean and spent her free time there. In the same year, the younger sister Margaret was born, with whom Elizabeth maintained a good relationship throughout her life.

Lilibeth did not go to school, the royal family invited teachers for. Her father constantly discussed politics, history and the world order with the future queen.

Elizabeth was third in line to the throne, after her grandfather, her uncle Edward was to inherit the throne. So that happened in 1936. However, in the same year, he abdicated in order to marry a divorced American commoner, Wallis Simpson. Lilibeth's father, George VI, became king, and she herself became the heir to the throne. At the same time, the title of the Prince of Wales remained vacant - in case the king and queen had a son. He would remove Elizabeth from the throne.

World War II began when Elizabeth was 13. The government was developing a plan to evacuate the princesses to Canada, but their mother, Queen Elizabeth, said: "The children cannot go without me. I will never leave the king, and the king will never leave his country." By the way, it was at the age of 13 that Lilibeth met cadet Philip Mountbatten, the son of the Greek Prince Andrew, fell in love with him and corresponded with him.

In 1945, the heir to the throne persuaded her father to allow her to make a direct contribution to the victory. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, trained as a driver and was known as No. 230873 Lt. Elizabeth Windsor. For the first time in the history of the royal family, a woman served in a military unit.

Queen Elizabeth II

On February 6, 1952, King George died of thrombosis at the age of 56. Elizabeth's coronation took place almost a year and a half after that - on June 2, 1953. For the first time, the coronation of British monarchs was broadcasted on television. The Queen's dress, designed by Norman Hartnell, took 8 months of work. Elizabeth had only two wishes - satin fabric and a simple, "royally elegant silhouette". The price of the dress was not disclosed, but the entire ceremony cost 1.5 million pounds (almost 50 million in today's money). Monarchs from 11 British protectorates - including the Sheikh of Bahrain, the Sheikh of Qatar and the Sultan of Brunei - attended the coronation of the young queen.

Despite the fact that in the rules of the English and British succession to the throne, men have priority over women, several women who got the crown became symbolic in the history of the state. Queen Elizabeth I ruled for 45 years, and her reign is sometimes called "the golden age of England". Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years, and the phrase "Victorian era" became a symbol of industrial, cultural, political development, the time of the greatest prosperity of the British Empire. Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne even longer. She began to rule in a country tortured by the Great War and participated in the creation of today's Great Britain.

70 years on the throne is the second result in world history, only Louis XIV of France reigned longer - 72 years. When Elizabeth ascended the throne, the Soviet Union was ruled by Stalin, and the first prime minister with whom the queen had to work was the famous Winston Churchill. And Liz Truss, appointed two days before the death of the queen, is the 15th head of government of the era of Elizabeth II. She was born, by the way, in 1975, in the 24th year of the queen's reign.

A real queen

According to the rules of etiquette, Elizabeth II was not allowed to step "into the light" twice in the same dress. But the queen violated this unspoken prohibition twice. Biographers also counted three appearances of Elizabeth in public in trousers. Usually the queen only wore skirts. An integral element of the queen's wardrobe were her hats. There were more than five thousand hats in the queen's wardrobe. In addition, Elizabeth II expressed her attitude to certain events, such as Britain's exit from the European Union, with the help of hats. The queen also shifted a lady's handbag from hand to hand when she got bored of the conversation. Her Majesty could not directly say about it, so she hinted in a royal way.

In addition to hats, the Queen adored corgi dogs. Her father gave her the first corgi in 1933, since that time - almost 90 years - Elizaveta has always had several dogs of this breed. During her life, the queen had more than three dozen corgis. The breed itself, thanks to the queen and television, became extremely popular. Despite the fact that royal corgis sometimes bit guards, drivers, postmen, and in 1968 one of the parliamentarians even demanded to install a sign "Beware, angry dog!" in the palace. However, his idea was never implemented.

As for other interesting facts, Elizabeth II sent more than 3 million letters during her lifetime. The queen received thousands of letters and she read a few dozen of them at random, making sure to send replies.

Elizabeth the Silent. Elizabeth the Witty.

The queen's unofficial nickname was Elizabeth the Silent. This is due to the fact that the queen was reluctant to give interviews or press conferences. However, people who had to communicate with the queen noted her subtle English humor. Thus, she emphasized the need for direct communication with the people: "If they don't see me, they will stop believing that I exist." Another time, she compared noisy helicopters to US presidents: "They circle and circle forever while you're talking. Like Donald Trump, or like Obama." Before the birth of her great-grandson, Elizaveta once joked: "I hope that the child will appear soon, because I'm going on vacation," alluding to the noise of babies. And once, when she was not recognized in Scotland and was told that she looked like the queen, Elizabeth answered briefly: "It pleases."

If Elizabeth II gave press conferences reluctantly, then the Christmas address to the people is her real calling card. In 1957, the young queen became the first head of state in history to greet her nation with a televised Christmas. Since that time, the TV greeting has become traditional and has spread to many countries.

Then, in her first television address, the 31-year-old Queen said: "It's always been easy to hate and destroy. It's much harder to build and cherish." In general, historians and biographers have stretched the phrases that Elizabeth said to her people into maxims.

"Over the years, those who seemed to me the happiest and most content always turned out to be the ones who lived the most open and selfless lives." (Appeal of 2008).

"Every day is a new start. And I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do the right thing, look to the future, accept whatever the day brings, and trust God." (Appeal of 2002).

"Don't take yourself too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom" (1991 Address).

"When life begins to seem difficult, the brave do not lie down, accepting defeat. Instead, they fight even harder for a better future." (Appeal of 2008).

What's next?

If Elizabeth's grandfather - the founder of the Windsor dynasty, King George V - had only two granddaughters, now the dynasty is flourishing. After the war, in 1947, Elizabeth married Philip, with whom she lived together for 74 years. The Queen leaves behind four children, eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Her son, 73-year-old Prince Charles, who ascended the throne under the name Charles (Carl) III, became the new king.