Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor or Elizabeth II (born
April 21, 1926) is the Queen and head of state of the United Kingdom (and
several other Commonwealth countries) since February 6, 1952. Her coronation
took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.
Queen Elizabeth II
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Born in London, England, by Caesarean section she is the elder daughter
of King George VI (then Duke of York) and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her younger
sister being the late Princess Margaret. Elizabeth succeeded to the throne
following the death of her father in 1952.
She married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in November 1947. They
have four children. Though the Royal House is named Windsor, it was decreed
that the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip should have
the personal surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
Despite a succession of controversies about the rest of the royal family,
particularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s (including wide reportage of
Prince Philip's propensity for verbal gaffes, and the marital difficulties
of her children), Queen Elizabeth remains a remarkably uncontroversial
and widely respected figure. She has managed to reflect the expectations
of the British public for the role near-perfectly, with one notable exception
when she and the other royals were perceived to be unmoved by the public
outpouring of grief following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on
August 31, 1997.
She is both a public figure, and, by all accounts, an exceedingly private
person. She has never given press interviews, and her views on political
issues are largely unknown except for those few heads of government who
have private conversations with her. She reportedly has few close friends,
instead preferring the company of horses and corgis, areas in which she,
like many of the other royals, is regarded as an expert. She is also regarded
as a excellent mimic, whose impressions of people are regarded as first
rate. One British impressionist once said if the British monarchy was abolished,
he would hire her for his show the next day, so good are her impressions.
Her former prime ministers speak highly of her. Since becoming queen,
she spends an average of three hours every day 'doing the boxes', i.e.
reading state papers sent to her from her various departments, embassies,
etc. Having done so since 1952, she has probably seen as much of world
affairs in that period as anyone, and is thus able to offer observations
to Tony Blair based on things said to her by Harold Wilson, Harold Macmillan,
Ted Heath, Winston Churchill and many other senior leaders she had spoken
to. She takes her responsibilities in this regard seriously, once mentioning
an "interesting telegram" from the Foreign Office to then Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, only to find that her notoriously lazy prime minister
hadn't bothered to read it when it came in his box. Prime Ministers take
their weekly meetings with her very seriously. One said it he took it more
seriously than Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, because
she would be better briefed and more constructive than anything he would
face at the despatch box. She also has regular meetings with her individual
ministers. Even ministers known to have republican views speak highly of
her and value those meetings. She receives daily reports also on what is
on in Parliament, as well as frequent meetings with the Scottish First
Minister, whom she (nominally) appoints. (The royal palace in Edinburgh,
the Palace of Holyroodhouse, once home to Scottish kings and queens like
Mary, Queen of Scots, is now regularly used again, with at least one member
of the Royal Family, often the Prince of Wales or Princess Royal frequently
in residence). She also receives reports on the Welsh Assembly.
Though bound by convention not to intervene directly in politics, her
length of service, the fact that she has been a confidante of every prime
minister since Sir Winston Churchill, and her knowledge of world leaders,
means that when she does express an opinion, however cautiously, her words
are taken seriously. In her memoirs, Margaret Thatcher offers this description
of her weekly meetings with the Queen:
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"Anyone who imagines that they are a mere formality or confined to social
niceties is quite wrong; they are quietly businesslike and Her Majesty
brings to bear a formidable grasp of current issues and breadth of experience."
The Rhodesia controversy of the late 1970's is a prominant example of the
Queen subtlely influencing policy. In 1973, a report by Lord Grenville
on his visit to Rhodesia initially depressed the then Labour government,
as it reported only slight movement from the Ian Smith regime. However,
after a conversation with James Callaghan at a state dinner in Buckingham
Palace, the Queen through her Private Secretary noted that though the scale
of the movement was slight, any movement was a change from what had happened
before, and might indicate the beginning of change. Her observation, based
on many years reading foreign office reports (including years when those
Labour ministers were not in office), was influential in convincing the
Labour government not to abandon contact with Smith's Rhodesia. That contact
was the genesis of what ultimately became the Lancaster House Agreement
that produced Zimbabwe. When Margaret Thatcher, who was known to hold pro-Ian
Smith views, became prime minister, it was feared that those contacts might
be scaled back, but according to one Thatcher cabinet minister, an "intoxicating
mix" of the Queen and Thatcher's Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington kept
her attached to the process developed by the previous Labour government.
Though her political views are never expressed publicly, she is believed
to hold centre, even slightly left of centre views. She was seen as closer
to Harold Wilson than Edward Heath and certainly closer to Tony Blair than
Margaret Thatcher. During Thatcher's period in government, an unnamed source
in Buckingham Palace reported that the Queen was worried that the right
wing policies of the Thatcher government were dividing Britain and hurting
the Commonwealth. Her statement of praise for the Northern Ireland Good
Friday Agreement raised some complaints in Northern Ireland among some
unionists in the Democratic Unionist Party who opposed the Agreement, including
the role given to the Irish government, the downgrading of British symbols
in the North and the presence of Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Her personal friendship with leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson,
Bill Clinton and others have made her exceptionally well informed on world
affairs. On occasion such contacts have proved highly beneficial for Britain.
John Major as prime minister once had difficulty at a Commonwealth Conference
working with a particular Commonwealth leader. The Queen, knowing that
leader, guessed that there might be problems and informed her British Prime
Minister that he and the leader shared a mutual interest in sport. Major
used that information to establish a personal relationship between both
men, which ultimately benefited both countries. Similarly she took the
initiative when Irish President Mary Robinson began visiting Britain, by
suggesting to Her Government that she invite her Irish counterpart to pay
courtesy call on her in the Palace. The Irish Government enthusiastically
supported the idea. The result was a groundbreaking first ever visit by
an Irish president to meet the British monarch.
In its aftermath, Mary Robinson was invited to pay an official visit
to Britain. Since then, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Princess
Royal, the Earl of Wessex and the Duke of Edinburgh have all visited Ireland,
many travelling to Áras an Uachtaráin to meet the Irish President. Successive
Irish presidents and taoisigh (prime ministers) have also visited Buckingham
Palace, while President McAleese, in a break with precedent, attended a
major royal event, the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
(co-incidentially the last Queen of Ireland [1936-1949]) in 2002. Expectations
are high that the Queen will pay a state visit to Ireland as the guest
of the Irish President in the near future. (Mary McAleese once paid a public
compliment to the Queen, whom she had known before she became president,
calling her a 'dote' (a term of affection meaning a lovely person) in an
Irish newspaper interview.)
External link
Children of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip
The Cunard cruise liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (note the Arabic numeral)
is so named not for Queen Elizabeth II, but rather because it is Cunard's
second ship of that name.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation
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for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom
