On December 11, 1936, the life of a young Princess Elizabeth, only 10 years old, would change forever: with the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII —later known as the Duke of Windsor—, her father, George VI ,
this happened to be the second in the line of succession to the throne of England.
On June 6, 1953, after the premature death of her father and at only 25 years old, Elizabeth II would take charge of her country, later becoming the third longest-living monarch in history.
Her life was full of difficulties that, hidden behind her own figure and always under the responsibility of the crown, also marked her reign.
An unseen marriage
Although they were together for 73 years, the beginnings of Elizabeth II with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were not viewed favorably within the royal family.
The then princess, daughter of King George VI, met Philip when she was only 13 years old and he was 18. She went on a visit to
the Royal Naval College ship
Britannia
when he was just another boy.
His surnames, as royal as they were, had fallen out of favor, and he survived on the pay he earned for his work.
It was during Christmas 1943, when Felipe had nowhere to go, when he and a cousin of his and a friend of the royal family were invited to Windsor Castle.
Isabel was already 17 years old and, as her nanny Marion Crawford recounted in her diaries, the young woman was happy "as she had never seen her before."
King George VI and the queen consort, at first, did not accept that romance: they would have preferred that their daughter marry a member of the English aristocracy and, the fact that she belonged to a royal family in decline, they did not find it nothing convenient for the future queen of England.
The then Princess Elizabeth then showed determination despite the doubts of her parents: they were married on November 20, 1947.
Princess Elizabeth with Philip Mountbatten at the announcement of their engagement at Buckingham Palace in July 1947.
The death of the father, of the king
In early 1952, then-Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh set out on an official tour of Australia, New Zealand, and finally Kenya.
King George VI had been diagnosed with lung cancer and, due to failing health, he had been forced to delegate some of his duties as king, including official travel.
It was in Kenya, while Princess Elizabeth and Philip of Edinburgh were staying at the Treetops Hotel, that the king passed away.
From England, the British embassy had sent an encrypted message to Nairobi to communicate the news, but no one was able to crack the code.
It was a journalist named Granville Roberts, who was covering the young couple's trip, who received a call that alerted him to what had happened.
Immediately, he reported it to Martin Charteris,
official secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Charteris quickly went to inform the Duke, since he feared that Princess Elizabeth would learn of her father's death over the radio.
As reported years later by Lady Pamela Hicks, first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh and lady-in-waiting of the queen, through her daughter's
podcast
, Philip received the news from his secretary and took the young Elizabeth to give a walk to communicate it.
Elizabeth II had just become queen of a country that was more than 10,000 kilometers away.
Lady Pamela also gave a fact that shows how unexpected the death of her father was for Elizabeth II: the queen did not have black clothes in her suitcase, so, once they landed in London, they had to wait for her a set of mourning
From left to right, Princess Elizabeth, her grandmother Queen Mary of Teck and Queen Elizabeth stand at the entrance to Westminster, where the coffin of King George VI of England was transferred, in London, United Kingdom, in February 1952.
A gap between two sisters
On June 2, 1953 Elizabeth II formally became the queen of England through the coronation ceremony and, although all eyes were on her, however, there was one detail that did not go unnoticed.
During that act, Princess Margaret came to chat with Peter Townsend, captain of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and groom of King George VI, in a friendly and close way, in front of guests and the press.
At one point, a gesture betrayed her complicity: she brushed a piece of lint from his uniform.
Within hours, rumors about their relationship had skyrocketed.
That same day, Princess Margaret informed Elizabeth II, now Queen of England, as well as close family members: her intention was to marry Peter Townsend, divorced from her and 16 years older than her.
That refusal drove a wedge between the two sisters.
Years later, Princess Margaret would marry the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, uniting in a marriage that should never have been and that ended in divorce, but not before starring in numerous scandals and controversies: the marriage soon began to be seen as a couple partygoers with an irrepressible addiction to alcohol and other substances.
The infidelities of both were public.
The image for the rest of the royal family and, especially, for Elizabeth II, was devastating.
The queen herself said no to marriage to Peter Townsend, but she said yes to divorce from Armstrong-Jones.
It was in June 1978.
Queen Elizabeth II, still a princess at the time, with her sister Princess Margaret in 1946. Lisa Sheridan (Getty Images)
1992:
annus horribilis
On November 25, 1992, during a banquet offered in her honor in London, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of her accession to the throne, Elizabeth II declared "1992 will not be a year that I will remember with pleasure" but that what he called his “
annus horribilis
” or “terrible year”.
It was not for less: her eldest daughter, Princess Anne, had obtained a divorce from Mark Phillips;
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, had separated from Sarah Ferguson, and the marriage between the heir to the throne, Prince Charles and Diana of Wales, also made waters through a separation that, despite trying to frame it as friendly , came just after a book that shook the entire institution.
On June 15, 1992,
Diana, her true story was published
, by journalist Andrew Morton, an explosive biography in which the Princess of Wales secretly collaborated.
Never before had a royal spoken so crudely about her unhappiness.
The book mentioned infidelities by Charles of England, as well as the bulimia and depression suffered by Lady Di.
The most controversial chapter was the one that revealed that Diana had tried to take her own life up to five times during the eighties.
The claims about the emotional instability of the future queen of England unleashed a media, social and political storm.
Buckingham Palace did not comment on any of the revelations, but within hours of publication it clarified that the princess had not cooperated "in any way" with the biography.
that year,
polls showed a sharp drop in the popularity of the monarchy.
The departure of Diana of Wales from the royal family was a blow.
After all, she was already the queen of hearts.
The Princess of Wales with Queen Elizabeth II in November 1982. Princess Diana Archive (Getty Images)
To end the year, just a few days before giving his speech at the banquet offered in his honor, a devastating fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle, one of the Queen's usual residences, but above all a symbol of continuity in the history of the British monarchy.
As the journalist Rafa de Miguel reported in an article in this same medium referring to that crucial moment in the life of Isabel II, from then on things had to change: “From that speech, the repair work on the building began ... and of the institution”.
The queen and her heir, the Prince of Wales, have pledged to begin paying taxes on their private income and to allow transparency over their finances.
In the mid-1990s, an official group called Way Ahead was formed,
Diana's death
Diana of Wales died on August 31, 1997. In life she had already made the British royal family uncomfortable.
She did not shut up when she felt humiliated by her husband and she asked for her divorce, which she achieved in 1996. After her death, she cracked the still shaky foundations of a monarchy still in the recovery phase of its
annus horribilis
Her.
Diana forced the queen of England to show her feelings and face the growing anger of her subjects, who for a brief moment wanted to see her abdicate from her.
Until the fourth day after Diana's death, Elizabeth II did not speak out, in a speech that did manage to calm things down somewhat.
It was also the fourth day after Diana's death that the Buckingham flag was not flown at half-staff in mourning.
On the fifth day, there was a mass funeral attended by two million people to accompany the coffin to Westminster Abbey.
Inside, 2,000 guests, chaired by Queen Elizabeth II, said goodbye to Lady Di.
According to the chronicle of the time in this same medium: "More significant was a later gesture that left many stunned: Queen Elizabeth, in an unprecedented gesture in the history of the crown, slightly bowed her head as a sign of respect towards his controversial former daughter-in-law.”
Queen Elizabeth II of England and her husband, Philip of Edinburgh, observe the thousands of bouquets of flowers deposited by citizens outside Buckingham Palace, in memory of Diana of Wales, who died in a traffic accident in 1997.
goodbye to mother and sister
The year 2002 was a sad year for Elizabeth II.
On February 9 of that year, Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth, died after suffering a stroke at the age of 71.
On March 30 of that same year, Queen Elizabeth, her queen mother, died at the age of 101.
Elizabeth II was with her mother when she died, but the rest of the family was on vacation: Prince Charles, always very close to his grandmother, declared himself "dismayed" from Switzerland, where he was skiing with his children , William and Henry.
The Duke of York, the queen's middle son, was in Barbados with his ex-wife, Sarah Fergusson, and his two daughters.
The death of her sister and her mother overshadowed the Jubilee year, in which Elizabeth II celebrated the 50th anniversary of her accession to her throne.
Queen Elizabeth II with her sister Margaret in May 1988 at a sports competition. Tim Graham (Tim Graham Photo Library via Get)
Andrés, the rejected son
In November 2019, Elizabeth II granted her son Prince Andrew permission "to retire from all public duties associated with his office for the foreseeable future," according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.
It was a diplomatic way of repudiating the son who was implicated in the millionaire and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein scandal and who had become a serious danger to the British monarchy after a disastrous interview by the Duke of York to the BBC from Buckingham Palace. .
The strange excuses provided by the duke, his lack of empathy for Epstein's victims and even his defense of a relationship that he claimed helped him establish valuable contacts in the world of finance, scandalized the British public opinion and put Elizabeth II in serious trouble,
Unlike many monarchs, Elizabeth II was not born destined to reign.
At the time she came into the world, on April 21, 1926, her father, Albert, the second son of George V, was Duke of York, second in line to the Prince of Wales.
This photograph was taken on October 9, 1926, at the newborn's first public appearance.GETTY
Life changed for little Lilibet ten years after she was born when her uncle Edward VIII, who had not been on the throne for a year, abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson.
This image was made in July 1936, months before her abdication in December, in the house that the then Duke and Duchess of York had at 145 Piccadilly, in London.
GETTY
Unlike his brother, Edward VIII, who was never crowned in his 325-day reign, George VI, the name he chose when he ascended the throne, held his coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London on May 12. 1937. The photograph shows the royal family on that day with Queen Mary. Getty
Two years after George VI was crowned, World War II broke out.
The already heiress she launched, together with her sister Margarita de ella, a message of encouragement to all the children and young people of the British Empire on October 10, 1940. She was her first speech to the nation when she had 14 years.
Getty
Four years later, the then Princess Elizabeth II entered the women's branch of the British Army, specifically joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service where she worked as a mechanic.
On the day the war was declared over, the queen-to-be and her sister went out to celebrate, mingling with the crowd celebrating victory in the streets of London.
GETTY
On November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey and before 2,000 guests, Princess Elizabeth said "I do", after a few years of secret engagement, to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, who renounced his title and he converted to Anglicanism so he could marry.
A union that raised suspicions in the United Kingdom due to the close relationship of Felipe Mountbatten's sisters with Nazism.
GETTY
The couple's first child arrived just a year after the wedding.
Prince Charles, successor to his mother on the throne, was born in London on November 14, 1948. With him, the continuation of the line of succession was ensured.
On August 15, 1950, Princess Anne came into the world.Getty
One of the hardest moments for Isabel II took place on February 6, 1953, when her father died.
The then princess was on an official trip to Kenya with her husband.
She there she knew that from then on she was the Queen, a title that she has carried for 70 years.Getty
Elizabeth II, who was then 26 years old, was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that, for the first time in the history of this type of event, was broadcast on television.GETTY
As queen, she expanded her family with two more children, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who were born in 1960 and 1964, respectively.GETTY
During her reign, Elizabeth II experienced moments of happiness and tranquility, but also difficult years.
One of them was 1992, which she herself described as 'annus horribilis' in a speech.
The separations of her children Carlos, married to Diana of Wales, and Andrés, with Sarah Ferguson, were joined by a fire that affected a large part of Windsor Castle.
Getty
Another difficult moment that the queen had to face was the death of Diana of Wales.
Criticism intensified over the treatment that the royal family had given to the mother of Prince William, heir to the throne, and William.
And there were even voices that saw a conspiracy after the traffic accident that took the life of the one known as the people's princess.GETTY
If Elizabeth II demonstrated anything throughout her seven decades as queen, it is her ability to resist and overcome difficulties.
Over the years, and the arrival of new members to the royal family who gave a fresh air to the institution, the image of the monarchy was improving among the British.Getty
However, the queen's last years have been overshadowed by two family affairs that have caused rivers of ink to flow.
The first of them was the accusation of her son Andrés of child abuse.
The matter went to court, but the trial was held by a secret agreement between the Duke of York and the woman who accused him.
The second is known as Megxit, the departure as senior members of the royal family of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed in a later interview that they had suffered racist comments from some members of their family. GETTY
Overcoming adversity once again, Elizabeth II celebrated her 70 years on the throne last June with a Platinum Jubilee.
During the various acts that took place in her honor, a monarch with weak health and mobility problems that forced her to move with a cane was already seen.
In fact, she was not present at the thanksgiving mass at St. Paul's Cathedral and it was presided over by her son Carlos de Ella.
Getty
The monarch's last public act took place on Tuesday when she named Liz Truss Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at her Balmoral residence, where she has died.
It was the first time in her entire reign that Elizabeth II carried out this act outside of Buckingham Palace.
In her seven decades on the throne, she has had 15 prime ministers.
GETTY
Henry of England and Meghan Markle: the cold goodbye to a grandson
In January 2020, fed up with a media perspective that was compared to what Diana of Wales herself had to endure, the then Prince Henry and his wife, the American actress Meghan Markle, turned Dukes of Sussex, decided to put land for medium.
They did so through their official Instagram account, announcing that they intended to gradually abandon the public activities and commitments imposed on them by Buckingham Palace: "We intend to take a step back from our role as senior members of the royal family and work to be economically independent, while continuing our full support for Your Majesty.
(...) We plan to balance our time between the UK and North America.”
Some British media, such as
The Times,
assured that neither Elizabeth II nor Charles of England knew of Enrique and Meghan's decision.
The queen, according to the same newspaper, was disappointed in her grandson's decision.
Later, the word that was used was “furious”.
So much so that she urged that a solution be found as soon as possible.
And the queen was obeyed: the Dukes of Sussex stopped using the title of their royal highness and receiving public funds.
After that, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left for the United States, cooling off relations with the rest of the royal family.
Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Queen Elizabeth II watch an air parade from Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018. Chris Jackson (Getty Images)
Until death parted them
“It is with heavy hearts that Her Majesty the Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement on April 9, 2021. Prince Philip of Edinburgh consort from the United Kingdom, died at the age of 99.
Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh had been confined to Windsor Castle for a year, since the pandemic began.
It was the longest royal marriage in history.
They had four children.
During more than 73 years of union, the marriage survived against all odds to the storms and the changes of direction of the modern world.
Since the death of her husband, Elizabeth II was slowly disappearing from public life, passing the baton to her son and her grandson, Prince William, excusing her mobility problems.
Queen Elizabeth II with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, who was then 99 years old, at Windsor Castle in 2020. POOL (REUTERS)
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