Elizabeth II was not born to be queen

With the death of Isabel II, a new reign full of unknowns and novelties begins.

The queen occupied the throne for 70 years, her longest reign, surpassing the long reign of her great-great-grandmother Victoria, who gave her name to an entire era, the Victorian era, and who reigned 63 years.

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It is remarkable that there are two women who marked an epoch in the contemporary history of England;

one occupied a large part of the 19th century and the other the second half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st.

Both were emblematic in the development of the difficult and subtle task of being a constitutional king or queen, and between the two they almost encompass contemporaneity;

both are considered exemplary in the development of their work, in their dedication and discretion, in absolute dedication to duty with hardly any errors or gaps.

Both had husbands who had to find their position behind the queen and who, at the same time, collaborated intensely looking for their space, and were loved by them, although unlike in the case of Victoria, in Elizabeth II the union lasted almost as long as his reign.

The long reign began with the Cold War, shortly after the end of World War II and with an emblematic prime minister such as Winston Churchill, who revered the monarchy and was the great support and guide of the young queen;

This name alone places us in another time, another era, another political culture, closer to the 19th century, to the Victorian era, since it was under the reign of Victoria when he entered Parliament, in 1900 as a conservative deputy.

In other words, the queen who has just died had as prime minister a man born and initiated into politics in the Victorian era (he was in the Cuban war of independence!).

In addition to this apprenticeship, the woman who later became queen was an active member of her country's Armed Forces during World War II, at the age of 18, and participated in the defense and resistance of England against the Nazi bombing of the city, training and acting as an ambulance driver and mechanic in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, at a time of heightened danger and when the royal family had retreated out of London.

She already then earned her fame as a princess without fear of getting her hands dirty.

After that, the queen managed to be fully and worthily the representative of the State, of the nation, which seemed to personify herself fully in her in a permanent and imperturbable way, guaranteeing the very permanence and stability of the country;

that is to say, she managed to represent the main virtue that the constitutional monarchy has precisely because it is not elective, that of imperturbable continuity, unity, permanence, guaranteeing neutrality, the representation of all, without anyone feeling excluded;

that is the great challenge and the great task of a constitutional king: act without being noticed, promote, advise, prevent, as established

from the English monarchy —the work of Walter Bagehot from the Victorian era— to its prime minister, in the intimacy of daily meetings, without them or the population being able to feel that the neutral power has an opinion, a desire, different to each one of them.

It is a guarantee for the English kings to have that invaluable guide;

Bagehot's work on the English Constitution of 1867 is read by all the heirs of the British monarchy, and that is how she was formed once the line of succession changed when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated;

so that all the prime ministers, the 14 who ended her term with her, left satisfied with their relationship, although it was not always easy, sometimes because of the predominance of Churchill, in whom she trusted so much, and others because of the character decided and sometimes imperative of others, as in the case of Margaret Thatcher, although he decorated both of them, and that did not happen with all of them.

Seventy years go a long way, and the queen had to overcome the famous

of 1992, and what was to come with the divorce of the heir, Diana's death in an accident and the new marriage of Prince Charles.

Diana's death gave rise to one of the queen's most flagrant errors in her relationship with the citizenry, although after pressure from the Labor government she amended it by supporting the figure of Diana and gradually removing the image of the monarchy from her hours. lower.

She also had to solve the difficult problem of the new marriage, as head of the Anglican Church that she was, and that she was going to be her successor.

It was quite a challenge, because Elizabeth II became queen because marriage with divorcees was not allowed in the case of her uncle Edward VIII.

The challenge was overcome with an extraordinary exception to all the nuances that the church itself established, and in 2005 the new marriage arrived,

although without being named Camila princess of Wales and with the claim, in principle, that she would never be queen consort;

which was finally overcome.

He still had to see the departure of his grandson Harry and Meghan Markle with accusations of racism between some member of the royal family that easily spread to the entire family.

In all cases, he knew how to hold the rudder with a firm hand and direct the reality that was imposed towards the channels of normality, with resolutions that seemed to remain all private and guaranteed by protocol.

Ángeles Lario

is a full professor of Contemporary History at the UNED and a member of the Parliamentary Monarchy Chair.

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