A female reign of 70 years, rubbing shoulders with the spheres of international power mainly occupied by men, does it de facto make it a feminist reign?
Was Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at Balmoral in Scotland, an ally of the women's emancipation movement she witnessed?
When we ask this question, an anecdote often comes up.
In 1991, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited the Queen in this Scottish castle where she breathed her last.
Saudi women are then not allowed to drive (the ban will remain until 2018).
“The Ultimate Feminist” for actress Olivia Coleman
Whatever.
Elizabeth II decides to take her visitor for a ride around the estate and, as she always does, drives.
This story is enough for some to make the sovereign a feminist.
Oscar-winning actress Olivia Coleman, who plays the queen in
The Crown
, even calls her
"the ultimate feminist."
An enthusiasm to be tempered.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: this is what the world looked like when she became queen in 1952
Certainly, admitted this Friday morning on France Inter the president of the Women's Foundation, Anne-Cécile Mailfert, "she is undoubtedly the only head of state to have occupied such a place in the world for so long, she is also one of the first to understand the power of images… At 25, we see her with soldiers in the midst of war, at a time when English women were often confined to the kitchen.
But as for "the cause of women, she will not be an ally", according to her.
“His practice of monarchical rule will leave aside all those who express too much freedom: from his sister Margareth to Lady Diana and surely to Meghan Markle.
“
Never explain, never complain
"recalls that for women, respect is earned by staying in one's place", even frames the feminist leader.
Stand your ground and shut up, in
other words.
In her tweet, saluting the memory of the queen on the day of her death, feminist deputy EELV Sandrine Rousseau also praised the "
feminine
figure who accompanied the strongest moments of the second half of the 20th century until today. .
So feminine, but not feminist.
“I am unable to name an English king, queens on the other hand…”
However, observes Anaïs, a thirty-year-old living in Paris, "I find that I am incapable of spontaneously mentioning the name of an English king, the queens on the other hand... Elizabeth, Victoria... The British have at least integrated that a woman could be in power.
This is not the legacy of our French monarchy.
»
#ElizabethII marked our time.
She was a female figure who accompanied the strongest moments of the second half of the 20th century until today.
Without being a monarchist, I respect talent and political sense.
She had a lot.
— Sandrine Rousseau (@sandrousseau) September 8, 2022
Anais is not wrong.
While the Salic law
made in France
, taken up by other European monarchies, stipulated that the succession to the throne of France was only by order of male primogeniture, women acquired the right to accede to the throne of the other side of the English Channel with the Act of Union of 1801… but only in the absence of male heirs.
Elizabeth II therefore became queen only because she had no brother.
A measure that the sovereign changed in 2011 (and officially registered in 2013), finally dissociating gender and power.
From now on, the first born of the person at the head of the kingdom, regardless of gender, will wear the British crown.
For "making gender irrelevant in the exercise of certain functions
",
the most glorious of which, the queen will gladly be described as a feminist in 2015, in particular by the Telegraph.
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The young Elizabeth had shaken up the monarchy long before having the crown on her head.
At 18, against the advice of her father (King George VI), she enlisted in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a female branch of the British army to train as a driver and mechanic.
To date, she is the only female royal to have served in the military.
Read also“The coronation of Elizabeth II”: when Le Parisien recounted, in 1953, the coronation of the queen
So yes, Elizabeth II resolutely feminized the function, showed the whole world that a woman could hold power without weakening, and without any man overshadowing her.
“When I say to a friend
you are my Queen
because she put forward her ideas and did not let herself be done, it must come from her, mischievously notes Yasmine, high school student at Claude Monet (Paris XIII).
We never say to a guy:
you are a King
”.
But as inspiring as her destiny was for women, it is clear that the only fight of her life was to preserve the unity of the kingdom and the monarchy, and that she imposed on herself a total silence on questions political and societal, women's rights being no exception.
The Queen is my feminist icon and she should be yours too http://t.co/coOcAwhEYB
— Emma Barnett (@Emmabarnett) September 9, 2015
The image of the royal family and respect for the establishment above all
Head of state certainly but also of the Anglican Church, she will never have had a word on gender inequalities, or, more recently, on the issue of violence against women.
Admittedly, she withdrew from her son, Prince Andrew, accused of sexual assault by a former victim of American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, his honorary military titles, his patronages, and the possibility of using his title of Royal Highness.
But because the scandal splashed the monarchy.
Just as she finally accepted Charles and Diana's divorce against her will so as not to further tarnish the image of an increasingly contested system.
Ironically, this queen, born at the time of marriage for life, and who led hers to the end, will have finally seen her three children divorced.
privileged witness,