Elizabeth II – How She Became Queen
Queen Elizabeth II
Who was Queen Elizabeth the Second? When she took over the monarchy in 1952 she was head of fifty-six realms and territories, but up to the time of her death on September eighth, she was head of the United Kingdom and only fourteen Commonwealth countries. During this time of mourning Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign, News Five takes a look back at the life of Elizabeth, the queen who was never born to rule. Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor on April twenty-first, 1926, she was never destined to become queen. She was the first of only two daughters of Prince Albert and his wife, Elizabeth, both referred to as the Duke and Duchess of York. But when Albert’s older brother, Edward decided to depart from tradition and marry American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, as head of the Anglican Church, he had to abdicate the throne. On May twelfth, 1937, the same date when Edward was scheduled to be officially installed as king, Albert was crowned, assuming the name King George the Sixth. At the time, Elizabeth the Second was just a ten-year-old girl, but she had become the heir apparent. From then, her life as a sheltered princess was thrust in the spotlight, as she became the future monarch of the United Kingdom and all of Great Britain’s territories.
When World War Two broke out in 1940 and thousands of Britons moved away to avoid the bombings, Elizabeth’s parents, King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth decided to remain at Windsor Castle with their two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. The Royal Family’s official place of business, Buckingham Palace was bombed on September thirteenth, that year, destroying a huge portion of the building. No one was injured. When she turned eighteen, Elizabeth joined the military as a driver/mechanic so she could help transport aid to people who had been affected by the war. On her twenty-first birthday, while she was on a tour of South Africa with her parents and little sister, Princess Margaret, she chose to pledge her life to the throne.
Queen Elizabeth II
“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
She went on to marry Philip Mountbatten on November twentieth, 1947 when she was still twenty-one. On February sixth, 1952, when Princess Elizabeth was on a tour of Africa, her father, King George the Sixth died suddenly. She was proclaimed queen and on June second, 1953, she was officially crowned Queen Elizabeth the Second.
Part of the monarch’s long list of engagements over her seventy-year reign included two visits to Belize, first in 1985 and again in 1994. On the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in March of 2012, Queen Elizabeth the Second sent her grandson, Prince Harry to celebrate the occasion. Ten years later, in March of 2022, it would be Prince William and his wife, Kate, who would visit on the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
On June fifth, the last of several days of festivities to mark her seventieth year as monarch, Her Majesty made a surprise appearance on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, despite mobility issues and failing health.
Her last engagement occurred last week Tuesday, September sixth, just two days before she died. Too frail and weak to travel to Buckingham Palace to receive Britain’s new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and the Queen had the Prime Minister travel the one hundred and seventy miles to Balmoral where she was received for the official introduction. The following day, her health began to deteriorate and her children were advised to visit her. Queen Elizabeth the Second passed away at Balmoral in Scotland, her summer retreat. Her body has since been escorted to Edingburgh. She will be laid to rest on September eighteenth beside her husband in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Marion Ali for News Five.
