Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, London, is the head of state for sixteen independent states and their possessions, the supreme protector of the English Church (Supreme Governor) and the symbolic head of the Commonwealth. She resides in the United Kingdom and is also queen of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Elizabeth became reigning queen on February 6, 1952 and the coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. She is the daughter of King Georg VI of Great Britain and his marriage Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She married Philip of Greece (Mountbatten) on November 20, 1947.

Elizabeth is the oldest British monarch of all time and also the British monarch who reigned for the longest time.

Elizabeth II's official title as the monarch of the United Kingdom is Elizabeth the second of God's grace the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her Queen of the Kingdom and Territory, Head of Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. In every sovereign state that recognizes Elizabeth II as its head of state, she has a separate title.

The Queen's official residence is Buckingham Palace in Westminster in London and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in Scotland. Other royal castles she and her family are staying at are Windsor Castle in Windsor in Berkshire in England, Sandringham House in Sandringham in Norfolk in England and Balmoral Castle in Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.

Elizabeth came to the world with Caesarean section on Bruton Street in Mayfair, London on April 21, 1926. Her father was Prince Albert, Duke of York and her mother was the Duchess of York. She was baptized in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang. Her godparents were Princess Mary, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne with wife and Baroness Elphinstone.

Young Princess Elizabeth never attended any school but was privately taught with her sister Margaret. Her teacher was named Marion Crawford (1909–1988). Her history teacher was C H K Marten, professor at Eton College. She also learned French, which she speaks fluently. The princess was taught the Christian faith by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

When her father became King Georg VI in 1936 after his older brother Edvard VIII's abdication, she became the first in the British throne.

Elizabeth was 13 when the Second World War broke out. She and the royal family were evacuated to Windsor Castle. There were some plans to evacuate her to Canada, but the royal family refused. In 1940 she made her first radio appearance in the BBC.

In 1945 she began in the female section of the British Army. She is the only female member of the British royal house who has so far served in the army. Elizabeth was mostly a car driver and trained as an automotive mechanic in the Armed Forces.

Princess Elizabeth made her first trip abroad in 1947. It went to South Africa where she and her father visited Cape Town and Table Mountain, among others. The Prime Minister Jan Smuts hosted the visit.

Elizabeth had met her future husband Prince Philip in 1934 and 1937 at family reunions in Denmark. Both are descended from Kristian IX of Denmark, and are at the same time descendants of Queen Viktoria. When Elizabeth met Philip in England at age 13 in 1939, she fell in love and they began to exchange letters with each other.

Elizabeth engaged with Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten on July 9, 1947, and married on November 20, the same year. Philip had renounced the title of Prince of Greece and Denmark and took the family name Mountbatten after his mother Alice, who was the sister of Louis Mountbatten and Crown Princesan Louise of Sweden. He at the same time converted from the Greek Orthodox faith to the Anglican Church. In connection with the wedding, Philip received the title of His Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh by his father-in-law, but it would take until 1957 before he became British Prince. After the wedding, they settled in the Clarence House in London. From 1946 to 1953 Philip was stationed in Malta, then a British colony, while serving in the Navy. His uncle Lord Mountbatten had bought Villa Gwardamangia in the village of Gwardamanġia in 1929. Elizabeth lived there 1949–1951, when she visited her husband.

On November 14, 1948, Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Charles.

In 1950, Georg VI suffered from lung cancer and his health deteriorated in 1951 and Elizabeth now hosts various state visits from the United Kingdom on an official tour of the world. She visited Greece, Italy, Malta, Canada and the United States. In the United States, she was received by President Harry S. Truman in Washington in January 1952.

On February 6, 1952, Elizabeth's father King Georg VI passed away. Elizabeth and Philip were then in Kenya (which was then a British colony). Princess Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen Elizabeth II and was first crowned on June 2, 1953 in Westminster Abbey. Her coronation ceremony was the first in the UK to be televised. Her father's coronation in 1937 had only been filmed for journalism.

As Queen of Canada, she opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In 1977, Elizabeth II's 25 years on the throne, the silver jubilee, was celebrated, which was met with great criticism because of Britain's financial problems.

In 1992, according to herself in a speech at the London Guildhall, became an annus horribilis, when her three oldest children separated from their respective spouses and Windsor Castle partially burned down.

In 2002, she celebrated the gold anniversary 50 years on the throne, 2012 60 years the diamond anniversary and 2017 65 years the sapphire anniversary.

During her long reign, Queen Elizabeth II made two state visits to Sweden, the first time in 1956 in connection with the equestrian olympics in Stockholm in 1956 and the second time in May 1983. She came to Finland once, in 1976.

The queen then automatically ascends the throne for all British state orders, as well as for all state orders in the other countries which recognize her as head of state.

Below is a selection:

United Kingdom Tights

United Kingdom Thistle Order

Great Britain Bathords

United Kingdom Order of Merit

Great Britain Saint Michael's and Saint George's

Great Britain British Empire

Canada Order of Canada

Selection of foreign orders received by Elizabeth II.

1947 Denmark Elephant Order

1948 France Honor Legion

1953 Sweden Seraphim Order

1955 Norway Order of Saint Olav

1958 Germany Bundesverdienstkreuz

1961 Finland Finland's white rose

1963 Belgium Leopold Order

1988 Spain Order of the Golden Skin

2006 Estonia Terra Mariana the order of the cross

Elizabeth is the only woman in the UK who does not need a driver's license to drive a vehicle.

Elizabeth is since 9 September 2015 the British monarch who has ruled for the longest time. The previous record featured Queen Victoria. Elizabeth is also Britain's oldest monarch so far, since she passed on Victoria in 2007, who died in 1901 at the age of 81 years and 243 days.

In 2006, the film was made The Queen, starring Helen Mirren in an Oscar-winning lead role. The film is a depiction of Queen Elizabeth's reactions to and actions in connection with the news of Princess Diana's tragic death in Paris in 1997. In 2016, the TV series The Crown was made, which depicts Queen Elizabeth II's young years and her first time as regent.