1. Queen Elizabeth II
BY: BENEDICT “VIKTOR” GOMBOCZ

2. Early life
 Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926, in
London, England; she was the eldest child of the
Duke of York and his wife Elizabeth.
 In 1936, her father became King George VI of
Great Britain and Ireland when his elder brother
Edward VIII (1894-1972) renounced the throne.
 Elizabeth, together with her younger sister
Margaret, was homeschooled by private
instructors.
 She had a particular passion for history,
languages, and music, and subsequently
acquired an interest in national affairs.
 She started to make her first public appearances
when she was a teenager.
 In November 1947, the 21-year-old married
Philip Mountbatten, and they gave birth to four
children: Prince Charles (1948- ), Princess
Anne (1950- ), Prince Andrew (1960- ), and
Prince Edward (1964- ).

3. Elizabeth’s wedding

4. The new Queen
 After ascending to the throne in 1952, Elizabeth, in
her own way, attempted to make Britain’s monarchy
more modern and more responsive to the
community.
 She started hosting casual luncheons at Buckingham
Palace, (the Queen’s London residence) to which a
diversity of people from areas including industry,
theater, and sports, were invited.
 The attendants of her garden parties became more
and more varied.
 She displayed interest and ability in using the first
broadcast media, prominently in her yearly
Christmas television messages, in royally endorsed
documentaries, and in television broadcasts of
occurrences like Prince Charles’ naming observance
as the Prince of Wales and royal weddings.
 Perhaps the most admired of Elizabeth’s efforts was
the “walkabout,” where she met, shook hands, and
conversed with regular people in the crowds that
assembled around her.
 These strolls disclosed her belief that “I have to be
seen to be believed.”

5. Princess Anne and Prince Charles the day after Elizabeth II
succeeded to the throne

6. A popular traveler
 Elizabeth’s international visits partly contributed to her
fame.
 Her attracting and courteous attitude during these visits
attributed to the kindness and eagerness of the receptions
that greeted her.
 She had an amazingly busy schedule between 1970-1985.
 She traveled to France in 1972, attended the
Commonwealth Conference in Ottawa in 1973, and
participated in the United States celebrations of the two-
hundredth anniversary of U.S. independence from
Britain, in 1976; she subsequently went north to Montreal
to preside over the opening of the 1976 Summer
Olympics.
 She also voyaged almost fifty-six thousand miles as part of
her Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977, marking her
twenty-fifth year as Queen; in 1979, she traveled to the
Middle East in 1979 and visited Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
 In April 1982, Elizabeth went on an important trip to
Ottawa, Canada, where she declared Canada’s new
constitution, cutting the remaining legal ties between the
UK and Canada.
 While in California, her first trip to North America’s west
coast, she made nearly twenty public appearances, which
included a visit with Prince Philip to President Ronald
Reagan’s (1911-2004) Santa Barbara farm and to
Yosemite National Park.
 In 1984, she went on another visit to North America and
went to Canada for the fourteenth time and subsequently
the United States.

7. Queen Elizabeth II in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

8. Happy events
 In the midst of all the visits, Elizabeth
observed many happy personal occurrences.
 The Queen and Prince Philip observed their
twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on
November 20, 1972.
 One hundred couples from across Britain
who had the same anniversary day were
invited to join the celebration.
 On November 14, 1973, Princess Anne
married Mark Philips; they gave birth to two
children, Peter and Zara.
 Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer
on July 29, 1981; they gave birth to two sons,
Prince William and Prince Henry.
 On July 23, 1986, Prince Andrew (made
Duke of York) married Sarah Ferguson; they
gave birth to two daughters, Princess Beatrice
and Princess Eugenie.

9. Happy events – cont.
 Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 was perhaps the happiest
occurrence.
 Numerous sports occurrences, festivals, carnivals, races,
concerts, commemorative stamps, and other activities began an
expression of loyalty to the Queen and to the royal family as an
institute.
 Both Houses of Parliament delivered dedicated addresses to
Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall on May 4, 1977.
 The Queen and her family observed a Thanksgiving service at
St. Paul’s Cathedral in June.
 The Queen hinted her worry for her associates by stating her
wish that the Silver Jubilee year be a special time “for people
who find themselves the victims of human conflict.”
 She traveled far and wide to meet her associates during the
year; she founded the Silver Jubilee Trust Fund, led by the
Prince of Wales, which was intended “to help the young to help
others.”
 One of Queen Elizabeth’s writers, Elizabeth Longsford, has
hinted that only after the jubilee, when she saw the devotion
and admiration her associates exhibited, that she recognized
her opportunities as a monarch.
 She became more certain, more open, and more prepared to
disclose her sense of humor, strong common sense, great
power, and personal nature.

10. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Westminster Hall

11. Troubles on the Horizon
 In the late 1980s, however, Elizabeth grew worried over
the state and the royal family’s future.
 The British press increasingly brought the problems up in
her children’s marriages.
 To many, it seemed that Prince Charles had no interest in
succeeding to the throne; there were rumors that
Elizabeth II would pass the throne to her grandson Prince
William.
 Her troubles reached a climax in 1992; she herself
considered it a terrible year.
 Princess Anne’s twenty-year marriage ended in divorce.
 Prince Charles and Prince Andrew separated from their
wives.
 A fire badly destroyed a significant part of Windsor Castle
(one of Queen Elizabeth’s official residencies).
 A public objection immediately came up when it was
announced that the castle’s rebuilding would be paid for
with taxpayers’ money.
 The British people felt that Queen Elizabeth, who
benefited from a tax-exempt (untaxed) revenue in the
millions, should pay for the rebuilding.
 Just two days later, Buckingham Palace declared that
Queen Elizabeth and her family would no longer be
excused from taxation.
 This declaration was seen as a signal of political smarts
and care.
 1992 closed on a happier note, as Princess Anne
remarried on December 12.

12. Troubles on the Horizon – cont.
 In 1995, Elizabeth wrote a letter to Prince Charles and
Princess Diana advising them to divorce; this was
prompted by separate television interviews in which
they talked about their failed fourteen-year marriage.
 They divorced in 1996, as did Prince Andrew and Sarah
Ferguson.
 In spite of these public legal family problems, Elizabeth
mostly remained popular.
 However, her resolve had second thoughts after the
death of her former daughter-in-law Princess Diana in
August 1997.
 Some Britons denounced the Queen for “being too
bound up by protocol [the expected conduct of a king
or queen].”
 Elizabeth, shocked by the criticism, broke with
tradition and spoke to the nation in a live broadcast a
day ahead of the funeral, paying honor to Diana.
 This signal was seen as important, as the Queen
normally spoke to the nation only on Christmas Day;
this was only the second exclusion to that regulation in
her reign of forty-five years.

13. An energetic Queen
 Despite legal difficulties and public strains, Elizabeth
does not slow down.
 She still enjoys time with her family, country life, horse-
breeding, and horse-racing.
 Similarly, Elizabeth still exercises her royal duties.
 As head of state, the Queen retains close contact with the
PM, with whom she meets every week.
 She also gets important foreign office messages and a
daily summary of Parliament events.
 She hosts both British and foreign leaders and gets other
distinguished visitors from abroad.
 Elizabeth also leads the navy, army, and air force of Great
Britain; she additionally succeeded her father as colonel
in chief of every Guards Regiment and the Corps of Royal
Engineers, along with captain-general of the Royal
Regiment of Artillery and the Honorable Artillery
Company.
 She is president or economic sponsor of well over seven
hundred organizations.
 In 1998, some of her many activities included the official
opening the new British Library in London, erecting a
statue of former PM Winston Churchill (1874-1965) in
Paris, meeting with ex-Far East POWs, and organizing
state visits to Brunei and Malaysia.
 2002 marked fifty years since Elizabeth II rose to the
throne; on February 6 that year, she gave her Golden
Jubilee message to the UK.
 Elizabeth II is only the fifth British monarch to celebrate a
Golden Jubilee.

14. Golden Jubilee

15. Bibliography
 http://www.notablebiographies.com/Du-Fi/Elizabeth-II.html

16. YT links
 “God Save the Queen”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwziS2aE6Ww
 Diana Princess of Wales tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_moIV4wDQsY
 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee 2002:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Waby2yVKNU