The Life of the Longest Reigning Monarch in Britain

Alexandra Kouropteva, Staff Writer

   On April 21, 1926; Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in London, England. Princess Elizabeth was the first born and daughter of Prince Albert, the Duke of York, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. 4 years later on August 21, 1930, her sister Margaret Rose was born.

    As young Elizabeth was growing up she and her family had no intention of acceding to the throne, but when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated his throne, her father would become King George VI. Elizabeth grew up in Buckingham Palace where her education was supervised by her mother queen Elizabeth but was taught by governess Marion Crawford, along with C.H.K Marten, a provost of Eton College, and other visiting teachers in music and languages (Britannica). 

   When Elizabeth was 13 she visited the Royal Naval College with her family where she would meet her future husband, Prince Philip. After the encounter, they started to write letters to each other, blossoming the beginning of their relationship. 

   Later on, Elizabeth and Philip’s first child Charles Philip Arthur George was born on November 14, 1948. Later on, having Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise on August 15, 1950, Andrew Albert Christian Edward on February 19, 1960, and Edward Antony Richard Louis on March 10, 1964. 

   At the beginning of her reign, Queen Elizabeth traveled to many countries as the new British queen. She traveled to Australia, New Zealand, several European countries, Canada, and the United States. In 1968 she became the first reigning British monarch to visit South Africa and in 1979 she was the first to travel to the Persian Gulf countries. 

   Queen Elizabeth has had many notable accomplishments, one of the biggest things that she was known for doing was endless amounts of charity work. She has donated to more than 600 charities in Britain and nearly 3,000 charities globally, overall she was responsible for raising 1.4 billion euros close to $2 billion in US dollars. (GRUNGE). The Queen also made it a special focus to help reduce poverty.  Her charitable impacts were seen across the globe. 

   As Elizabeth kept ruling as Queen, her jubilee celebrations added up. A jubilee is a celebration of the life of a reigning monarch on their significant milestones. The Queen had her first jubilee in 1962, where the mining of gold coins bore her head portrait. Her second silver jubilee occurred in 1977 celebrating 25 years on the throne, on that day she lit a bonfire beacon setting off a chain reaction to other beacons across the country. On her third jubilee, it marked her 40th year of ruling; this event was not as celebrated compared to the rest. Sadly in the same year as her 50th-year golden jubilee, her mother and sister both passed away. But her diamond jubilee in 2012 was quite celebrated as it was the first diamond jubilee since the reign of her great-grandmother Queen Victoria. Lastly, 2017 marked her last jubilee, the platinum jubilee, a first for the Royal Family (Daily Echo). 

   In September the Queen’s health started to decline, making people question whether or not she would live another year. On September 8th, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II passed away. As Queen Elizabeth did not hold or play a major role in the US, her death will not impact our country. Although she attended major celebrations, participated in global events, and, most significantly, met with current US presidents, in general, the United States will not be affected by her passing.