Happy and Glorious – Milestones of The Queen’s longest-reign

On the eve of Queen Elizabeth II becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch we look at some of the significant milestones in her life, how they were marked and reflect on some of Her Majesty’s words.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. June 15th 2015. Windsor Castle.

April 21st, 1926. The Queen was born, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. When she was born, she was third in line to the throne.
Elizabeth grew up under the care of her nanny, Marion Crawford (Crawfie) along with her younger sister Margaret (born in 1930). She was affectionately known as ‘Lilibet’ after the way she pronounced her name when still an infant.

October 13th, 1940. Elizabeth made her first public speech, at age 14, on the BBC Children’s Hour to reassure children who had been separated from their parents during the Blitz.

Here are her words:

“In wishing you all ‘good evening’ I feel that I am speaking to friends and companions who have shared with my sister and myself many a happy Children’s Hour.

Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes and be separated from your fathers and mothers. My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all.

To you, living in new surroundings, we send a message of true sympathy and at the same time we would like to thank the kind people who have welcomed you to their homes in the country.

All of us children who are still at home think continually of our friends and relations who have gone overseas – who have travelled thousands of miles to find a wartime home and a kindly welcome in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America.

My sister and I feel we know quite a lot about these countries. Our father and mother have so often talked to us of their visits to different parts of the world. So it is not difficult for us to picture the sort of life you are all leading, and to think of all the new sights you must be seeing, and the adventures you must be having.
But I am sure that you, too, are often thinking of the Old Country. I know you won’t forget us; it is just because we are not forgetting you that I want, on behalf of all the children at home, to send you our love and best wishes – to you and to your kind hosts as well.

Before I finish I can truthfully say to you all that we children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage. We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war.

We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace. And when peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.
My sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you.
Come on, Margaret.

Goodnight, children.

Goodnight, and good luck to you all.”

February 1945. Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and served as an officer mechanic and truck driver until the war ended. The ATS was the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War.
In December 1941, Parliament passed the National Service Act, which called up unmarried women between 20 and 30 years old to join one of the auxiliary services. Princess Elizabeth was not the only person of note to serve in the ATS. Mary Churchill, the youngest daughter of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, also served. Princess Mary (The sixth holder of the title Princess Royal and only daughter of George V and Queen Mary) held the rank of Chief Controller from 1939 and was appointed the ATS’s honorary controller-commandant in August 1941.

May 8th, 1945. Princess Elizabeth secretly mingled with the crowd outside Buckingham Palace to share in the excitement and celebration of the end of the war in Europe. Winston Churchill said “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” officially announcing Germany’s surrender.
Everywhere people dressed in red, white and blue and precious rations were used to bake countless cakes.
The celebrations continued long into the night as bells pealed and fireworks exploded across the land.
Members of the Royal Family had gathered on the balcony at Buckingham Palace earlier that day and as the celebrations drew into the night Princess’s Elizabeth and Margaret begged their parents to permit them to join the crowds celebrating in the streets. Their pleas peregrinated by wary parents who ensured that they were suitably accompanied and dressed so as to blend in.

November 20th, 1947. At 11:30 GMT, Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip Mountbatten of Greece and Denmark at Westminster Abbey. The wedding ceremony was officiated by the Archbishop of York, Cyrill Garbett and the service was broadcast to 200 million people around the world by BBC radio.
Britain had not yet ended rationing, implemented during the war and the young Princess required ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding dress, designed by Norman Hartnell.

The couple received over 2,500 wedding presents from around the world and 10,000 telegrams of congratulations.

Upon their marriage, Elizabeth took the title of her husband and became Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh.

November 14th, 1948. HRH Prince Charles was born at Buckingham Palace. Now, Prince of Wales, he is the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, having held the position since 1952.

One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince.

August 15th, 1950. At 11:50 GMT, Elizabeth’s second child and only daughter, Princess Anne, (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise) was born at Clarence House. Anne now holds the title of Princess Royal and is the seventh holder of the title.

February 6th, 1952. On the morning of 6th February, George VI was found dead in bed at Sandringham House, Norfolk, by his valet. At 08:45 the Kings personal, private secretary had called his assistant in London using the code word Hyde Park, telling him to inform the Prime Minister and Queen Mary. He had died from a coronary thrombosis in his sleep at the age of 56.

In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of Kenya. On 6th February 1952, they had just returned to their Kenyan home, Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel. Elizabeth had climbed the ladder at Treetops a Princess and came down the next day as Queen. Signals in cipher had been sent out to Kenya immediately but no one in Government House, Nairobi, could decipher them because the cipher book had been taken by the Governor, who was already driving to Mombassa to bid the Princess farewell the following day. When word arrived of the death of the King, the royal party would have been one of the last people in the world to hear of the Kings death, due to this.

That morning the royal party had travelled the twenty or so miles from the hotel to Sagana Lodge, blissfully unaware of the monumental news, so far away in England. When the news finally reached Sagana Lodge, Philip was reading a newspaper. Upon being told of the King’s death, he raised the paper to cover his face in a gesture of despair saying “This will be such a blow”. Philip then walked into the sitting room and asked his wife to come with him into the garden where he broke the news to the new Queen.
Martin Charteris, Private Secretary to Princess Elizabeth and who was in attendance on the trip, asked her to choose a regnal name; she chose to remain, Elizabeth, “of course”. She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.

June 2nd, 1953, Crowned Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey at the age of 25, despite the death of Queen Mary on 24 March, the coronation on 2 June 1953 went ahead as planned, as Mary had asked before she died. Many Britons bought their first television to watch the ceremony. The new monarch sets out on a tour of the Commonwealth, visiting places including Bermuda, Fiji, Tonga, Australia, and Gibraltar.

HM Queen Elizabeth II & Mayor Harry Barker, Gisborne, January 6 1954

February 19th, 1960. Elizabeth’s third child, The Prince Andrew, (Andrew Albert Christian Edward) was born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace.

March 10th, 1964. Elizabeth’s fourth child, Prince Edward, (Edward Antony Richard Louis) was born.

May 1965. Elizabeth makes the historic visit to Berlin, West Germany, the first German visit by a British monarch in 52 years. The city was the frontline of the Cold War, a small democratic outpost in the middle of communist East Germany. It was just 20 years since Britain and Germany had been at war, but the Queen pledged her support to the isolated West Berliners and received a rapturous response from the crowds.

1977: Elizabeth celebrates her Silver Jubilee, which marked 25 years on the throne. The actual anniversary of The Queen’s accession on 6 February 1952 was commemorated in church services throughout that month. The Queen spent the anniversary weekend at Windsor with her family and the full jubilee celebrations began in the summer of 1977.

During the summer months, The Queen embarked on a large-scale tour as she wished to mark her jubilee by meeting as many of her people as possible. No other Sovereign had visited so much of Britain in the course of just three months – the six Jubilee tours in the UK and Northern Ireland covered 36 counties. The home tours began in Glasgow on 17 May, with greater crowds than the city had ever seen before. The tours continued throughout England and Wales – in Lancashire over a million people turned out on one day – before culminating in a visit to Northern Ireland.

Official overseas visits were also made to Western Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Tasmania, Papua New Guinea, Canada and the West Indies. During the year, it was estimated that The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh travelled 56,000 miles.

The climax of the national celebrations came in early June. On the evening of Monday 6 June, The Queen lit a bonfire beacon at Windsor, which started a chain of beacons across the country. On Tuesday 7 June, vast crowds saw The Queen drive in the Gold State Coach to St Paul’s Cathedral for a Service of Thanksgiving attended by heads of state from around the world and former prime ministers of the UK.

1992: Elizabeth had what she described as an “annus horribilis,” or a “horrible year.” The year saw the marriages for three of her four children, Anne, Charles and Andrew, come to an end. On Friday 20th November, a fire, which began in the Queen’s Private Chapel at 11:33 am, severely damaged Windsor Castle.

The castle was fully repaired within the next few years at a cost of £36.5 million. The question of how the funds required should be found raised important issues about the financing of the monarchy. Public outcry, whipped up by an unsympathetic press, over the cost of repairs amid a recession prompted the queen to volunteer to pay income taxes. This led to Buckingham Palace being opened to the public for the first time to help to pay for the restoration.

August 31st, 1997. Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. Following the tragic death, The Queen made a television broadcast to the nation on 5th September 1997.

Here are her words:

“Following the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 31 August 1997, The Queen made a television broadcast to the nation on 5 September 1997.
Since last Sunday’s dreadful news we have seen, throughout Britain and around the world, an overwhelming expression of sadness at Diana’s death.
We have all been trying in our different ways to cope. It is not easy to express a sense of loss since the initial shock is often succeeded by a mixture of other feelings: disbelief, incomprehension, anger – and concern for those who remain. We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your Queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.
First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.

I admired and respected her – for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys. This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered.

No-one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.

This is also an opportunity for me, on behalf of my family, and especially Prince Charles and William and Harry, to thank all of you who have brought flowers, sent messages and paid your respects in so many ways to a remarkable person. These acts of kindness have been a huge source of help and comfort.
Our thoughts are also with Diana’s family and the families of those who died with her. I know that they too have drawn strength from what has happened since last weekend, as they seek to heal their sorrow and then to face the future without a loved one.

I hope that tomorrow we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at Diana’s loss, and gratitude for her all-too-short life. It is a chance to show to the whole world the British nation united in grief and respect.
May those who died rest in peace and may we, each and every one of us, thank God for someone who made many, many people happy.”

2002, Elizabeth achieved 50 years of reign with her Golden Jubilee. The Jubilee was marked by a summer of celebrations, with the highpoint being a long weekend of festivities in early June. During lunch at Guildhall, London, on 4 June 2002, The Queen made a speech in which she thanked the nation for their support throughout her reign.

The year also had significant sadness for Her Majesty with the deaths of her mother, Her Majesty The Queen Mother and her sister, Princess Margaret.

November 20th 2007. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Her Majesty the Queen leaves the service with the Duke of Edinburgh that was held at St Paul’s Cathedral to honour those who served during the Afghanistan campaign. Picture:LA(Phot) Dan Rosenbaum

Events to mark the low-key anniversary included a Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey followed by the unveiling of a new Jubilee Walkway panoramic panel in Parliament Square.

December 2007: Elizabeth became the longest-lived British monarch, overtaking Victoria, who died at age 81 on the 22nd January 1901.

May 17th – 20th May 2011: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh made a historic State Visit to the Republic of Ireland at the invitation of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. This was the first visit by a British monarch to an independent Ireland and the first tour since the 1911 visit by the Queen’s grandfather, when the entire island of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

2012. The Queen marks 60 years of her reign with Diamond Jubilee. There have been only three Diamond Jubilees of Heads of State celebrated throughout the world during The Queen’s reign. King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand celebrated 60 years on the throne in 2006; the former Sultan of Johor (now a part of Malaysia) celebrated his in 1955; and the late Emperor Hirohito of Japan celebrated his in 1986.

Building on the already popular Big Lunch initiative, people were encouraged to share lunch with neighbours and friends as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant: This event took place on the Thames and consisted of up to 1,000 boats assembled from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh travelled in the Royal Barge, which formed the centrepiece of the flotilla.

A network of 2,012 Beacons was lit by communities and individuals throughout the United Kingdom, as well as the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Commonwealth. As in 2002 for the Golden Jubilee, The Queen lit the National Beacon.

On Tuesday 5 June, the Diamond Jubilee weekend culminated with a day of celebrations in central London, including a service at St Paul’s Cathedral followed by two receptions, a lunch at Westminster Hall, a Carriage Procession to Buckingham Palace and finally a Balcony appearance, Flypast, and Feu de Joie.

During this year, The Queen made a speech to the nation.

Here are her words:

Today, as I mark 60 years as your Queen, I am writing to thank you for the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and Prince Philip over these years and to tell you how deeply moved we have been to receive so many kind messages about the Diamond Jubilee.

In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family, friendship and good neighbourliness, examples of which I have been fortunate to see throughout my reign and which my family and I look forward to seeing in many forms as we travel throughout the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth.

I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart as we join together in our celebrations.

I send my sincere good wishes to you all.

ELIZABETH R.

It is astonishing in today’s transient society to consider the continuity and dedication of one person’s life to a nation. The commitment, loyalty and selflessness of someone who though at the pinnacle of adoration, so humbly has served with relentless fortitude and resilience as well as splendour and dignity.

The Queen visits Oxford Castle, 2006

Photo Credits: Duncan Sowry-House, Archives New Zealand via Flickr, Royal Navy Media Archive via Flickr,
Liz Smith via Flickr