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Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, sitting on the throne for 71 years. She was succeeded by King Charles III in 2022.

Latest News: One Year Since Her Death

Who was queen elizabeth ii, quick facts, early life and family tree, ascension to the crown and coronation, husband prince philip, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, family scandals and losses, death and funeral.

On the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, King Charles shared an unreleased photo of the late queen. “In marking the first anniversary of Her late Majesty’s death and my Accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us,” he said in a statement. Additionally, Prince William and Princess Kate attended a private church service in Wales to commemorate her life, and Prince Harry visited the chapel at Windsor Castle , where the queen is buried. Planning for a memorial to Elizabeth is underway. The targeted unveiling is 2026, the year she would have turned 100.

Queen Elizabeth II became queen of the United Kingdom on February 6, 1952, at age 25 and was crowned on June 2, 1953. She was the mother of Prince Charles , who ascended to the throne after her death, as well as the grandmother of Princes William and Harry . As the longest-serving monarch in British history, she tried to make her reign more modern and sensitive to a changing public while maintaining traditions associated with the crown. Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, at age 96.

FULL NAME: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary BORN: April 21, 1926 DIED: September 8, 2022 BIRTHPLACE: London, England, United Kingdom PARENTS: King George VI and Queen Mother Elizabeth SPOUSE: Prince Philip CHILDREN: King Charles III , Princess Anne , Prince Andrew , and Prince Edward ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus

Queen Elizabeth II was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926, in London. Her parents were then known as the Duke and Duchess of York. Prince Albert—later known as King George VI —was the second son of Queen Mary and King George V . Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon .

Elizabeth had ties with most of the monarchs in Europe. Her British ancestors include Queen Victoria (ruled 1837 to 1901) and King George III (ruled 1760 to 1820).

At the time of her birth, most people didn’t realize Elizabeth would someday become the queen of the United Kingdom. Nicknamed Lilibet, she got to enjoy the first decade of her life with all the privileges of being a royal without the pressures of being the heir apparent.

Elizabeth’s father and mother divided their time between a home in London and Royal Lodge, the family’s home on the grounds of Windsor Great Park. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret , were educated at home by tutors. Academic courses included French, mathematics, and history, along with dancing, singing, and art lessons.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Elizabeth and her sister largely stayed out of London, having been relocated to Windsor Castle. From there she made the first of her famous radio broadcasts in 1940, with this particular speech reassuring the children of Britain who had been evacuated from their homes and families. The 14-year-old princess, showing her calm and firm personality, told them “that in the end, all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace.”

Elizabeth soon started taking on other public duties. Appointed colonel-in-chief of the Grenadier Guards by her father, Elizabeth made her first public appearance inspecting the troops in 1942. She also began to accompany her parents on official visits within Britain.

In 1945, Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service to help in the war effort. She trained side-by-side with other British women to be an expert driver and mechanic. While her volunteer work only lasted a few months, it offered Elizabeth a glimpse into a different, non-royal world. She had another vivid experience outside of the monarchy when she and Margaret were allowed to mingle anonymously among the citizenry on Victory in Europe Day .

When Elizabeth’s grandfather King George V died in 1936, his eldest son (Elizabeth’s uncle) became King Edward VIII . Edward, however, was in love with American divorcée Wallis Simpson and had to choose between the crown and his heart . In the end, Edward chose Simpson and abdicated the crown.

The event changed the course of Elizabeth’s life, making her the heir presumptive to the British crown. Her father was crowned King George VI in 1937, taking on the name George to emphasize continuity with his father. Her mother became Queen Elizabeth.

Fifteen years later, the monarchy changed hands again when King George died. The younger Elizabeth assumed the responsibilities of the ruling monarch on February 6, 1952. At that point, the 25-year-old became Queen Elizabeth II, and her mother became Queen Mother.

Elizabeth was crowned on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey, at the age of 27. For the first time ever, the coronation ceremony was broadcast on television, allowing people from across the globe to witness the pomp and spectacle of the event.

Elizabeth married her distant cousin Philip Mountbatten (a surname adopted from his mother’s side) on November 20, 1947, at London’s Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth first met Philip, son of Prince Andrew of Greece, when she was only 13. She was smitten with him from the start. The two kept in touch over the years and eventually fell in love.

They made an unusual pair. Elizabeth was quiet and reserved, while Philip was boisterous and outspoken. Her father, King George, was hesitant about the match because, while Mountbatten had ties to both the Danish and Greek royal families, he didn’t possess great wealth and was considered by some to have a rough personality.

At the time of their wedding, Great Britain was still recovering from the ravages of World War II, and Elizabeth collected clothing coupons to get fabric for her gown.

The family took on the name Windsor, a move pushed by her mother and Prime Minister Winston Churchill that caused tension with her husband. In 1960, she reversed course, issuing orders that her descendants who didn’t carry royal titles (or needed last names for legal purposes such as weddings) would use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. Over the years, Philip inspired numerous public relations headaches with his off-the-cuff, controversial comments and rumors of possible infidelities.

Philip died on April 9, 2021, at age 99. Days later, Prince Andrew told the media Queen Elizabeth described his death “as having left a huge void in her life.” She had previously said he was her “strength and stay.”

Elizabeth and Philip wasted no time in producing an heir: Their son Charles was born in 1948, the year after their wedding, and their daughter, Anne , arrived in 1950. As queen, Elizabeth had two more children—sons Andrew and Edward —in 1960 and 1964, respectively.

King Charles III

In 1969, Elizabeth officially made Charles her successor by granting him the title of Prince of Wales. Hundreds of millions of people tuned in to see the ceremony on television.

In 1981, Charles, then 32, wed 19-year-old Diana Spencer, who became known as Princess Diana . The wedding drew enormous crowds in the streets of London, and millions watched the proceedings on television. Public opinion of the monarchy was especially strong at that time. Later, rumors surfaced that he was pressured into the marriage by his family.

Now King Charles III, he is married to Queen Camilla .

Princess Anne

Princess Anne began working as a member of the royal family when she was 18 in 1969 and continues today. She is also heavily involved in charity work. A noted equestrian, Anne competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Her mother opened the Games that year, and the rest of the royal family traveled to support Anne.

Previously married to Captain Mark Phillips, she and her current husband, Timothy Laurence, wed in 1992.

Prince Andrew

Andrew was the first child born to a reigning monarch in more than 100 years. In 1979, he joined the British Royal Navy, became a helicopter pilot, and served during the Falkland War in the early 1980s. He became the Duke of York after marrying Sarah Ferguson , though the couple later divorced. Following scandal, Andrew stepped back from public duties in his royal capacity in 2019, a decision that was made permanent in 2022.

Prince Edward

The queen’s youngest child, Edward, worked in theater and television production for many years, at one point through his own production company. Since 2002, he has worked full-time supporting his mother and now brother. Edward is married to Sophie Rhys-Jones. He became the Duke of Edinburgh—a title previously held by his father—in March 2023.

Queen Elizabeth had eight grandchildren and was great-grandmother to 12 in her lifetime.

Her most well-known grandchildren are Charles and Diana’s sons, Prince William , who became second-in-line to the throne at his birth in 1982, and Prince Harry , born in 1984. Elizabeth emerged as a devoted grandmother to her grandsons. Prince William has said that she offered invaluable support and guidance as he and Kate Middleton planned their 2011 wedding.

In addition to Princes William and Harry, the queen’s other grandchildren are: Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, born to Princess Anne; Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York, born to Prince Andrew; and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, born to Prince Edward. Peter is Elizabeth’s oldest grandchild; he was born in 1977, four years before his sister and five years before Prince William.

William and Kate have three children, who are Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren. The Prince and Princess of Wales welcomed Prince George Alexander Louis in July 2013, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana in May 2015, and Prince Louis Arthur Charles in April 2018. All three are currently in the line of succession directly after their father.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan Markle gave the queen two more great-grandchildren with the birth of their son, Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor , and daughter, Princess Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor , in May 2019 and June 2021, respectively.

Elizabeth’s other great-grandchildren include Savannah Phillips, Isla Phillips, Mia Tindall, Lena Tindall, August Brooksbank, Lucas Tindall, and Sienna Mozzi.

Elizabeth’s long and mainly peaceful reign was marked by vast changes in her people’s lives, in her country’s power, how Britain is viewed abroad, and how the monarchy is regarded and portrayed. As a constitutional monarch, Elizabeth didn’t weigh in on political matters, nor did she reveal her political views. However, she conferred regularly with her prime ministers.

When Elizabeth became queen, post-war Britain still had a substantial empire, dominions, and dependencies. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, many of these countries achieved independence, and the British Empire evolved into the Commonwealth of Nations. Elizabeth II thus made visits to other countries as head of the Commonwealth and a representative of Britain, including a groundbreaking trip to Germany in 1965. She became the first British monarch to make a state visit there in more than five decades.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Elizabeth continued to travel extensively. In 1973, she attended the Commonwealth Conference in Ottawa, Canada and, in 1976, traveled to the United States for the 200 th anniversary celebration of America’s independence from Britain. More than a week later, she was in Montreal to open the Summer Olympics. In 1979, she traveled to Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which garnered international attention and widespread respect.

In 1982, Elizabeth worried about her second son, Prince Andrew , who served as a helicopter pilot in the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War. Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a clash that lasted for several weeks. While more than 250 British soldiers died in the conflict, Prince Andrew returned home safe and well, much to his mother’s relief.

In 2011, Elizabeth showed that the crown still had symbolic and diplomatic power when she became the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since 1911 (when all of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom).

As queen, Elizabeth modernized the monarchy, dropping some of its formalities and making certain sites and treasures more accessible to the public. As Britain and other nations struggled financially, Britain abolished the Civil List in 2012, which was a public funding system of the monarchy dating back roughly 250 years. The royal family continues to receive some government support, but the queen cut back on spending.

Also in 2012, Elizabeth celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years as queen. As part of the jubilee festivities, a special BBC concert was held on June 4 featuring the likes of Shirley Bassey , Paul McCartney , Tom Jones , Stevie Wonder , and Kylie Minogue. Elizabeth was surrounded by family at this historic event, including her husband Philip, son Charles, and grandsons Harry and William.

On September 9, 2015, she surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as Britain’s longest-ruling monarch, who reigned for 63 years.

Despite the occasional call to step aside for Charles, Elizabeth remained steadfast in her royal obligations as she passed her 90 th birthday in 2016. She continued making more than 400 engagements per year, maintaining her support of hundreds of charitable organizations and programs.

On February 6, 2017, the queen celebrated 65 years on the throne, the only British monarch to ever celebrate her Sapphire Jubilee. The date also marks the anniversary of the death of her father. The queen chose to spend the day quietly at Sandringham, her country estate north of London, where she attended a church service. In London, there were royal gun salutes at Green Park and at the Tower of London to mark the occasion. The Royal Mint also issued eight new commemorative coins in honor of the queen’s Sapphire Jubilee.

Later that year, the monarchy took what was considered a major step toward transitioning to the next generation: On November 12, Charles handled the traditional Remembrance Sunday duty of placing a wreath at the Cenotaph war memorial, as the queen watched from a nearby balcony.

In August 2019, Elizabeth made a rare intrusion into political matters when she agreed to a request by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend Parliament until October 14, less than three weeks before Britain’s planned departure from the European Union.

In 2022, the nation celebrated Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee year. Another milestone for the monarchy, it marked her 70 years on the throne.

Relationship With Prime Ministers

Elizabeth had 15 prime ministers placed into power during her reign, with the queen and PM having a weekly, confidential meeting. (Elizabeth also met about a quarter of all the U.S. presidents in history, most recently receiving Joe Biden for a state visit in June 2021.)

She enjoyed a father-figure relationship with the iconic Winston Churchill and was later able to loosen up a bit and be somewhat informal with Labour leaders Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. In contrast, she and Margaret Thatcher had a very formal, distant relationship, with the PM tending to be a grating lecturer to the queen on a variety of issues.

Tony Blair saw certain concepts around the monarchy as somewhat outdated, though he did appreciate Elizabeth making a public statement after the death of Princess Diana .

Later, Conservative leader David Cameron, who was Elizabeth’s fifth cousin removed, enjoyed a warm rapport with the queen. He apologized in 2014 for revealing in a conversation that she was against the Scottish referendum to seek independence from Great Britain.

Theresa May was described as being tight-lipped about Brexit plans to leave the European Union, with a rumor circulating that Elizabeth was perturbed over not being informed about future exit strategies.

Two days before her death, Elizabeth welcomed her final prime minister, Liz Truss , at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The September 6, 2022, meeting was her final act as monarch.

Threats to Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family

Elizabeth worked tirelessly to protect the image of the monarchy and to prepare for its future. But she saw the monarchy come under attack during her lifetime. The once-revered institution weathered a number of storms, including death threats against the royal family.

In 1979, Elizabeth suffered a significant personal loss when Lord Mountbatten, her husband’s uncle, died in a terrorist bombing. Mountbatten and several members of his family were aboard his boat off the west coast of Ireland when the vessel exploded on August 27. He and three others, including one of his grandsons, were killed. The Irish Republican Army, which opposed British rule in Northern Ireland, took responsibility for the attack.

In June 1981, Elizabeth herself had a dangerous encounter. She was riding in the Trooping the Colour, a special military parade to celebrate her official birthday when a man in the crowd pointed a gun at her. He fired, but fortunately, the gun was loaded with blanks. Other than receiving a good scare, the queen wasn’t hurt.

Elizabeth had an even closer call the following year when an intruder broke into Buckingham Palace and confronted her in her bedroom. When the press got wind of the fact that Prince Philip was nowhere to be seen during this incident, they speculated about the state of the royal marriage.

The marriage of Elizabeth’s son Charles to Diana made headlines for years before the couple announced their separation in 1992, followed by their formal divorce in 1996. In the wake of Diana’s death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997, Elizabeth experienced intense media scrutiny. Her incredibly popular ex-daughter-in-law had been called the “People’s Princess.”

The queen was at her Balmoral estate in Scotland with Charles and his sons with Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry, at the time. For days, Elizabeth remained silent while the country mourned Diana’s passing, and she was sharply criticized for her lack of response.

Stories circulated that the queen didn’t want to give Diana a royal funeral, which only fueled public sentiment against the monarch. Nearly a week after Diana’s death, Elizabeth returned to London and issued a statement on the late princess.

Elizabeth also initially objected to the relationship between her son Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles . Charles and Camilla had dated years before he met his family, but the relationship ended under family pressure, only to resume during Charles and Diana’s marriage. Known to be a stickler for ceremony and tradition, she eventually showed signs of softening her stance over the years. When Charles and Camilla wed in 2005, Elizabeth and Prince Philip didn’t attend the civil ceremony but attended a religious blessing and held a reception in their honor at Windsor Castle.

In 1992, another of Elizabeth’s children, Prince Andrew, ended up in the tabloids after photos emerged of his wife, Sarah Ferguson , and another man engaged in romantic activity. The couple divorced soon after. Along with the dissolution of Charles’ and Andrew’s marriages, Princess Anne divorced her husband Mark Phillips that year. More bad news came when a fire broke out at Windsor Castle in November. The 15-hour blaze destroyed 115 rooms, though it only consumed two pieces of art from the queen’s valuable private collection. The year became known as her “annus horribilis.”

After the start of the 21 st century, Elizabeth experienced two great losses. She said goodbye to both her sister, Margaret, and her mother in 2002, the same year she celebrated her Golden Jubilee that marked her 50 th year on the throne. Margaret, known for being more of an adventurous soul than other royals and who was barred from marrying an early love, died in February after suffering a stroke. Only a few weeks later, Elizabeth’s mother died at Royal Lodge on March 30 at the age of 101.

In November 2017, the media reported the queen had some $13 million invested in offshore accounts. The news came following the leak of the so-called “Paradise Papers” to a German newspaper, which shared the documents with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The Duchy of Lancaster, which holds assets for the queen, confirmed that some of its investments were overseas accounts but insisted they were all legitimate.

Also in 2017, the former owner of the lingerie company Rigby & Peller, which had serviced Elizabeth for more than 50 years, wrote a tell-all autobiography that included some of her experiences with the royal family. Although the author insisted that “the book doesn’t contain anything naughty,” the queen responded in early 2018 by revoking Rigby & Peller’s royal warrant.

In 2019, Prince Andrew was forced to step down from public duties, following a media firestorm. Andrew had courted years of scandal surrounding his controversial business pursuits and friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ,

Just weeks later, in January 2020, the family again found themselves in the spotlight, following the bombshell decision by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle , the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to step away from their roles as senior royals.

For much of her life, the queen surrounded herself with dogs. She was especially known for her love of corgis, owning more than 30 descendants of the first corgi she received as a teenager, until the death of the final one, Willow, in 2018.

Elizabeth was also a horse enthusiast who bred thoroughbreds and attended racing events for many years.

Not one for the spotlight, Elizabeth liked quiet pastimes. She enjoyed reading mysteries, working on crossword puzzles, and reportedly, even watching wrestling on television.

Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at her Balmoral estate in Scotland on September 8, 2022, at 3:10 p.m. local time. She was 96 years old. Her official cause of death was old age, according to her death certificate.

The public was first aware of the queen’s ill health earlier that day when Buckingham Palace issued at statement around 12:30 p.m. that said, “Following further evaluation this morning, the queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.”

Soon, members of the royal family began traveling to see the queen. At the time of her death, Prince Charles and Camilla, as well as Princess Anne were at the castle. William, Harry, Andrew, Edward, and Sophie arrived later in the evening. Kate Middleton didn’t travel to say her final goodbyes, citing the recent start of the school year for her children. Meghan Markle was also absent.

Her death was publicly announced at 6:30 p.m. After, newly minted King Charles issued a statement that said:

The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family. We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held.

On September 14, Elizabeth’s coffin traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall by horse-drawn carriage and lay in state for four days. The day of her state funeral, September 19, was declared a bank holiday. The funeral was held at Westminster Abbey and ended with two minutes of silence, observed there and throughout the United Kingdom.

President Joe Biden , First Lady Jill Biden , French President Emmanuel Macron , and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the dozens of world leaders and 2,000 total people in attendance. Millions more watched or listened in; the funeral was broadcast on TV and radio and streamed on YouTube. Elizabeth’s pony and her corgis, Muick and Sandy, watched the procession, as did tens of thousands of people.

A private burial came later that day. Elizabeth was buried with Prince Philip at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.

• 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.
• 1992 is not a year I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an “annus horribilis.”
• When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.
• Discrimination still exists. Some people feel that their own beliefs are being threatened. Some are unhappy about unfamiliar cultures. They all need to be reassured that there is so much to be gained by reaching out to others; that diversity is indeed a strength and not a threat.
• Grief is the price we pay for love.
• I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.
• In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognize how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.
• We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding what is impossible to keep.

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Accession to the throne

The modern monarchy.

Elizabeth II

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Elizabeth II (born April 21, 1926, London, England—died September 8, 2022, Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) was the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from February 6, 1952, to September 8, 2022. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York , and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon . As the child of a younger son of King George V , the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward duke of Windsor), abdicated in her father’s favour on December 11, 1936, at which time her father became King George VI and she became heir presumptive. The princess’s education was supervised by her mother, who entrusted her daughters to a governess, Marion Crawford; the princess was also grounded in history by C.H.K. Marten, afterward provost of Eton College , and had instruction from visiting teachers in music and languages. During World War II she and her sister, Princess Margaret Rose, perforce spent much of their time safely away from the London blitz and separated from their parents, living mostly at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at the Royal Lodge, Windsor , and Windsor Castle .

Early in 1947 Princess Elizabeth went with the king and queen to South Africa . After her return there was an announcement of her betrothal to her distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy , formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark . The marriage took place in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. On the eve of the wedding her father, the king, conferred upon the bridegroom the titles of duke of Edinburgh, earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They took residence at Clarence House in London . Their first child, Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), was born November 14, 1948, at Buckingham Palace .

In the summer of 1951 the health of King George VI entered into a serious decline, and Princess Elizabeth represented him at the Trooping the Colour and on various other state occasions. On October 7 she and her husband set out on a highly successful tour of Canada and Washington, D.C. After Christmas in England she and the duke set out in January 1952 for a tour of Australia and New Zealand , but en route, at Sagana, Kenya , news reached them of the king’s death on February 6, 1952. Elizabeth, now queen, at once flew back to England. The first three months of her reign, the period of full mourning for her father, were passed in comparative seclusion. But in the summer, after she had moved from Clarence House to Buckingham Palace, she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and carried out her first state opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952. Her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Beginning in November 1953 the queen and the duke of Edinburgh made a six-month round-the-world tour of the Commonwealth , which included the first visit to Australia and New Zealand by a reigning British monarch. In 1957, after state visits to various European nations, she and the duke visited Canada and the United States . In 1961 she made the first royal British tour of the Indian subcontinent in 50 years, and she was also the first reigning British monarch to visit South America (in 1968) and the Persian Gulf countries (in 1979). During her “Silver Jubilee” in 1977, she presided at a London banquet attended by the leaders of the 36 members of the Commonwealth, traveled all over Britain and Northern Ireland, and toured overseas in the South Pacific and Australia, in Canada, and in the Caribbean.

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles became heir apparent; he was named prince of Wales on July 26, 1958, and was so invested on July 1, 1969. The queen’s other children were Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise), born August 15, 1950, and created princess royal in 1987; Prince Andrew (Andrew Albert Christian Edward), born February 19, 1960, and created duke of York in 1986; and Prince Edward (Edward Anthony Richard Louis), born March 10, 1964, and created earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn in 1999. All these children have the surname “of Windsor,” but in 1960 Elizabeth decided to create the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor for other descendants not styled prince or princess and royal highness. Elizabeth’s first grandchild (Princess Anne’s son) was born on November 15, 1977.

The queen seemed increasingly aware of the modern role of the monarchy, allowing, for example, the televising of the royal family’s domestic life in 1970 and condoning the formal dissolution of her sister’s marriage in 1978. In the 1990s, however, the royal family faced a number of challenges. In 1992, a year that Elizabeth referred to as the royal family’s annus horribilis , Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, princess of Wales , separated, as did Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, duchess of York. Moreover, Anne divorced, and a fire gutted the royal residence of Windsor Castle. In addition, as the country struggled with a recession , resentment over the royals’ lifestyle mounted, and in 1992 Elizabeth, although personally exempt, agreed to pay taxes on her private income. The separation and later divorce (1996) of Charles and the immensely popular Diana further eroded support for the royal family, which was viewed by some as antiquated and unfeeling. The criticism intensified following Diana’s death in 1997, especially after Elizabeth initially refused to allow the national flag to fly at half-staff over Buckingham Palace. In line with her earlier attempts at modernizing the monarchy , the queen subsequently sought to present a less-stuffy and less-traditional image of the monarchy. These attempts were met with mixed success.

In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her 50th year on the throne. As part of her “Golden Jubilee,” events were held throughout the Commonwealth, including several days of festivities in London. The celebrations were somewhat diminished by the deaths of Elizabeth’s mother and sister early in the year. Beginning in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century, the public standing of the royal family rebounded, and even Charles’s 2005 marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles found much support among the British people. In April 2011 Elizabeth led the family in celebrating the wedding of Prince William of Wales —the elder son of Charles and Diana—and Catherine Middleton . The following month she surpassed George III to become the second longest-reigning monarch in British history, behind Victoria . Also in May, Elizabeth made a historic trip to Ireland , becoming both the first British monarch to visit the Irish republic and the first to set foot in Ireland since 1911. In 2012 Elizabeth celebrated her “ Diamond Jubilee ,” marking 60 years on the throne. On September 9, 2015, she surpassed Victoria’s record reign of 63 years and 216 days.

In August 2017 Prince Philip officially retired from public life, though he periodically appeared at official engagements after that. In the meantime, Elizabeth began to reduce her own official engagements, passing some duties on to Prince Charles and other senior members of the royal family, though the pool of stand-ins shrank when Charles’s younger son, Prince Harry, duke of Sussex , and his wife, Meghan, duchess of Sussex , controversially chose to give up their royal roles in March 2020. During this period, public interest in the queen and the royal family grew as a result of the widespread popularity of The Crown , a Netflix television series about the Windsors that debuted in 2016. Having dealt with several physical setbacks in recent years, Philip, who had been Elizabeth’s husband for more than seven decades, died in April 2021. On their 50th wedding anniversary, in 1997, Elizabeth had said of Philip, “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.” Because of social-distancing protocols brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the queen sat alone in a choir stall in St. George’s Chapel (in Windsor Castle ) at Philip’s funeral. The widely disseminated images of her tragic isolation were heartbreaking but emblematic of the dignity and courage that she brought to her reign.

In June 2022 Britain celebrated Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne with the “Platinum Jubilee,” a four-day national holiday that included the Trooping the Colour ceremony, a thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a pop music concert at Buckingham Palace , and a pageant that employed street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival, and costume to honour the queen’s reign. Health issues limited Elizabeth’s involvement. Concerns about the queen’s health also led to a break in tradition when, in September, she appointed Boris Johnson ’s replacement as prime minister , Liz Truss , at Balmoral rather than at Buckingham Palace, where she had formally appointed more than a dozen prime ministers.

Just days later, on September 8, Elizabeth’s death, at age 96, shocked Britain and the world. Prince Charles succeeded her on the throne as King Charles III . Ten days of national commemoration of her life and legacy—long planned as “Operation London Bridge”—followed. Notably, the queen lay in state for a day in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh and then for three days in Westminster Hall in London, outside of which mourners stood in a line that stretched for miles, in some cases waiting for more than 24 hours to view Elizabeth’s casket. Her sombre funeral ceremony in Westminster Abbey , officiated by Archbishop Justin Welby on September 19, was attended by an estimated 100 heads of foreign governments. Following a procession to Wellington Arch, during which Big Ben tolled, the queen’s casket was borne by hearse to her final resting place in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth was known to favour simplicity in court life and was also known to take a serious and informed interest in government business, aside from the traditional and ceremonial duties. Privately, she became a keen horsewoman; she kept racehorses, frequently attended races, and periodically visited the Kentucky stud farms in the United States. Her financial and property holdings made her one of the world’s richest women.

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A Focus on the life of Queen Elizabeth II

Princess Elizabeth was born 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. The Princess was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary at Buckingham Palace on 29 May that year.

At the time of her birth, Princess Elizabeth’s grandfather, King George V, was on the throne, and she was third in the line of succession, after her uncle, Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. In 1930, Princess Elizabeth gained a sister, with the birth of Princess Margaret.

Princess Elizabeth spent her early years in London. In 1932, when she was six years old the family moved to Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. 

In 1936 Princess Elizabeth’s life changed dramatically. Her grandfather, King George V, died and her uncle came to the throne as King Edward VIII, but, before the end of the year, he had decided to give up the throne in order to marry the woman he loved, Mrs Wallis Simpson. Upon his abdication, Princess Elizabeth’s father acceded to the throne as King George VI, and Princess Elizabeth became first in line to the throne. In 1937 the two Princesses attended their parents’ Coronation in Westminster Abbey. 

The Second World War began in 1939, and a year later, at the height of the Blitz, the Princesses were moved for their safety to Windsor Castle, where they spent most of the war years. Princess Elizabeth was educated at home. She studied constitutional history and law as preparation for her future role as monarch, was instructed in religion by the Archbishop of Canterbury and learned French from a number of French and Belgian governesses. 

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip first met in 1934. When the Princess was 21, their engagement was announced on 9 July 1947 and the couple were married in Westminster Abbey on 20 November the same year. 

On 6 February 1952, King George VI died following a prolonged illness. Princess Elizabeth acceded to the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. The Coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, attended by 8,251 guests, including the Prime Ministers and leading citizens of the other Commonwealth countries and representatives of foreign states. Crowds of people viewed the procession all along the route despite heavy rain. The ceremony was broadcast to 11 million listeners on the radio, and, for the first time, the ceremony was televised around the world – 27 million people in the UK alone tuned in to watch.

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How Queen Elizabeth II Preserved the Monarchy

Fact-checked by susan lee. special thanks to eva krysiak., a look back at the life of britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who led her country and the royal family through moments of enormous upheaval..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

I was going to ask you a question. I’m collecting reactions to the queen’s death.

Did she die?

Are you lying?

No, I’m not lying.

When did she die?

Like, three hours ago.

She’s dead.

She’s not. Are you joking? What? What? Are you sure she died?

Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m a reporter.

From where?

“New York Times.”

That’s really sad. It’s really sad because I pray to her every morning, every morning, every morning. I pray to Her Majesty the Queen every morning. I pray to her, and I want her to live forever.

Why do you pray to the queen every morning?

Because I love her. I love Her Majesty. I love her so much.

Can I ask what does she represent to you?

Everything. She’s divine to me. See, I don’t believe in God. But I believe in Her Majesty the Queen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. This is “The Daily.”

Absolutely devastated.

I think the whole country is.

Because she was such an amazing woman.

Yeah. I’m just speechless. I can’t even put it into words, to be honest.

I’ve met the queen twice. My mother was there, and my brother, Ben, and I had just opened a restaurant in Oxford. She was opening it. And she came along, and it was like meeting your grandmother because you’ve always known her. She’s always been there, right? The queen.

The reign of Queen Elizabeth II spanned seven decades, 15 prime ministers, and 14 American presidents.

And what did she represent to you?

Stability. Stability, consistency. I feel like — I don’t know. It almost felt like she’ll be here forever.

Today, my colleague, Alan Cowell, on how Queen Elizabeth saved the monarchy, even as the British Empire crumbled, and what happens now that she’s gone.

I don’t really know what this means now. What does it mean? What’s going to happen next?

It’s Friday, September 9.

Alan, tell us your first memory of Queen Elizabeth.

It was 1953. It was the coronation. And I was six years old. And we went to a friend’s house where they had a television set, which had, like, a 9-inch screen in a huge walnut cabinet. And there, in this tiny little black-and-white image, we could see the queen’s coronation in Westminster Abbey.

And as the music rises in triumph, we await Her Majesty the Queen.

It was a very touching moment. England at that time, Britain, was still recovering from the Second World War. There was rationing in force. You couldn’t get orange juice or plenty of things.

So even at that young age, I think one understood that this was the start of something, that things could get better, that the war and the war years were finally over and Britain was looking towards something new in the future.

Madam, is your majesty willing to take the oath?

I am willing.

What do you remember from what you saw on that little screen?

Well, I just remember the sight of this very small, beautifully turned out monarch being crowned. And it was kind of a fairy tale.

Do you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of the United Kingdom —

She wasn’t meant to be queen at all. But her uncle had abdicated the throne. And here she was. It felt like this is something we did. We had a queen. We had a new queen. It felt like the natural order of things, and it was her job to sustain that impression.

I solemnly promise so to do.

Will you, to your power, cause law and justice and mercy to be executed in all your judgments?

And throughout that period and throughout her entire reign, she had to preserve the essential mystique. And that relied on the pageantry and the formality of her office — the grand parades down the mall, the ceremonial occasions of the changing of the guards, and all of those moments when the symbols of her reign were on display.

But against that, she had to be adaptable. She had to be flexible. She had to change with the times. And she managed somehow to combine the rigidity and formality of the monarchy with, sometimes, a sense of humor and preserve the mystique. And her presence was not imposed upon her people. But it was somehow transmitted that she was there and she was the head of the royal family.

Even as the British Empire dwindled and shrunk back onto its island core, she maintained the role of the monarchy within that framework. And I suppose that we all, in a way, whether we admitted it or not, came to rely on that presence.

The homage is ended. The drums shall beat, and the trumpets shall sound. And all the people shall cry, “God save Queen Elizabeth.”

So tell me about the UK at that point when the queen came to power. What was happening?

At that time, I think the UK was really in a state of recovery. It was much weakened by the effort of the war years. The economy was in a deep shock. And suddenly, quite to everyone’s surprise, this young princess who had gone out on a trip, a formal official trip, with her husband, Prince Philip, to Kenya, and she went to sleep as a princess and she woke up as a queen because her father had died overnight. And under the rules of the monarchy, there is an instant transition.

Remind us, Alan, what the British Empire was. What did it include? It was this kind of far-flung place with lots of different countries, right?

It was indeed. It was said that the sun never set on the British Empire because it was so vast. It included India, a lot of Africa, Australia, Canada. The expansionism of the British in the 19th century had left them in control of a whole slew of countries to which they had no inherent entitlement and which had left a huge controversy about the manner of their rule, the cruelty, slavery. But at the time, it was an accepted part of life.

Queen Victoria had been the founder of this. She was the Empress of India as well as the queen of England. And that enormous empire had been handed down. And slowly, through the wars and the weakening of the central power, it was shrinking back. And so one of the first things that the new queen had to contemplate was that that empire was soon going to be whittled away.

And so how did she do that, Alan? What was her role?

Her role was largely ceremonial. And she would go herself, or she would send representatives to basically decolonize. There would be a negotiation. There would be a new constitution.

So you had a whole range of African countries — Ghana, Kenya — achieving independence in the ‘50s and ‘60s. And the queen’s role, in fact, was to — or the role she chose for herself — was to try and salvage something from this by sponsoring the Commonwealth of former colonies, as it was then known, and preserving British influence in a postcolonial world.

So how exactly did she transition beyond empire, kind of moving Britain to a new place?

I think there was a very, very important speech in 1957 —

Happy Christmas.

— when she set out a new vision.

It’s inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you, a successor to the kings and queens of history but who never rarely touches your personal lives. But now, at least for a few minutes, I welcome you to the piece of my own home.

A vision of service, essentially.

In the old days, the monarch led his soldiers on the battlefield. And his leadership at all times was close and personal.

That she put herself in a position not as a ruler or as a traditional monarch who would lead troops into battle or lay down the law, but as a servant of the people.

Today, things are very different. I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice. But I can do something else. I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.

But what she could do was give them her heart.

I hope that 1958 may bring you God’s blessing and all the things you long for.

And I know that might sound very naive, almost, now. But if you think about it, what she was doing to almost to the very, very end of her life fitted into that rubric of being a servant of the people she was leading into a new era.

And how did that manifest itself, Alan? I mean, what’s an example of that?

Well, I would say that it was a very tight definition of service because it was really wrapped up in an awful lot of formality. If you look back at the old clips of the queen going about her routine business, there’d be travels to far-flung parts of the empire, or soon-to-be former empire, where she would go through very, very closely choreographed ceremonies to greet and make friends with local people, or even traveling around in the UK, opening libraries or shipyards or launching ships. And all of these things, she did in the name of being present and showing the presence of the monarchy to the people on the ground.

And did it work? I mean, did people like this?

I think it did work because what it showed, what she showed, was that the monarchy was still strong even though the empire was weak. And she found a way of ensuring that the monarchy survived the demise of the empire, largely, and went on to give itself a new niche in a new world in the postcolonial era.

We’ll be right back.

So, Alan, you told us that the queen was holding together this whole idea of the monarchy at a time when Britain was really changing and that she did in this kind of silent, symbolic way. But you also said she was good at adapting, bending to meet the moment. So tell me about that.

Well, I think that came to a head in 1992, when everything that she was presiding over just seemed to be unraveling.

Good evening. Parts of the centuries-old Windsor Castle, one of the queen’s residences, has been consumed by fire for much of the day.

There was a huge fire at Windsor, one of favorite residences.

The Duke of York joined scores of people who formed a human chain to save one of the greatest collections of art treasures in the world. He said the queen, who went to the castle soon after hearing about the fire, was absolutely devastated.

There were scandals relating to her children all over the tabloids.

The latest shock scandal to rock Buckingham Palace.

For instance, there were photographs of an affair between the Duchess of York and an American millionaire.

Fergie, as she’s commonly known, had been caught by the pool with her top off, smooching with her financial advisor, Texas millionaire John Bryan. One picture showed him kissing the duchess’s foot. Another showed the duchess rubbing suntan oil into Bryan’s balding head.

Her daughter, Princess Anne, got divorced. Prince Andrew separated from Sarah, his wife.

And there is speculation that the duchess, now separated from her husband, Prince Andrew, could be stripped of her title by the queen.

Princess Diana was figured heavily in a tell-all book.

Much has been made of the author’s allegation that the princess attempted suicide on five occasions.

And there was more evidence of infinite conversations between Diana and the lover that were leaked. So after all that happened, Charles finally separated from Diana.

The royal couple began their new separate lives today with separate engagements in different parts of London.

1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.

She did actually say, look, this has been a horrible year for me.

There can be no doubt, of course, that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life.

There were any number of issues, publicity that she would have preferred not to have.

But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society.

And she had to, in a way, appeal for a degree of sympathy. And I think that showed her ability to adapt and be flexible. And in a way, I think a lot of people understood that.

And that scrutiny by one part of another can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of gentleness, good humor, and understanding.

And, Alan, why do you think she decided to tell people that her year had been horrible, I mean, actually to show herself and level with people? Why did she do that?

I think that it’s just part of her gift, her knack for finding the right moment to make these kind of gestures that count with people. In a way, it was a plea for sympathy which wasn’t always given to the monarchy because they’d been held to a much higher standard. I guess she was saying, look, we all have these problems, and I’m no different, although plainly, plainly, she was in a much more different — far different position from ordinary people.

So she was sort of nodding to the British people, in a way, and reconnecting with them, saying, I understand that this is all pretty awful. And did that work?

I think, by and large, most things that she’s done have been very carefully thought out. And the timing is all, and it was very, very, very effective.

What’s another example of the queen’s timing, the monarchy being tested and the queen being flexible at just the right moment?

Well, paradoxically, there were occasions when she seemed to get it terribly wrong. And there was no greater example of that than in 1997 after the death of Princess Diana.

Prime Minister, can we please have your reaction to the news?

I feel like everyone else in this country today, utterly devastated.

(CRYING) Everybody loved Diana.

When the whole nation literally was in a paroxysm of grief and mourning and was looking to the queen for a signal of some kind of acknowledgment of the enormous loss, personal loss, that people felt with the death of Princess Diana.

The absence of a flag at half-mast at Buckingham Palace upset many people.

And she didn’t seem to give it.

And the absence of the royal family, who remained at Balmoral throughout, has dismayed others.

She secluded herself in Balmoral with Diana and Charles’s sons, William and Harry, and really cited the need to protect those children as the reason for not emerging into the public eye. And it was the beginning of a crisis that built very, very visibly.

Many had been contrasting the outpouring of popular grief and emotion with the silence and perceived detachment of senior members of the royal family.

People were saying, she’s lost her touch. This is it.

I mean, all these people here today are showing the strength of the nation. And she hasn’t said anything, the queen. They must know how we’re feeling, and we’d like to know how they’re feeling.

Why isn’t she saying something? Why isn’t she sharing our grief with us?

In today’s “Sun” newspaper, an editorial criticizes the royal family’s response and states bluntly, “All the royals can do is pull up the drawbridges on their emotional castles and retreat into an artificial world where all that matters is doing it by the book.”

And, of course, she had good advice from Tony Blair, an archpolitician, a very deft politician, who advised her that if she wanted to get the situation back under control, she needed to make a big gesture to the people. So she came back to London.

What I say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.

She gave a very important public address.

First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. I admired and respected her for her energy and commitment to others. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.

And I think, most significantly of all —

The cortege is now reaching the bottom end of Constitution Hill.

As the funeral cortege with Diana’s coffin was passing in front of Buckingham Palace —

A bow from the queen as the coffin passed.

She bowed her head as the coffin went by. And it really was a tremendously powerful gesture and acknowledgment of Diana’s role and importance. Monarchs don’t bow to anybody else. Other people bow to them.

And there had been all the speculation that she didn’t respect Diana, she didn’t like her, that she was being high-handed towards the memory of Diana. And with that single solemn nod of the head, she reversed all of that imagery and did indeed begin to turn the situation around.

So, again, by being flexible, by adapting, the queen repairs relations with her subjects.

Exactly. But I think sometimes it is only under enormous pressure, that her first instinct that she’s been brought up with is to be discreet, to refrain from bowing to public outcry, to maintain her dignity and aloofness. And when she does it, it has to count because I think it was a huge gesture. And it must have been very carefully thought out on her part.

Are there any other instances where the monarchy seemed imperiled and she had to react?

I think these moments seem to come thick and fast, and they almost accelerated the older she got.

Could it be Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now saying ta-ta for now?

Harry and Meghan say we quit.

One of course, was the relationship that soured between Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghan.

In a statement, the two said they’ve chosen to transition to a, quote, “progressive new role” within the institution.

They chose to renounce their position as fully-fledged royals and move to California, which was quite embarrassing for the queen.

And remind us, Alan, what did the queen do?

Queen Elizabeth has confirmed in a statement that in stepping away —

She made it very clear that Harry was no longer a fully-fledged royal.

For Harry, the loss of his military roles, particularly as captain general of the Royal Marines, will be particularly hard.

He was stripped of some positions. He was not allowed to have the kind of security detail that he would normally have expected. And he was basically cast into the outer darkness as far as being what he had been, which was a fully-fledged member of the royal family.

So when it came to the crown and her grandson, she chose the crown.

Absolutely. She chose the crown, and she always did. And she went on even with her son Andrew, who had become embroiled in a scandal relating to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier who was a convicted sex offender. When that blew up, the same thing happened as it happened with Harry —

The prince said that he would be stepping down from royal duties for the foreseeable future.

— which was that he was stripped of royal duties. He was not allowed to preside over events that he would have done. Certain military ranks were withdrawn.

Britain’s tabloids going into full swing, calling Prince Andrew a royal outcast.

And he, too, was sent into what — I guess a kind of internal exile.

The man eighth in line to the throne says he went to his mother, the queen, for permission to step down for the foreseeable future from his duties. And she granted it.

So it’s almost as though, in the beginning of her reign, the threats were external, from the outside world, the threats to the monarchy. And at the end of her reign, the threats were from inside, from her own family.

I think that it had been a developing trend throughout her reign. The standards that she aspired to and that she stuck to just were too much for the next generations. And with the exception, perhaps, of Prince William, none of those subsequent descendants was able to come up to the same levels of respectability, probity, as she had displayed throughout her reign.

Alan, that brings us to her death and to the fact that her son Charles is now finally king. What will it mean for the monarchy and for the United Kingdom?

I think there’s a huge burden that will fall on his shoulders. There are no high expectations of Charles. He’s got a reputation for having embraced some fairly quirky ideas in his time. He’s been a king-in-waiting for a long, long time. And a lot of people have had time to prejudge him.

So he must somehow reassert the validity of the monarchy’s role at a time when it could well come under renewed challenge. What held it together, what holds it together, was Elizabeth and her memory. And somehow, he needs to harness those feelings of respect for his mother to be able to navigate through very, very choppy waters into the monarchy’s future.

Do you think that her success was singular? I mean, did it have to do with her? Or was it more about the position she inherited?

I think it was very much to do with her. I mean, it was how she played it. Plenty of members of her family, her own sister, people played things in a different way. They partied or they gallivanted or whatever.

And she didn’t. She chose not to. She devoted herself, as she said way back, that she could give the British people her heart and the Commonwealth people her heart. And I think that’s what she tried to do. It was very much her personal style and manner that held things together.

And the monarchy, for all its clever PR and its facility with pageantry and symbols, still comes down to the personality of the person at the head of it. And that is going to be Charles’s biggest challenge — King Charles’s biggest challenge.

And, of course, Charles is, in some ways, coming to the throne at an even more challenging time than his mother did. I mean, Britain is in a perilous place, economically, and really, in terms of its place in the world. It’s farther than ever from its sort of glorious past, the past of empire that his mother was kind of tapping into.

I think that’s right. If you look across the — where Britain is at the moment, it’s left the European Union. There’s the whole question of cost of living, the soaring price of energy. There is a sense of malaise and gathering crisis across the political front. And it makes it more difficult for King Charles to act.

He has got very strong credentials on some issues that count a lot for Britain’s future — notably, his approach to climate change and global warming. He could give a lead where Britain needs it to help it look to a future where these crises it has at the moment because of its energy dependence on outsiders will be a thing of the past.

But, again, as with his mother, it’ll come down to his personality and whether he, after all this time waiting, finally steps up to the throne with his visions intact and able to be transmitted to the people in a manner that gives them confidence. I think there’ll be probably a honeymoon period. People will be fairly ready to forgive him initially. But in the long term, that might not last. And if that doesn’t last, it does not augur well for the future of the monarchy.

Yeah. Alan, how did you feel when you heard the queen had died?

It was a difficult moment because, as a journalist, I didn’t want to feel involved at all. I’d spent many years writing about the queen, and I’d always striven for objectivity in my reporting. And against that, there was the feeling I’m sure many Britons have that this is a changing of the guard in a major way and that we’re in a new era with incalculable coordinates.

Across the road there’s a local parish church, St. Anne’s. And just after the announcement that the queen had died, the single toll of a bell went on for a couple of hours. And I think that that sort of — the curfew tolls the knell of parting day was how a lot of people would have felt. A day was parting, and we don’t really know what tomorrow will bring.

Alan, thank you.

Thank you, Sabrina. Thank you very much. It’s been a great pleasure to talk to you this evening and discuss these issues. Thank you.

There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors, a noble motto — “I serve.” Those words with an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot quite do as they did.

But through the inventions of science, I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now.

It is very simple. I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do.

I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Here’s what else you should know today. On Thursday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that advocates for abortion rights could add a question to the ballot in November that would ask voters whether to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. The measure had previously been blocked by a state board that cited typographical issues on the petition to include the question on ballots. The measure to enshrine abortion rights will bring even more attention to the November election in Michigan, a swing state with several closely contested races on the ballot.

Today’s episode was produced by Rachelle Bonja, Stella Tan, Mooj Zadie, Jessica Cheung, and Lynsea Garrison, with help from Rachel Quester and Asthaa Chaturvedi. It was edited by Michael Benoist, Lisa Chow, and Paige Cowett, and fact-checked by Susan Lee. It contains original music by Dan Powell, Rowan Niemisto, and Marion Lozano and was engineered by Chris Wood.

Special thanks to Eva Krysiak. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you on Monday.

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Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Produced by Rachelle Bonja Stella Tan Mooj Zadie Jessica Cheung and Lynsea Garrison

With Rachel Quester and Asthaa Chaturvedi

Edited by Mike Benoist Lisa Chow and Paige Cowett

Original music by Dan Powell Marion Lozano and Rowan Niemisto

Engineered by Chris Wood

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday brought to an end a remarkable reign that spanned seven decades, 15 prime ministers and 14 American presidents.

During her time on the throne, which saw the crumbling of the British Empire and the buffeting of the royal family by scandals, Elizabeth’s courtly and reserved manner helped to shore up the monarchy and provided an unwavering constant for her country, the Commonwealth and the wider world.

On today’s episode

Alan Cowell , a contributor to The New York Times and a former Times foreign correspondent.

Background reading

Amid social and economic upheaval across her 70-year reign, the queen remained unshakably committed to the rituals of her role .

Her heir, Charles, was long an uneasy prince. But he comes to the throne, at 73, as a self-assured, gray-haired eminence .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting.

The Daily is made by Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Anita Badejo, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Chelsea Daniel, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Sofia Milan, Ben Calhoun and Susan Lee.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Cliff Levy, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani, Desiree Ibekwe, Wendy Dorr, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli and Maddy Masiello.

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