The Life of Queen Elizabeth II
When Elizabeth II became queen at the age of 25 on 6 February 1952, Winston Churchill was Britain's prime minister, Stalin ran Russia, and King Farouk was monarch of Egypt. In Britain, there were no motorways and no internet, and most people used radio rather than TV.
Since that time, the queen has become synonymous with Britain: head of state; head of the Anglican Church; head of the judiciary; head of the armed forces; head of the Commonwealth; and ultimate fount of honour in the British state.
She knew almost every world statesman of any consequence for three-quarters of a century - and their families, too, always remembering their names.
She met every US president, from Harry Truman to Joe Biden, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. She is synonymous with modern British history: the Suez crisis; the end of empire; the 1970s economic collapse; the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher; the Iraq War. She was there at the start and end of the troubles in Northern Ireland; at the start and end of the United Kingdom's half-century membership of the European Union.
Her reign was marked by private and public tragedy, including the murder of her cousin, Lord Mountbatten, and the death in a car crash of her daughter-in-law, Princess Diana. Throughout it all, her life was dedicated to public service. She promised in her solemn coronation oath on 2 June 1953 to "govern the peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, and of [her] possessions and the other territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs".
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She was the longest-serving monarch in Britain's history, and second longest serving monarch in the world. Indeed, only one other monarch in the world has ever lasted longer: King Louis XIV of France, who reigned for 72 years by the time he died in 1715.
You would have to be more than 70 years old to have been a subject of any other British monarch. It is very hard to believe the queen is dead. The news sends a shattering psychic blow across the United Kingdom.
The woman who has been a symbol of national unity for seven decades has gone, at a time when her presence has never been more urgently needed. The consequences of her death at the age of 96 will be immense.
The events of the next few days have long been meticulously planned. The day after her death, the Accession Council, including the most senior figures in government, will meet at St James's Palace to proclaim King Charles the new sovereign. The proclamation will also be read, according to tradition, at the Royal Exchange in London.
Britain will grind to a standstill. All parliamentary business will be suspended for 10 days, apart from a session where MPs meet to pay tribute to the late queen. In the coming days, King Charles III will tour the United Kingdom, starting with a service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh before moving on to Northern Ireland and then Wales.
By: Mehrab Uddin
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