No British monarch has held the throne longer than Queen Elizabeth II. She was never actually intended to wear the crown.
When Elizabeth announced her engagement to Prince Philip in July 1947, she knew she would succeed her father to the throne – but not how little time she had until then.
When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary saw the light of day on April 21, 1926, her father, Prince Albert, wrote to his mother: “We have long wished for a child to complete our happiness.” Not only the father, but also the British press is delighted. Several newspapers call the newborn a “little duchess”. With elaborate paraphrases (“a certain line of treatment was successfully adopted”), it is even hinted that the royal child was born by caesarean section.
Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth have become parents – and King George V has become a grandfather for the first time. The news may be pleasing, but it is not of great relevance at this point in time: Elizabeth is not in direct succession to the throne, she will one day belong to the extended royal family. Nobody expects that she will ever ascend the throne.
With Edward, a popular but unconventional king comes to power
“Lilibet”, as Elizabeth is called in the family, and her sister, Princess Margaret, seem to be destined for a life away from the public eye. They should enjoy an idyllic childhood, they are only taught about one and a half hours a day. Her parents believe that education should benefit women who want to work in the future. Elizabeth’s uncle, Prince Edward of Wales, would one day become king. Edward’s own children are only a matter of time. But then everything turns out differently.
In early 1936, Elizabeth’s grandfather, King George V, died and Edward, also known as Prince David, became King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With him, to put it mildly, an unconventional monarch comes to power: he openly sympathizes with National Socialism and also lets his political views leak out time and again – undesirable as the king of a constitutional monarchy. Nevertheless, he enjoys great popularity among the people as a humane and approachable ruler.
Edward VIII repeatedly breaks with protocol, living mostly in Fort Belvedere, his country house in the county of Surrey, where he also lets friends stay and celebrates lavish parties. He has numerous love affairs, often with married women, and a girlfriend attends the proclamation of his accession to power.
Edward abdicates prematurely for love – at least officially
Finally, Edward VIII considers marrying his girlfriend Wallis Simpson. Simpson, a twice-divorced American actress, would become queen this way. The Church of England at the time strongly disapproved of the remarriage of divorced people – and as monarch Edward presided over this.
After only eleven months on the throne, Edward VIII abdicated, officially because of his love for his Wallis, unofficially not least due to strong pressure from the conservative government and the church. Edward will go down in history as a king who was never crowned. A few months later he married Wallis Simpson, with whom he would live in exile in France until his death in 1972.
As Edward VIII has no children, his younger brother is next in line to the throne. Prince Albert, who until then had not expected to ever reign, is crowned George VI on December 12, 1936. proclaimed king. A day before Edward’s abdication, he travels to London to visit his mother, Queen Mary. “When I told her what happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child,” he later wrote in his diary.
His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, is ten years old when she becomes crown princess overnight.
“Poor you!” Margaret is said to have said to her sister
Elizabeth is just getting home from swimming lessons when she hears shouts of “God save the King”. She asks a servant why, then runs to her sister Margaret and explains: “Uncle David is going away and won’t come back, and papa will be king.” Margaret asks her older sister if that means she will be the next queen. “Yes, one day,” says Elizabeth. Margaret looks at her and says, “Poor you!”
At least that’s how Elizabeth’s governess, Marion Crawford, will later capture the moment in her memoirs “The Little Princesses”. For over seventeen years, “Crawfie” will accompany the sisters, teach them and experience the years leading up to Elizabeth’s coronation as closely as few others.
Elizabeth sat calmly, writes Crawford. She then wrote down her notes from swimming lessons and titled them “Abdication Day”.
They would still have years as a family before Elizabeth would ascend the throne
Elizabeth is introduced to her new and future tasks. In 1947 she married her childhood sweetheart Philip Mountbatten, they had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Anne. Living in Malta for two years, where Philip serves in the Navy, they live a life on the edge of the spotlight. They would still have years, if not decades, as a family before Elizabeth must ascend the throne. But again it is different.
King George VI’s Health – a lifelong chain smoker – is getting worse. In 1951 his left lung was removed; the public knows nothing about it. Elizabeth increasingly represents her father at public events. However, the public and his family do not expect his death to be imminent. George VI dies on the night of February 6, 1952. at the age of only 56 from an arterial thrombosis.
Elizabeth and Philip are currently on an official trip to Kenya, more precisely in a tree house hotel. It takes about four hours before they can be reached and it is Philip who breaks the news to his wife. “She sat up straight and accepted her fate,” her private secretary, Martin Charteris, later recalled. When he asks her what name Elizabeth wants to bear as queen, she replies: “My own name, Elizabeth, what else?”
Thatcher hopes Elizabeth will herald a “new era for women”
Elizabeth left Britain as a princess and is returning as a queen. On her arrival, she will be welcomed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, among others, who expresses his support with the words: “The dominions of our queens are famous. Some of the greatest times in our history have unfolded under her scepter.”
A certain Margaret Thatcher was also happy about Elizabeth’s coronation in her newspaper column at the time: “If – as many sincerely pray – the rise of Elizabeth II can help to eliminate the last prejudices against women aspiring to the highest positions, then it will indeed a new era for women may be at hand.” She was right: Years later, under Elizabeth’s reign, Thatcher would become Britain’s first woman Prime Minister.
On June 2, 1953, 20 million people watch on television as the one-time girl who was never to be queen is crowned. Her Uncle Edward, who resigned, also has to watch the ceremony on screen. It is the first television broadcast of a coronation. However, the most sacred part of it remains hidden from the world: under a canopy, the queen is anointed with holy oil. She holds a scepter and wears a five-pound crown on her head as she ascends the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. She will reign for at least 70 years.