Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96, surrounded by her family at her home in Balmoral, Scotland. A bastion of leadership, she is being remembered for her tireless devotion to serving the Commonwealth from childhood through to the final days prior to her death.
Elizabeth II was never supposed to be Queen, finding herself in the line of succession upon the abdication of her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, as her father, King George VI, ascended the throne in 1936. When she herself ascended in 1952, many questioned how much gumption a 25 year-old woman could have to hold such position, considering it was less than 10 years after the Second World War and Britain – and the greater Commonwealth – were still reeling from the effects of both conflict and the Great Depression.
What many are remembering – and will continue to remember – about Elizabeth II is her leadership, grit and the decorum with which she carried herself as Head of State. As Britain’s longest ever reigning monarch, the second-longest serving monarch of any royal family across the globe, for many she has been a constant figure providing continuity and comfort in times of great upheaval and distress. At many of these occasions, this was a unique situation for a woman to be in, and she exceeded the duty expected of her as sovereign.
In times of great unrest and tumult, Elizabeth II would never shy away from making tough decisions or taking unpopular action for the greater good of the situation: disallowing her sister, the Countess of Snowdon, to marry Peter Townsend, disposing of Britain’s Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, during the Suez crisis and, more recently, weathering the controversy surrounding her son, the Duke of York.
To some, she was just Granny or Mummy. Chasing after a young Prince William as he got a little too close to a horse-drawn carriage. Enjoying time spent in the sun with her own children, often aboard a boat in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A rollicking sense of humour that was notorious across the Commonwealth, she was never above having a bit of fun. Parachuting into the London Olympics with James Bond. Drinking tea with Paddington Bear only meagre months ago. Enjoying performances from the Spice Girls to the Beatles to our Kylie. A doting mother, wife, sister, cousin and friend, vale Queen Elizabeth II.
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