Neha Dahiya / New Delhi, India
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the first child of the then future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother), was born on April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, London. At twenty five years old, Princess Elizabeth ascended to the British throne and became Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms on February 6, 1952, and was commonly known as Elizabeth II.
The British throne is inherited according to descent, gender, legality, and religion. According to British common law, a sovereign’s children or a sovereign without children’s closest collateral line inherits the Crown. Elizabeth was third in line for the British throne during her grandfather’s rule, behind her father and her uncle Edward.
Even though her birth sparked curiosity in the public, it was not anticipated that she would become queen as her uncle Edward was still young and was most likely to be married and have his own children, who would succeed Elizabeth in the line of succession. She became second in line to the throne after her father when her grandfather passed away in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII. After his anticipated marriage with divorced socialite Wallis Simpson sparked a constitutional crisis later that year, Edward abdicated.
As a result, George VI, Elizabeth’s father, ascended to the throne. It was then that Elizabeth became the presumed successor because she did not have any brothers. After her father, George VI, passed away on February 6, 1952, Elizabeth II succeeded to the throne and was immediately crowned queen by her privy and executive councils. The custom of waiting a proper amount of time after a king dies before holding such events meant that the coronation was held more than a year later. Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey in London. Until her death on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at age ninety-six, Elizabeth II was the oldest current monarch and head of state in the world. In her record-breaking 70 years as monarch, Queen Elizabeth II set a lot of milestones.
Elizabeth ruled for approximately seventy years and four months, during which over fifteen British prime ministers, including Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss, served under Queen Elizabeth II.
The finest achievement of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, who passed away on Thursday after serving as monarch for 70 years, was to keep the monarchy popular throughout decades of seismic political, social, and cultural change that threatened to render it out of date. In the spotlight of an increasingly intrusive and frequently hostile media, she helped steer the institution into the modern era by eliminating court ritual and making it somewhat more open and accessible.
Queen Elizabeth II travelled to India on multiple occasions. In 1961, her first state visit with her husband, Prince Philip, came over 15 years after India gained its independence from the British in 1947. She was the first British monarch to ascend to the throne. On her official visit to India, the Queen visited historical sites including Taj Mahal in Agra, Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, and the ancient Hindu city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh while touring the cities of Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. She participated in several events, spent days at a maharajah’s hunting lodge, and rode an elephant. The royal couple attended the monumental Republic Day parade on January 26, 1961, as special guests.
Following their state visit in 1961, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip returned to India in November 1983. Almost two decades later, her visit coincided with a summit of Commonwealth leaders and in 1997, when India was celebrating 50 years of its Independence from the British. It was the Queen’s first public appearance following Princess Diana’s funeral.
During her three state visits, the Queen treasured her time in India.”The warmth and hospitality of the Indian people, and the richness and diversity of India itself, have been an inspiration to all of us,” she said. Today, as a mark of respect towards the longest reigning British Monarch, India will observe a one-day state mourning on September 11, 2022. Subsequently, in a statement issued by the ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, it was stated that the Indian National Flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings in India on the day of mourning, and on that day, there won’t be any formal entertainment.
(Neha Dahiya is a specialist content writer at Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies)