Queen Elisabeth II: 70 years and counting!

Queen Elizabeth II

Who doesn’t know who Queen Elizabeth II is? Elisabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, to give her full name, is probably the most famous person in the world and certainly deserves to be after seventy years as the ruler of the United Kingdom. She is also Head of State of 14 other commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and a number of Caribbean islands and also head of the Commonwealth – an association of over 50 independent nations (most of which were once British colonies).

Thursday 2^nd June, (the same day as Festa della Repubblica) begins a week of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. She has been queen of England for Seventy Years making her the longest reigning British Monarch ever but amazingly still only the third longest ruling monarch in history. This is a bit unfair though as the longest reigning ruler, King Louis 14^th of France became king when he was only five, compared to Queen Elisabeth who was already 25 in 1952 when she became queen.

In her long life she has had over 170 prime ministers under her rule in all the nations which are or were part of the British Crown. She also met 12 presidents of the United Sates from Harry Truman in 1951 to Joe Biden in 2021 as well as leaders of most of the countries in the world. She has held a private meeting with the British Prime Minister at the palace every week whilst parliament is in session since she became queen. This means she regularly spoke with every Prime Minister from Winston Churchill to Boris Johnson including during the COVID pandemic – with virtual meetings.

 While she does not tell them what to do, she does advise and warn them if they want to do something she doesn’t approve of! While she has the power to appoint and also dismiss the prime minister, she would probably only do this if it was clear the British people were completely in support of her. The last time this happened was in 1834 when King William IV dismissed his Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. Hmm, there’s a thought though....