{"id":224376,"date":"2022-09-26T19:39:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/finita-lera-di-elisabetta-ii-del-regno-unito\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T19:21:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T19:21:16","slug":"end-era-elizabeth-ii-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/end-era-elizabeth-ii-united-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"End of the era of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

End of the era of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom<\/span><\/h1>\n

Shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev<\/a>, the last president of the former Soviet Union, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom also left us at the age of 96 and after 70 years of reign.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Queen<\/a>
Queen Elisabeth II Photo by WikiImages on Pixabay<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Queen Elizabeth II<\/strong> was British queen for 70 years and died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022 at her Scottish country residence, Balmoral Castle. Only two kings have reigned longer: Louis XIV of France<\/strong> (over 72 years between 1643 and 1715) and Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand<\/strong> (70 years and four months, until his death in October 2016).<\/span><\/p>\n

She ascended the British throne on Feb. 6, 1952 at age 25 after the sudden death of her father, and became head of state of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and more than a dozen other states, including Canada, New Zealand, and Australia but also head of state of 15 of the 54 Commonwealth nations, known as the Commonwealth Kingdoms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. The number of its kingdoms varied over time as some territories gained independence and some kingdoms became republics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth reigned as constitutional monarch during major political changes, such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution to the United Kingdom, the decolonization of Africa, globalization, the Cold War, and the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Communities and its withdrawal from the European Union.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mikhail Gorbachev and a part of history goes away<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Biography in Brief<\/span><\/h2>\n

Elizabeth II, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary<\/strong> on April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, London, as the first daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York was queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth kingdoms from February 6, 1952 until her death on September 8, 2022. During her lifetime she was reigning queen of 32 different sovereign states and, at the time of her death, was monarch of 15. Her reign, which lasted 70 years and 214 days, is the longest of any British monarch and the longest recorded by any female head of state in history.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was not destined to be queen<\/span><\/h2>\n

The eldest daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York,<\/strong> who would later become king as George VI<\/strong>, and his wife Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon,<\/strong> Duchess of York later queen consort, she became heir to the throne in 1936 when her uncle Edward VIII<\/strong> already impatient with court etiquettes and duties, abdicated to marry the American Wallis Simpson, a non-aristocrat and multi-divorced, thus not at all in line with crown and religious dictates (the king or queen is also supreme governor of the Church of England).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth<\/a>
Elizabeth II & Philip after Coronation UnknownUnknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marriage and descent<\/span><\/h2>\n

Elizabeth II first met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark<\/strong>, in 1934 as her third cousin and began an exchange of letters with him that lasted several years until 1947, the year of her 21st birthday when the engagement was announced and then the marriage celebrated on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Philip to marry Elizabeth had to renounce his previous titles of nobility and convert from orthodox Christianity to Anglicanism. Shortly before the marriage he was named Duke of Edinburgh and given the title “His Royal Highness<\/em>” <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/a>
King George VI, Elizabeth holding eldest son Charles on his Baptismal Day, Prince Philip and Queen Consort Elizabeth Photo by Portrait Anefo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On November 14, 1948 their first son Charles, Prince of Wales<\/strong> was born while in 1950 their second son Anne, Princess Royal<\/strong>, was born, in 1960 their third son Andrew, Duke of York<\/strong>, and finally in 1964 Edward Earl of Wessex.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of his passing he left eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.<\/span><\/p>\n

Commonwealth<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 nations<\/strong>, most of which were ruled by Britain at some time in history.<\/span><\/p>\n

The word Commonwealth is derived from the union of common and wealth, meaning common welfare.<\/span><\/p>\n

The roots of the Commonwealth go back to the 1926 Balfour Declaration, which recognized the “Dominions” (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland, South Africa and the Irish Free State) as “autonomous communities within the British Empire,” but it was only the 1949 London Declaration, issued in the wake of Indian independence, that paved the way for the modern Commonwealth, which can also be called the “successor” to the British Empire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today any country can join the modern Commonwealth, and the last two countries to join were Gabon and Togo in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II’s life through the years<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before her accession to the throne<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 1939, the year World War II<\/strong> broke out, Elizabeth was 13 years old. The royal family was supposed to be evacuated abroad but she refused to leave the country, dividing her time between her Balmoral residence in Scotland and Windsor Castle just outside London.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1940 at just 14 she made her first radio broadcast<\/strong> in which she reassured the children of Britain who had been evacuated from their homes and families by telling them “that everything will be all right in the end, because God will take care of us and give us victory and peace.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hrh<\/a>
Hrh Princess Elizabeth in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, April 1945 Photo by TR 2832 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums Public Domain<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1945 Elizabeth convinced her father to allow her to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)<\/strong> where she was trained as a driver and mechanic and was promoted to Junior Commander five months later. With the end of the war, she and her sister Margaret were allowed to mingle anonymously among the citizens on Victory Day in Europe and celebrate with the people, something that remained forever in the sovereign’s heart and memories.<\/span><\/p>\n

1950s, 1960s and 1970s<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 1952, with the death of her father George VI, she became Queen of the United Kingdom<\/strong> as well as head of state of several other Commonwealth states.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1957 she first appeared on television<\/strong> from her residence for the Christmas message.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between the 1960s and 1970s she witnessed the decolonization process in Africa and the Caribbean<\/strong> in which more than 20 states gained independence from the United Kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1965 the Queen visited West Berlin<\/strong> at the height of the Cold War<\/strong>: it was the first visit to Germany by a British monarch in more than half a century.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1969 Neil Armstrong<\/strong> and Buzz Aldrin<\/strong> became the first men to walk on the moon<\/strong>. Seventy-two world leaders entrusted the two astronauts with a message to take to the Planet including one from Queen Elizabeth II that read, “On behalf of the British people, I pay tribute to the skills and courage that brought man to the Moon. May this feat increase the knowledge and welfare of mankind<\/em>.” After this mission Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were received by the Queen and her family at Buckingham Palace.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1972 Elizabeth II made her first visit to Thailand<\/strong> with her husband Prince Philip and daughter Princess Anne.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1973 Britain joined the European Economic Community EEC.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1975 the Queen, together with her husband, Prince Philip visited Japan<\/strong>, becoming the first British monarch<\/strong> to visit the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

1980s<\/span><\/h3>\n

These years were quite eventful for Queen Elizabeth II, who suffered an assassination attempt<\/strong> in 1981 during the “Trooping the Colour” event when six gunshots were fired at her from close range as she was riding through The Mall. It was later discovered that these were blanks fired by a 17-year-old youth later sentenced to five years in prison. The same year, he suffered a second attack in Dunedin, New Zealand: this time the shots were fired with a. 22 Long Rifle from the fifth floor of a building that overlooked the street traveled by the Queen.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1980 Queen Elizabeth II paid an official visit to Switzerland<\/strong> with her husband, Prince Philip: it was the only official visit<\/strong> by a member of the British royal family to Switzerland.<\/span><\/p>\n

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