Al Jazeera takes a have a look at the life and household of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, has died at 96 after 70 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace has stated.
Elizabeth II was born in London on April 21, 1926. She was probably set to stay a princess till she was nudged in direction of succession by the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, in 1936, and her father – King George VI – was topped.
In 1952, when she was 25 years previous, Elizabeth acceded to the throne, following the demise of her father.
In 2015, she turned the UK’s longest-ruling monarch, overtaking her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who reigned for greater than 63 years.
Succession to the British throne determines who will grow to be the subsequent king or queen. It’s determined primarily based upon descent, faith and primogeniture.
Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia, the granddaughter of James I, are eligible to the throne. The longer term monarch should even be “in communion” with the Church of England.
Beforehand, youthful male heirs acceded to the throne, displacing elder daughters. Nonetheless, in 2013, a legislation was handed that allowed feminine heirs equal rights within the line of succession.
As Prince Charles turns into King Charles III, the road of succession for the British crown is:
Prince William, the duke of Cambridge (40)
Prince George (9)
Princess Charlotte (7)
Prince Louis (4)
Political milestones
Throughout Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, the UK has been led by 15 completely different prime ministers.
The queen performed an vital position in approving elected prime ministers and met them recurrently.
When Elizabeth II acceded to the throne, Winston Churchill was the primary prime minister she had dealings with. When Churchill died in 1965, the queen broke royal protocol when she arrived at his funeral earlier than his household.
Within the span of the queen’s rule, many important royal, nationwide and world occasions occurred, from the institution of the European Union (EU) to the Iraq Battle and the UK’s exit from the EU.
In 2011, the queen made the primary state go to by a monarch to the Republic of Eire, marking a major second in British and Irish historical past given the nations’ fraught historic relationship.
In 2021, Prince Philip, the queen’s husband of 73 years, handed away. The couple had been married in 1947 and the queen described him as her “energy and keep”.
Commonwealth nations
The queen was the pinnacle of state to fifteen nations, all a part of the Commonwealth – a 54-member group of former British colonies – with a complete inhabitants of two.5 billion folks.
Through the Nineteen Sixties, greater than 20 former British colonies turned impartial. Throughout this era, immigration from the Commonwealth states to the UK elevated.
Nonetheless, it was additionally a interval of in depth emigration of Britons overseas. As such, the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act was established to curtail immigration from Commonwealth states.
Over time, at the least 17 nations have eliminated the queen as their head of state and have become republics. In November 2021, the Caribbean island nation of Barbados turned the newest nation to take action.