Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926)
[1] is the
reigning queen and
head of state of 16 independent
sovereign states known as the
Commonwealth realms: the
United Kingdom,
Canada,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Jamaica,
Barbados,
the Bahamas,
Grenada,
Papua New Guinea, the
Solomon Islands,
Tuvalu,
Saint Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Belize,
Antigua and Barbuda, and
Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as
Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member
Commonwealth of Nations and, as the
British monarch, she is the
Supreme Governor of the
Church of England.
Elizabeth was educated privately at home. Her father,
George VI, became
King-Emperor of the
British Empire in 1936. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the
Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and
Indian independence George VI's title of
Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution of the Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children:
Charles,
Anne,
Andrew, and
Edward.
In 1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a symbol of the free association of the independent countries comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and
constitutional monarch of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa,
Pakistan, and
Ceylon. Her
coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 58 years is
one of the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.
In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her
annus horribilis, meaning
horrible year, two of her sons separated, her daughter divorced, and a
severe fire destroyed part of
Windsor Castle. Revelations on the state of her eldest son Charles's marriage continued, and he divorced in 1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law
Diana, Princess of Wales,
died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticized the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before
Diana's funeral, but Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in public and has since remained high. Her
Silver and
Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002 respectively, and planning for her
Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is underway.
