This week, the United Kingdom celebrates 70 years on the throne of Elizabeth II, who has become the cornerstone of the nation and a solid and immovable piece in the face of the radical transformations experienced by the country in these seven decades.
“Change has become a constant, managing it has become an expanding discipline,” the monarch declared in 2002 during her speech on the occasion of the celebrations for her Golden Jubilee, where she admitted that she considered herself the guide of the country through of turbulent times.
What have been those transformations that Elizabeth II has faced and that she has managed to overcome in her long reign?
Here we analyze some of them.
1. The end of the Empire
In 1953, at just 27 years old, the monarch was crowned and presented to the world as a new beginning for an impoverished kingdom that saw its empire unravel after the ravages of World War II.
“We are no longer an imperial power, we have come to terms with what this means for us and for our relations with the rest of the world”he admitted, while giving his support to the consolidation of the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization that united the United Kingdom with its former colonies.
“The Commonwealth is not like the empires of the past,” the queen explained in her Christmas message in 1953.
“It is a completely new conception, built on the highest qualities of the human spirit: friendship, loyalty and the desire for freedom and peace.”
With these words Elizabeth II recognized that the monarchy and the country needed to adapt to post-war sensitivities and accept the decline of colonialism.
Despite the fact that its time there were those who saw in the organization the certification of the decline of British influence in the world, Elizabeth II maintained her enthusiasm for this international forum. “To this new conception of an egalitarian association of nations and races I will give myself body and soul all the days of my life”he promised.
However, its early years also coincided with the social tensions caused by the arrival of immigrants from the former colonies in the United Kingdom.
2. Crisis at home
During the 1970s, the queen, in addition to being head of state and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, assumed the role of “comforter-in-chief” of the British in the face of the problems they faced.
Only in 1974, the United Kingdom was plunged into an inflationary wave, at a time of political instability that caused two general elections and also experienced a bloody campaign of attacks carried out by the terrorist group Irish Republican Army (IRA).
“We hear a lot about our problems, about discord and the uncertainty about our future”, said. “My message today is one of encouragement and hope.”
Faced with a society polarized and fractured by violence and the economic crisis, the sovereign wanted her words and actions to be seen by the British as neutral and impartial. She, though she too, drew on her Christian faith to encourage her subjects to find good.
“Goodwill is better than resentment, tolerance is better than revenge, compassion is better than anger,” he said.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Elizabeth II considered it appropriate to remind her subjects of their responsibilities in the face of these historic changes and warn them about the dangers of falling into triumphalism.
“We who claim to be from the free world must examine what we really mean by freedom and how we can help ensure that, once established, it is there to stay,” he said in a speech that year.
3. Scandals and tragedies
In 1992 Elizabeth II saw how the anniversary of her four decades on the throne was tainted by the shipwreck of the marriages of two of her children, after enduring for months the embarrassment that her infidelities were aired by the tabloid press.
And as if this were not enough, he also had to face the fire that reduced part of Windsor Castle to ashes, his habitual residence on the outskirts of London.
With these facts in tow, it should not be surprising that the monarch described this period as “annus horribilis”. However, the queen tried to stay out of the fray and ignore the headlines.
“Distance,” the queen reflected, can “lend an extra dimension to judgment, giving it a spark of restraint and compassion, even wisdom, that is sometimes lacking in the reactions of those whose task in life is to offer instant opinions.”
However, his biggest challenge was yet to come. The death of Princess Dianawho was the wife of his eldest son and heir to the throne, Charles of England, in a car accident in Paris (France) in 1997 unleashed a wave of criticism for the silence and inaction of the royal family in the event.
Many of these attacks were directed against the queen in person, as large sectors of British society demanded that she join in the pain that overwhelmed the country.
Initially, the monarch and her closest circle stayed at her Scottish residence in Balmoral, where she traditionally spends the summer.
Elizabeth II ignored calls, some from then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s own government, for her to address the country. Six days after the so-called “people’s princess” died, she returned to London and spoke live to the nation, dressed in funeral black.
“As your queen and grandmother, I mean this from the heart (…) This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help (the princes) Guillermo and Enrique to accept the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered, “he said, being the first time in his reign that he allowed himself unite their two roles: the public monarch and the private grandmother.
Yet even in that rare speech on the eve of Diana’s massive and media-heavy funeral, the queen kept an emotional distance, true to her belief in how a monarch should behave.
The decision was a risk, because the phlegmatic British society increasingly began to equate authenticity with expressing feelings.
However, the sovereign seems to have won the bet, since for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 she occupied an unassailable position in the hearts of the nation, a situation that has not changed in recent years.
Today 81% of the British have a favorable opinion of Elizabeth IIaccording to the most recent Yougov survey.
Despite the changes and scandals that have dotted the institution, at no point in his long reign has republicanism attracted significant popular support in the UK.
The future of the Crown seems assured, since the same surveys reveal that six out of ten inhabitants of the islands (62%) consider that the monarchy is the best form of government. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
