The International Appeal of the British Monarchy

The extended Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony in 2012.
Image Credit: Carfax2 via Wikimedia Commons cc

     The British monarchy is the most well-known and widely-recognized monarchy in the world. No other such institution can claim to have something even close to what this monarchy has in terms of news coverage, notoriety, and international respect. Queen Elizabeth II herself has become an icon of representing the best of Britain. She and members of her family make headlines across the world, for good reasons and not-so-good reason, and it is almost assured that a large-scale event involving the monarchy will be broadcast to every corner of the globe.

     Certainly, the monarchy has been at first a recurring, and now a constant, presence of my life. From the death of Diana to the birth of Prince George and beyond, the British monarchy has always been there with its ability to be relevant to many people, no matter where they live. This includes many Americans, whose identity is partly bound up by its independence from Britain and the rejection of hereditary monarchy.

     There are several reasons for why the British monarchy still captures the attention of the world. Such typical reasons include the fascination with what members of the Royal Family are wearing at any given time, the pageantry and ceremony, the history going back over a thousand years, the constitutional and legal nature of the institution, as well as its force for uniting the people.

The Queen's longevity is another factor in the monarchy's popularity, but the King of Thailand has been monarch longer than Elizabeth II by two years.
Abuk SABUK via Wikimedia Commons cc (Mosaic by Helen Marshall)

     However, none of these reasons get to the heart of why the British monarchy has global influence and how it got this influence.

     It is not as though this monarchy is the only one left in the world, for there are still several functioning monarchies from the Netherlands to Saudi Arabia to Japan, and they have their own ceremonies, lengthy histories, and other attributes usually linked to the monarchy in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

     The natural response would be that in Britain, the monarchy is at the center of national life; that is thickly woven into British society; that ceremonial and pomp is done better in Britain than any other country, and that this monarchy still has a role – however reduced – in government.

     Indeed, this is something a bit more unique, but it only justifies the monarchy’s reach within the United Kingdom itself, and still does not explain why hundreds of millions – possibly billions – of people around the world have tuned in to watch Royal weddings and funerals, as well as being on pins and needles for Royal birth announcements, or why when people speak of the “Queen”, they likely mean the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – Elizabeth II, making her arguably the most famous woman in the world.

     This leads me to believe that there is one catch-all reason for this phenomenon: the British Empire, which has been long gone, but whose legacy still casts a long shadow over Britain and her former colonies.

The British Empire at its height in 1921.

 

     At its height, the British Empire was the largest empire in human history, covering a quarter of the world’s land surface and containing nearly a third of its population. This meant that the British monarch, his or her family, and their actions and movements were front page news for a substantial part of the world’s population by virtue of the position of the Crown in places such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa.

     As time went on and those countries gained self-governance within the Empire, and later outright independence, some of them decided to retain the monarchy as a system of governance. Today, Queen Elizabeth is head of state in 15 independent countries outside of Britain. The Crown in those countries has its own unique character, with Her Majesty simultaneously being Queen of Canada, Queen of Australia, Queen of Jamaica, etc, and several institutional have “Royal” in their name (i.e., Royal Canadian Navy).

The Commonwealth of Nations. All member states recognize Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth, but the red countries are the members of the organization that share allegiance to Elizabeth and her heirs and successors as head of state (and are informally known as Commonwealth Realms). The blue countries are the members that either have their own indigenous monarchies, or are republics. Many of them were once independent realms, including India, Pakistan, Kenya, and South Africa.

     But what about the former colonies that either became republics or have home-grown monarchies?

     Out of the Empire came the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary organization which currently contains the 16 countries with the British monarch as head of state (known as Commonwealth realms), 32 republics (i.e., India, Pakistan, and South Africa), and 5 independent monarchies (i.e., Malaysia and Lesotho). Elizabeth II is recognized as “the symbol of the free association of [the] independent member nations” in her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and she and her family make regular visits to these countries.

     With the Commonwealth and the shared monarchy between 16 countries, the British Royal Family still commands attention and notoriety across a wide swath of the world. One only needs to review the recent tour of Australia and New Zealand by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George, as well as the tour of Canada by Prince Charles and Camilla to see why the monarchy still matters in those countries alone. Therefore, it should not be surprising to see the coverage of the Royal Family on a large scale. 

     But how does one explain America and her love-affair with the British monarchy, especially given the events of 1776?

     Well it’s important to remember that the war for independence had more to do with the actions of the British Parliament rather than George III, but he nevertheless became the face of tyranny and oppression. In spite of this however, many Americans had respect and affection for the King – even if they had issues with his Parliament, which is why several Founding Fathers wanted a status within the Empire like that of Canada and other colonies in the 19th and 20th centuries, in which there was autonomy from Britain, but the British monarch remained head of state.

Britain and America.

 

     Even after independence, we have not really shed our social links and commonalities with Britain, so the monarchy still retains a special place, and this was evident when George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) became the first reigning British monarchs to visit our shores and the American people turned out to warmly welcome them. The American media – which has come to shape the coverage of world events – has covered Royal events in a wall-to-wall fashion and the people have been tuning in time after time.

     The result is that the British Royal Family in some respects is now the world’s royal family, and this is a testament to the long shadow cast by Britain and the Empire on which the sun never set.

32 Facts About the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

On this day 61 years ago, Elizabeth II was crowned. These are some of the important facts about the Coronation of Her Majesty the Queen.

1. Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953 in Westminster Abbey. She is the thirty-ninth monarch to have been crowned at Westminster Abbey.

2. The Queen had already been monarch for over year. She succeeded to the throne on February 6, 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI. She was in Kenya at the time and became the first monarch in over 200 years accede while absent from Britain.

3. Her Majesty was only the sixth Queen to have been crowned in the Abbey in her own right. The first was Queen Mary I of England and Ireland, who was crowned on October 1, 1553.

4. The Coronation is a ancient ceremony going back to King Edgar's coronation at Bath in 1973.

5. June 2 was chosen because it was thought to provide the best weather for the processions and coronation. Instead, it was cloudy and it rained.

6. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were driven from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach, which had been built for George III in 1762 and has been used in all coronations since that of his son, George IV. It was pulled by eight grey geldings: Cunningham, Tovey, Noah, Tedder, Eisenhower, Snow White, Tipperary, and McCreery.

7. The Queen's Coronation dress was made by Norman Hartnell (who had also made her wedding dress in 1947). The dress was made of white satin embroidered with the emblems of the United Kingdom: the Tudor rose of England, the Scottish thistle, the Welsh leek, and the shamrock for Northern Ireland. 

     Also included were the emblems of the overseas Commonwealth countries: the wattle of Australia, the maple leaf of Canada, the fern of New Zealand, South Africa's protea, two lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.

8. The Coronation service began at 11:15 AM and concluded at 2:00 PM, lasting almost three hours.

9. The 1953 Coronation was the first to be televised live, courtesy of the BBC. Over objections from the Church of England and PM Winston Churchill, the Queen agreed to the televised service so that as many people as possible could observe it. For most people it was the first time they had watched an event on television, and television sets were purchased just for the Coronation.

10. At the beginning was the Sovereign's Procession, which entered the Abbey with some 250 traditional representatives from Crown, Church and State. It included Church leaders, Commonwealth Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household, civil and military leaders, and the Yeoman of the Guard.

11. The ceremony was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose duty this has usually been since the Norman Conquest in 1066.

12. The Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom is responsible for organizing the Coronation. Since 1386, the position of Earl Marshal has been undertaken by the Duke of Norfolk. Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, the 16th Duke was responsible for the Queen's Coronation. He also oversaw the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 and the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales in 1969.

13. The Coronation service fell into six basic parts: the recognition, the oath, the anointing, the investiture, which includes the crowning, the enthronement and the homage.

14. The recognition consisted of Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury asking the congregation: "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Elizabeth, your undoubted Queen: wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?". This was asked four times, once for each direction in the Abbey. The crowd would reply "God save Queen Elizabeth," every time, to each of which the Queen would curtsey in return.

15. The Coronation Oath consisted of a dialogue between the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury: 

The Archbishop of Canterbury: "Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?" 

The Queen: "I solemnly promise so to do." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury: "Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?" 

The Queen: "I will." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury: "Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolable the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?" 

The Queen: "All this I promise to do. The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God."

16. For the first time in the history of the coronation, the Moderator of the General Assembly Church of Scotland took part in the service by presenting a Bible to Her Majesty.

17. The anointing was of deepest significance for the Queen. A canopy was brought over her whilst the Archbishop anointed her with holy oil, which contains oils of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk, and ambergris. Such was the religious importance, the anointing was the only part of the ceremoney that was not televised.

18. For the investiture, the Queen put on several robes and garments, leading up to stole and cloth of gold Robe Royal (Imperial Mantle). The Lord Great Chamberlain presented the golden spurs, the symbol of chivalry, after which the Archbishop of Canterbury presented a jeweled sword, the armills, and the golden bracelets of sincerity and wisdom. Her Majesty then received the orb, the coronation ring, the glove, and the scepter as representatives of her spiritual and temporal authority.


19. Elizabeth II was crowned with the St. Edward's Crown. Made in 1661, it weighs 4 pounds, 12 ounces, and is made of solid gold. The crown in its current form was first used by Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland as it had to be redesigned after the Restoration. It was refurbished from an old crown that was largely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell, and there is speculation that the lower part might be from the original Edward the Confessor's crown.

20. The Queen was crowned in St. Edward's Chair, made in 1300 for Edward I of England, and used at every Coronation since that time. Within the chair was the Stone of Scone (aka the Stone of Destiny), which has been used for the coronations of monarchs of Scotland, England, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The Chair is permanently kept in Westminster Abbey, whilst the Stone resides in Edinburgh Castle.

21. Following the crowning, the Queen was enthroned in the Chair of Homage, and from there received the homage of several people, including archbishops, bishops, the Earl Marshal, and Royal dukes - the first being Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who pledged to be her "liege man of life and limb."

22. Prince Charles made history when he became the first child to witness his mother's coronation as Queen. Princess Anne was considered too young to attend.

23. For the recessional out of the Abbey, the Queen wore the Imperial State Crown. The crown remained on her head during her return to Buckingham Palace, as well as during the appearance on the Palace balcony. Amongst the features of the Imperial State Crown are the Cullinan II diamond, the Stuart Sapphire, and four pearls traditionally believed to have been Queen Elizabeth I's earrings.

24. A total of 8,251 guests attended Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which had to be closed for several months prior so that additional seating and the Coronation Theater could be constructed.

25. 27 million people in Britain (out of a population just over 36 million) were estimated to have watched the ceremony on television and 11 million listened via radio

26. The route taken back to Buckingham Palace from the Abbey was extended so that the Queen and her procession could be seen by as many people as possible on the streets of London. It was 4.5 miles long and took the 16,000 participants two hours to complete. In full, procession itself stretched for nearly two miles, and those on foot marched 10 abreast while those on horseback were six abreast.

27. During the procession back to Buckingham Palace after the Coronation, the Queen wore the newly-made Purple Robe of Estate. The velvet robe was edged with ermine and heavily embroidered around the border in gold. The embroidered "EIIR" cipher and border of wheat ears and olive branches, took a total of 3,500 hours to complete by a team of 12 seamstresses from the Royal School of Needlework. The silk for the embroidery came from a silk farm in Lullingstone, Kent.

28. The military personnel taking part in the procession or lining the route totaled 29,200. Out of this, 3,600 hailed from the Royal Navy, 16,100 from the Army, 7,000 from the Royal Air Force, 2,000 from the Commonwealth and 500 from the overseas colonies. There were 6,700 reserve and administrative troops, while 1,000 officers and men of the Royal military police were bought in to assist the London Metropolitan police. A further 7,000 police were drawn from 75 provincial forces.

29. Despite the poor weather conditions, hundreds of thousands of people camped out in the Mall and throughout London for the processions, with many coming from all over the world. Thousands more held street parties to celebrate the Coronation.

30. On that morning, it was learned that Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit of Mount Everest. This was seen as a sort of coronation present, and the Queen had the idea of presenting the fourteen members of the expedition with special edition Coronation medals, which contained the extra wording 'Mount Everest Expedition'.

31. The smiling Queen Salote of Tonga famously remained undaunted by the rain throughout the long procession and refused to raise the roof of her carriage for protection.

32. The Queen appeared with her family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace wearing the Imperial State Crown and the Royal Robes to greet the cheering crowds. The Queen appeared again on the balcony at 9:45 PM to turn on the 'lights of London'. Lights cascaded down the Mall from the Palace, lighting the huge "EIIR" cipher on Admiralty Arch and turning the fountains in Trafalgar Square into liquid silver. In all, floodlights from the National Gallery to the Tower of London had been illuminated.

Western Australia Introduces Royal Succession Legislation

     The process of fully implementing the new royal succession laws took one step closer being completed this week when on Tuesday, February 25th, the Succession to the Crown Bill 2014 was introduced in the State Parliament of Western Australia, where it had its first reading before the legislature.

Parliament House in Perth, Western Australia

     These legal changes were agreed to in principal by the 16 countries in which Queen Elizabeth II is head of state at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia. Once enacted by all Commonwealth realms, the new laws will replace male preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture for the descendants of Prince Charles and anyone else in the succession born after October 28, 2011. This means that females will no longer be leap-fogged by their younger brothers (as has happened numerous times over the centuries). In addition, the reformed laws will end the disqualification of members of the royal family who marry Roman Catholics, and limit the need for the monarch's consent for royal marriages to the first six people in the line of succession. However, the prohibition on Catholic's becoming monarchs remains, and monarchs must be in communion with the Church of England.

     The United Kingdom, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and most of the other realms have already either passed their new laws or have asserted that their constitutions either implicitly or explicitly state that the lawful succession in those countries automatically mirrors the succession laws in the United Kingdom, and that there is therefore no requirement to pass new legislation.

Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia

  
     In Australia, the laws governing succession are embedded at the Federal (national) and State levels, and therefore each State Parliament and the Federal Parliament in Canberra had to act. At a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in April 2013, it was agreed that each of the six Australian States will pass legislation enabling the Federal Parliament to make the necessary changes for Australia and six states. However, Queensland and (apparently) Western Australia have opted to make changes to their own State laws as well as requesting the Federal Parliament to do the same.

     Western Australia and South Australia are currently the only States that have yet to pass the enabling legislation. Once this happens - and the bills receive Royal Assent to become law - the Federal Parliament in Canberra will pass its own legislation to change the royal succession and marriage laws, and upon the passage of this legislation, the process will be complete in Australia. 

     After Australia, the remaining Commonwealth realms that have not officially enacted the new succession laws are: the Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 

     Barbados and Saint Kitts and Nevis have passed succession bills that are currently awaiting Royal Assent.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada in Toronto in 2010. Under the current succession laws,
she would not have bee Queen if her parents had had a son after she was born.

     The others have agreed to the reforms in principle, but have not yet taken formal action (though it is believed that they may follow the lead of Jamaica and other realms that have asserted that domestic legislation is not necessary on the grounds that the UK succession automatically mirrors the succession in their countries). 

     However, in anticipation that some realms may take longer than others, the Commonwealth leaders also agreed that the changes would come into force only after being enacted in all of the realms, and that they will retroactively take effect on October 28, 2011 – reflecting the time at which the succession changes were agreed to in principle during the CHOGM in Perth. 

     With the birth of a boy – Prince George – there has now been little impetus to immediately change the law in some realms since the effect will be moot for at least another generation. However, with the Australian process one step closer to completion, hopefully the remaining realms will act as soon as possible.



Photo Credit: Nachoman-au via Wikimedia Commons cc, David (dbking) via Flickr cc

A Timeline of the Queen's 62 Years

On this day in 1952, Elizabeth II ascended to the thrones of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Here is a timeline of significant events in her reign from that period to the present.

Queen Elizabeth on a visit to the USA in 2007.

The Fifties

1952 

February 6: The Queen accedes to the throne upon the death of her father, George VI. She and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh were in Kenya on the first leg of a tour of the Commonwealth when the news was broken to her, and she immediately returned to Britain.

In her Accession year, the Queen participated in her first Trooping the Color and her first State Opening of Parliament as a reigning monarch. She also traveled across country, with her first regional visit being a three day engagement in Northern Ireland. 

1953 

March 24: Queen Mary, the wife of George V and grandmother of Elizabeth II dies at the age of 85 at Marlborough House in London. In accordance to her wishes, the coronation that year was not delayed.

April 16: The Queen launched the Royal Yacht Britannia at the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, UK.

June 2: The Coronation of Elizabeth II took place Westminster Abbey, where she was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other realms and territories across the Commonwealth. This was the first coronation to be televised.

Along with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen embarked on a six month tour of the Commonwealth, part of which was aboard the newly-commission Royal Yacht Britannia. She became the first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand, and delivered her annual Christmas Day broadcast that country. 

1954 

February 3: During the Commonwealth tour, Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to visit Australia. About ¾ of Australians turned out to meet her.

During the tour they Queen and the Duke also visited Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji, Tonga, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar. It was the first time a reigning monarch had visited many of these countries as well. 

1955 

April 7: Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Queen appoints his successor, Anthony Eden. 

1956 

Under Prime Minister Eden, Britain and France unsuccessfully attempted to retake the Suez Canal from Egypt. The Queen was said to have believed that Eden was mad for participating in the scheme. 

1957 

January 10: Prime Minister Eden resigns in the wake of the Suez Crisis, and the Queen appoints Harold Macmillan as his successor.

February 22: In a show of appreciation for her husband Philip taking a solo tour of the Commonwealth, the Queen granted him the title and style of a Prince of the United Kingdom. Ten years previously, he had given up his Greek and Danish royal titles to become HRH Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh for the purpose of marrying then Princess Elizabeth. He became known as HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In this year, the Queen made a state visit to the United States and addressed the UN General Assembly in New York. She was also became the first Canadian monarch to open a parliamentary session when she opened the 23^rd Parliament of Canada. 

1958 

In this year, the Queen ended the formal presentation of debutantes at Buckingham Palace and increased the number of garden parties from three to four per year. 

1959 

In this year, Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada and US President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the St. Lawrence Seaway in Quebec with a ride aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, which ended up in Chicago, and Elizabeth became the first reigning Canadian monarch to visit the city.

The Queen also missed the annual State Opening of Parliament due to being pregnant with her third child. 

The Sixties

1960 

February 19: The Queen gives birth to Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace, becoming the first monarch to have a child while on the throne since Queen Victoria had her youngest child, Princess Beatrice in 1857.

May 6: The Queen attends the marriage of her sister Princess Margaret to photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey 

1961 

In this year, the Queen she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran, and Ghana.

She and Prince Philip also met President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at Buckingham Palace, where they shared a private dinner.

The Queen also visited Rome, where she met Pope John XXIII. 

1962 

At Prince Philip’s suggestion, the Queen opened a public gallery at Buckingham Palace to display items from the Royal Collection.

In an example of more relaxed royal visits, the Queen and the Duke paid an informal visit to London’s East End, where they visited the housing redevelopments in Bethnal Green and Stepney, and meet a family in their new home.

1963 

October 18: Prime Minister Harold Macmillan resigned as a result of illness, and the Queen appointed Alec Douglas-Home as his successor.

The Queen misses the annual State Opening Parliament for the second and final time in her reign due to being pregnant with her fourth child. 

1964

March 10: Prince Edward is born at Buckingham Palace, and is the last child of the Queen and Prince Philip.

October 16: Prime Minister Douglas-Home and his Conservative Party are defeated in the UK General Election by Harold Wilson and the Labour Party. He resigns and the Queen appoints Wilson as her first Labour Prime Minister.

1965 

January 30: The Queen attended the state funeral of former UK Prime Minister and wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

In this year, the Queen history by being the first British monarch to visit Germany in 52 years and toured the Berlin Wall.

She also delivered her first Commonwealth Day message via a broadcast. 

1966 

The Queen and the Duke embarked on a tour of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean, which included visits to the Bahamas, Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), the Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the British Virgin Islands, and several others. Some of these countries had become independent during the 1960’s, but retained the Queen as head of state. 

1967 

July 1: On Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, the Queen addressed her Canadian subjects on the centennial of the formation of Canada as a single nation.

September 20: The Queen launches the hull of the Cunard ocean liner, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 at the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, UK. 

1968 

Following the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the Queen hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for the returning British Olympians. Also in attendance were several members of the Royal family – including the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. 

1969 

July 1: Prince Charles is formally invested as Prince of Wales by paying homage to the Queen at a ceremony in Caernarfon Castle, which was rendered in English and Welsh, and was watched by a global audience of over 200 million.

On Christmas Day, the documentary Royal Family was aired. It featured the family life and off-duty activities of the Queen and her family, and was watched by over 23 million people in the United Kingdom. Because of this and the investiture of Prince Charles, the Queen decided not to deliver a Christmas Day broadcast – the only time she has done so in her reign. 

The Seventies

1970 

June 19: Prime Minister Wilson and his Labour Party are defeated in the General Election by Edward Heath and the Conservatives. Wilson resigns and the Queen appoints Heath as his successor.

In this year, Elizabeth II initiated a new royal practice while visiting Australia and New Zealand. Known as the walkabout, it has allowed her and other members of the family to meet as many people as possible. 

1971 

The Queen received Emperor Hirohito of Japan on his first state visit to the United Kingdom since before World War II. 

1972 

November 20 – Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated 25 years of marriage with a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

During this year, the couple also paid a visit to communist Yugoslavia, making the Queen to first British monarch to do so.

1973 

January 1: The Queen presides over the UK’s accession to membership within the European Economic Community, the forerunner to the European Union.

November 14: Princess Anne - the Queen’s only daughter – marries Lieutenant Mark Phillips in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey which was attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family, and watched by a global television audience of around 100 million people. 

1974 

February: The Queen flies back to the UK from an Australian tour when British Prime Minister Edward Heath advised her to call for a General Election.

March 4: The General Election resulted in a hung parliament in which no party had an outright majority in the House of Commons. Harold Wilson and the Labour Party emerged with the largest number of seats, but Heath and the Conservatives attempted to form a majority government via a coalition with the Liberal Party. This failed, and Heath tendered his resignation to the Queen, who then appointed Wilson to his second term as Prime Minister. 

1975 

November 11: The Queen faced the biggest constitutional crisis of her reign, though not in Britain. Down Under in Australia, the Labor Party government (which had a majority in the House of Representatives) under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was engaged in a budgetary standoff with Malcolm Fraser and the opposition Liberal Party (which had a majority in the Senate). When the federal government went unfunded, the Queen’s Australian representative, Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam at 1:15 PM and replaced him with Fraser. Within four hours, Fraser pushed through a spending bill to fund the government, and Governor-General Kerr dissolved Parliament and called for fresh elections, which eventually resulted in Fraser and the Liberals attaining a majority in both houses.

In this year, the Queen also made history by becoming the first British monarch to pay a state visit to Japan, where she was received by Emperor Hirohito. 

1976 

April: This year witnessed the sudden resignation of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The Labour Party elected James Callaghan as its new leader, and the Queen appointed him as Prime Minister on April 5^th.

July 6-11: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured the United States during a special state visit to celebrate the nation’s Bicentennial. Aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, they made stops in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts – attending several Bicentennial festivals along the way. Some events were attended in the company of President Gerald R. Ford and First Lady Betty Ford, who hosted a Bicentennial dinner in honor of the Queen and Prince Philip on July 7^th. There, the Queen and President Ford toasted each other and shared a dance. On behalf of the British people, the Queen also presented the Bicentennial Bell – a replica of the Liberty Bell and cast from same foundry at Whitechapel – in Philadelphia. It bears the inscription: “For the People of the United States of America from the People of Britain 4 July 1976 LET FREEDOM RING.”

On July 17^th, Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada opened the 1976 Montreal Olympics. 

1977 

The Queen marked her 25th year on the throne with the Silver Jubilee. Included through the year were a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom and of the Commonwealth, with the Queen and Prince Philip traveling a total of 56,000 miles. On June 7^th, Jubilee Day was marked by a bonfire chain, public holiday, and a National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The Queen also delivered a personal address to both Houses of Parliament at Westminster Hall, in which she states that she had no regrets about the promises she made in her younger years to serve her peoples. With regard to Britain, she made it clear – in the face of Scottish and Welsh nationalism, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland – that she had been crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In this year, the Queen also welcomed President Jimmy Carter to the United Kingdom for a state visit.

November 15: The Queen becomes a grandmother for the first time when Peter Phillips was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London. Phillips is the eldest son of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, and at the time of his birth, he was 5^th in line to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. 

1978 

The Queen hosted a state visit in the UK for Romania’s Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena. According to courtiers, the Queen believed that they had "blood on their hands." 

1979 

March 28: Prime Minister Callaghan is defeated in the House of Common with a vote of no confidence, and asks the Queen to call for a General Election.

May 4: The General Election results in a defeat for Callaghan’s Labour Party and a victory for Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives. On this day, the Queen appoints Thatcher as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

August 27: Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the Queen and uncle of Prince Philip is assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) while out on his boat off the coast of the Republic of Ireland. Mountbatten was also a mentor to Prince Charles and his loss was felt by entire Royal family.

Also in this year, the Queen made history by becoming the first British monarch to travel to the Middle East. 

The Eighties

1980 

The Queen meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. 

1981 

May 15: Princess Anne gives birth to her second child and only daughter, Zara Phillips, at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Phillips is the Queen’s eldest granddaughter and at the time of her birth, she was 6^th in line to the Commonwealth thrones.

June 13: During the annual Trooping the Color ceremony, six black shots were targeted at the Queen by an assailant named Marcus Sarjeant as the Queen made her down the Mall to Horse Guard’s Parade. Her horse Burmese was alarmed by the shots, but the Queen quickly and skillfully calmed her down, and went on with the ceremony.

July 29: The Queen attends the marriage ceremony of her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, Prince Wales to Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which was watched by a global television audience of over 750 million. 

1982 

April 2 – June 14: Under Prime Minister Thatcher, British forces are sent to retake two British Overseas Territories that had been invaded by Argentina: the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict was deeply personal for the Queen, not only as Head of the Armed Forces, but also as the mother of a serviceman, Prince Andrew, who served as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot. After ten weeks, Britain emerged victorious and recovered the islands.

June 21: Prince William of Wales is born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London. William is the eldest son of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as the Queen’s third grandchild.  He is second in line to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms.

During this year, the Queen hosted President Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle for a state visit to the UK. Elizabeth II also made history when she – as Supreme Governor of the Church of England – received Pope John Paul II at Buckingham Palace, and he became the first Catholic pontiff to visit Britain in 450 years.

This year was also one of constitutional development for the Queen. On March 29, she gave Royal Assent to the Canada Act, 1982, which had been passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and ended the last vestiges of British constitutional and political power over Canada by “patriating” its Constitution. As Queen of Canada, Elizabeth II signed a proclamation bring this act, as well as the Constitution Act, 1982 into force at a ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 17^th. 

1983 

February: As Queen of Jamaica, Elizabeth II opened a new session of the Jamaican Parliament on the 21^st anniversary of that country’s independence from the United Kingdom.

February 26 - March 6: The Queen also paid a state visit to the United States, where she and Prince Philip were guests at Rancho del Cielo, President Reagan’s Californian ranch. 

However, she was less enthused with Reagan when he ordered an invasion of Grenada (one of her realms) later that year to remove a military dictatorship without first notifying her. 

1984 

September 15: Prince Harry of Wales is born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London. The second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, he is also the Queen’s fourth grandchild, and at the time of his birth, he was third in line to the throne of the Commonwealth realms. 

1985 

During this year, the Queen visited St. Lucia, another one of her Caribbean realms. 

1986 

March 2: Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia signed a proclamation at Government House in Canberra which stating that the Australia Act that was passed in the Australian Parliament would take effect at 5:00AM GMT, at the same time that similar legislation passed by the UK Parliament would also take effect. These two acts ended the remnants of the UK’s constitutional power over Australia.

July 23: The Queen attends the marriage of her third child, Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey that was watched by a global audience of around 500 million people. On the morning of the wedding, the Queen granted Andrew the titles Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killyleagh, and upon marriage, Sarah became the Duchess of York, Countess of Inverness, and Lady Killyleagh.

October 12 - 18: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China, where they made stops in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Great Wall.

December 13: Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand gives Royal Assent to the Constitution Act, 1986, which removed the last remaining constitutional association between New Zealand and the  British Parliament. 

1987 

During this year, the Queen lent support for the controversial Meech Lake Accord, a package of amendments to the Canadian Constitution that was put together to get French-speaking Quebec to agree to the aforementioned Constitution Act, 1982. 

1988 

May 9: Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia opened the new Parliament House in Canberra, while on a tour of Australia to celebrate its bicentennial. It was the anniversary of the opening of the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne by the her grandfather in 1901, as well as the opening of the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra by her father in 1927.

August 8: Princess Beatrice of York is born to the Duke and Duchess of York at Portland Hospital in London. She is the Duke and Duchess’s first child, as well as the Queen’s fifth grandchild, and at the time of her birth, she was 5^th in line to the Commonwealth thrones. 

1989 

For the annual Christmas broadcast, the Queen delivered her address before a gathering of 2,000 children at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as part of a gala organized by Save the Children, of which Princess Anne is President. This was the only time the Christmas message has been heard by an audience before its international release, and after its conclusion, the Queen and Princess Anne spend some time with the children and answered questions from them. 

The Nineties

1990 

March 23: Princess Eugenie of York is born at Portland Hospital in London. She is the second child of the Duke and Duchess of York, as well as the Queen’s sixth grandchild. At the time of her birth, she was 6^th in line to the Commonwealth thrones.

November 28: After three General Election victories and eleven years in power, Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The ruling Conservative Party elected John Major as its new leader, and Queen Elizabeth appointed him as Thatcher’s successor in 10 Downing Street.

In this year, the Queen took part in events marking the 50^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, including attending a fly-past and reviewing a parade of Royal Air Force (RAF) units and veterans. 

1991 

January: Under Prime Minister Major, British military units took part in the US-led Operation Desert Storm to remove Iraqi occupation forces in Kuwait, which ended victoriously within months.

Following this successful campaign, the Queen and Prince Philip went on a tour of the United States, were they were welcomed by President George H.W. Bush. Among other things, they attended a baseball game where the President explained to them how the game is played. On May 17^th, she became the first British monarch to address the US Congress. 

1992 

1992 was the infamous annus horribilis of the Queen’s reign:

• March: The Duke and Duchess of York announce that they are separating, and topless photos of the Duchess with a named John Bryan are released to the public via tabloids.
• April: Princess Anne divorced her husband, Captain Mark Phillips
• June: Diana, Her True Story – a tell-all book about Diana and her lift within the Royal family
• Secret tapes revealing the nature of the extramarital affairs of Charles and Diana are leaked to the public.
• November 20: Windsor Castle catches fire and is seriously damaged, and a public uproar ensues over the idea of taxpayers funding the repairs.
• December: Prime Minister Major announces that the Prince and Princess of Wales are separating.

The year also marked the 40^th anniversary of the Queen’s accession, and was marked with the release of Elizabeth R, a documentary about her day-to-day working life. It was also marked by questions about the Queen’s personal wealth, especially in the wake of the Windsor Castle fire. In December, it was announced that royal finances would be reformed, with the Queen paying income tax on her private income and accepting a reduction in her state funding, known as the Civil List. In a speech at the London Guildhall on November 24^th, she remarked that any institution must expect criticism, but opined that it be done with "a touch of humor, gentleness and understanding."

On December 12th, the Queen attended the wedding ceremony of Princess Anne, who married her second husband, Commander Timothy Laurence at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

1993 

The Queen allows the state-owned royal palaces (including Buckingham Palace) to be opened to fare-paying visitors when the royal family is not is residence to help pay for the repairs to Windsor Castle. 

1994 

The Queen sails to Normandy aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia for the 50^th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings, and pays a visit to Russia. 

1995 

March: The Queen travels to South Africa for a state visit at the invitation of President Nelson Mandela. It was the first time the Queen has been to South Africa since 1947, when she was a Princess.

May: To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of V-E Day (the end of World War II in Europe), the Queen addressed both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall, and along with the Queen Mother and other members of the Royal family, appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace before a large crowd to witness of fly-past.

1996 

May 30: Divorce of the Duke and Duchess of York is finalized.

July: Nelson Mandela makes an historic return state visit to the United Kingdom at the invitation of the Queen.

August 28: Divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales is finalized. Days before the divorce settlement, the Queen issued Letters Patent stipulating that divorced wives of princes ceased to have the status of Royal Highness, and Diana went from being officially titled Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales to Diana, Princess of Wales. Sarah, Duchess of York, who had retained her Royal Highness status upon divorce from Prince Andrew in May, also had that status removed. 

1997 

March 6: At Kingsbury High School in Brent, London, the launches the monarchy’s official website.

May 2: Prime Minister John Major and his Conservative Party are defeated in the General Election by Tony Blair and the Labour Party. The Queen appoints Blair as Major’s successor in Downing Street.

August 31: Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in an automobile accident in Paris, France. During the week, the Queen kept princes William and Harry at Balmoral to shield them from the media. As time went on however, she and the Royal family were criticized for not publicly mourning and for failing to fly a flag at half-mast at Buckingham Palace in memory of Diana. Eventually, the Queen returned to London with her grandsons and addressed the British nation and the world with a message in which she expressed her feelings as a “Queen and as a grandmother,” and paid tribute to Diana and her legacy.

September 6: The Queen attends Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey. Millions of people lined the procession route in London, and the Queen and other members of the Royal family bowed her head in respect as Diana’s coffin passed Buckingham Palace. While the Queen was not in residence at the Palace, the Union Flag flew at half-mast from Palace’s flagpole.

November 20: The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their Golden wedding anniversary. In a speech regarding their marriage, the Queen named Philip as her “strength and stay.” At Buckingham Palace, a special garden party was held for other couples also celebrating their Golden anniversaries.

December 11: Her Majesty’s Yacht (HMY) Britannia was decommissioned after 43 years of service at the Portsmouth Naval Base in the presence of the Queen and other members of the Royal family. It was an emotional sendoff, and the Queen was seen shedding a tear as the Naval ensign was lowered for the last time. 

1998 

November 24: During the State Opening of Parliament, the normal silence observed during the reading of the Queen’s Speech was interrupted when the Queen announced the Government’s plan to abolish the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. This produced vocally positive reactions from some members of the Commons, and negative reaction from the Lords. Yet the Queen kept reading and ignored the shouts in the chamber. 

1999 

May 27: The devolved National Assembly for Wales is opened for the first time by the Queen, who welcomed it as "a bridge into the future" for Wales and the United Kingdom.

June 19: Prince Edward marries Sophie Rhys-Jones in a ceremony in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle that was watched by over 200 million people. The Queen was in attendance and on that morning, she granted Edward the titles Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn, with the promise that he would become Duke of Edinburgh upon the deaths of both of his parents.

July 1: The Queen formally opens the devolved Scottish Parliament in its temporary home in Edinburgh. Along with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Rothesay, she was carried in a carriage with an escort provided by the Household Cavalry through the streets of Edinburgh from the Palace of Holyroodhouse (her official residence in Scotland) to the new parliament. In her speech to the assembled MSP’s, she stated the new Scots Parliament marked “the threshold of a new constitutional age" for the United Kingdom.

December 31: Elizabeth II opens the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, London and helps to ring in the new millennium alongside Prince Philip, other members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and other VIP’s.

The New Millennium

2000 

August 4: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother celebrates her 100^th birthday. Like other centenarians, she receives a congratulatory telegram from her daughter, the Queen. She also appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside her daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, and other member of the Royal family to the acclaim of large crowds below. 

2001 

September 14: The Queen leads the British nation in mourning at a memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral following the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the United States. By special permission of the Queen, the US National Anthem was played during the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. 

2002 

February 9: Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, dies aged 71 as a result of a stroke at the King Edward VII Hospital in London. The Queen and other members of the Royal family attend the funeral of her sister in a private ceremony at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor on February 15th.

March 30: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother dies aged 101 at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park with her daughter the Queen at her side. At the time of her death, she was the longest-lived member of the Royal family in British history.

April 9: Elizabeth II, members of the Royal family and invited guests attend the funeral of the Queen Mother at Westminster Abbey. More than a million people filled the area around the Abbey in Central London, and along the procession route to her final resting place beside her husband, George VI and her younger daughter Princess Margaret at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Despite these bereavements, 2002 was also the year of the Golden Jubilee, and the Queen marked her 50 years on the throne by embarking on a year-long program that included visits to Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, as well as a 70-city tour of the United Kingdom. In June, she and millions of her people celebrated the three-day Jubilee Weekend in London, which included two live concerts at Buckingham Palace, a National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and an appearance on the Palace balcony with other a members of the Royal Family. 

2003 

November 8: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor is born at Firmley Park Hospital in Surrey. She is the first child and only daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and is the Queen’s seventh grandchild. At the time of her birth, she was eighth in the line of succession. 

2004 

January 8: The Queen christens the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary 2 at a ceremony in Southampton, England, UK. The QM2 is the first ocean liner to be built since the Queen Elizabeth 2, which the Queen had also christened in 1967. 

2005 

July 8: The Queen paid a visit to victims of the July 7^th London bombings at the Royal London Hospital. There, she delivered what the BBC termed an “unusually forthright” speech, in which she declared that "those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life." Two days later, she ordered the Union Flag to be flown at half-mast. 

2006 

April 21: On her 80^th birthday, the Queen celebrated with a public walkabout in Windsor’s town center, and hosted a lunch for other people celebrating their 80^th birthday on the same day. At Kew Palace, she enjoyed a dinner with her family. 

2007 

May 2007: The Queen attends a state visit in the United States, which includes a state dinner at the White House at the invitation of President George W. Bush.  She also took part in the 400^th anniversary celebrations of the first permanent British colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia.

June 27: After three General Election victories and ten years in power, Tony Blair resigns as Prime Minister. Gordon Brown is elected leader of the Labour Party, and the Queen appoints him as Blair’s successor.

November 20: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh marked their 60^th wedding anniversary. They attended a Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey and unveiled the Jubilee Walkway at Parliament Square.

December 17: James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn is born at Firmley Park Hospital in Surrey to the Earl and Countess of Wessex. He is their second child and only son, and is the Queen’s eighth and final grandchild. At the time of his birth, he was eighth in the line of succession, displacing his older sister who slipped to ninth. 

2008 

March 20: For the first time in history, the Royal Maundy Service near Easter is held outside of England and Wales. The Queen attends the ancient service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

May 17: Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandchild, is married to Autumn Kelly at a private ceremony held in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Phillips is the only son of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. 

2009 

May: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh meet President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during the G20 Summit being hosted by Britain. During a reception, the Queen and the First Lady were seen gently embracing each other for a moment, which caused somewhat of a stir in royal circles and in the press. 

2010 

May 11: The General Election of 2010 results in a hung parliament in which no party has an outright majority in the House of Commons. David Cameron and the Conservatives have the largest number of seats, and eventually teamed up with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats to create a governing coalition with a parliamentary majority. Gordon Brown, the incumbent Prime Minister, tenders his resignation to the Queen, who then appoints Cameron as his successor.

June and July: Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada embarks on a tour of the country, which included stops in Nova Scotia, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Ottawa, where she delivered a speech to her people from Parliament Hill on Canada Day. The Queen also made a stop in New York City, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly as Head of the Commonwealth and as Queen of all of the Commonwealth realms. She also laid a wreath at the World Trade Center site, and officially opened a memorial garden to British victims of the September 11^th attacks.

December 29: The Queen becomes a great-grandmother for the first time when Savannah Phillips is born at the Royal Gloucestershire Hospital to Peter and Autumn Phillips. She is their first child, as well as Princess Anne’s first grandchild, and at the time of her birth, she was 12^th in the line of succession. 

2011 

April 29: Prince William marries Catherine Middleton in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey that was attended by the Queen, members of the Royal family, other invited guests, and was watched by a global audience of around 2 billion people across various media platforms. On the morning of the wedding, the Queen granted William the titles Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus. Upon marriage, Catherine became Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, and Lady Carrickfergus.

May 12: By one day, the Queen overtakes George III as the second-longest reigning monarch in British history.

May 17-20: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh make a state visit to the Republic of Ireland, which was the first visit by a British monarch to the area now known as the Irish Republic since the royal visit in 1911 by her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary when all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. She visited places to significance to Irish republicanism, and at the state dinner held in her honor at Dublin Castle, the first line of her speech was delivered in Irish. She expressed sympathy for the complex and sometimes troubling history between Britain and Ireland, but also spoke of the normalization of relations between the two countries and the progress of the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. The speech was widely praised by people from virtually all political persuasions.

May 24-26: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama make a state visit to the United Kingdom at the invitation of the Queen.

July 30: Zara Phillips, the Queen’s eldest granddaughter, is married to Mike Tindall. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family were in attendance for the ceremony at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. Phillips is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne.

October: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Australia to tour the country and to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. During the meeting, it was announced that the 16 Commonwealth realms where the Queen is head of state will change their succession laws to eliminate male preference in the line of succession and to allow people within the succession to marry Roman Catholics without jeopardizing their place. Because of the Queen’s age, the press described this visit as her “farewell tour.” 

2012 

February 6: The Queen marked the 60^th anniversary of her accession to the throne. The Diamond Jubilee was celebrated throughout the year, with the Queen and Prince Philip visiting many parts of the United Kingdom and members of the Royal Family representing the Queen abroad in all of her overseas realms and in other Commonwealth countries, Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories.

March 29: Isla Phillips is born at the Royal Gloucestershire Hospital to Peter and Autumn Phillips. She is their second child, as well as Princess Anne’s second grandchild, and the Queen’s second great-grandchild. At the time of her birth, she was 13^th in the line of succession.

June 2-5: During the Jubilee weekend in June, celebrations included the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, a large concert around the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, and the National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

July 27: The Queen opens the 2012 Olympic Games in London, becoming the only head of state to have opened two games in two countries, since she opened the Montreal Games as Queen of Canada in 1976. For the ceremony, the Queen played herself in a short film alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond.

September 12: The Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben is officially renamed Elizabeth Tower, in honor of the Queen. It is located on the opposite side of the Palace from Victoria Tower, named for the only other British monarch to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee.

December 18: At the invitation of Prime Minister David Cameron, the Queen becomes the first reigning monarch to attend a peacetime Cabinet meeting since George III in 1781. On the same day, it was announced that part of British Antarctica would be named Queen Elizabeth Land. 

2013 

March 11: On the Commonwealth Day, the Queen was not well enough to attend the service at Westminster Abbey, but Prince Philip did attend in her place. Later that day, she signed the Commonwealth Charter, which among other things, committed the organization and its members to 16 core beliefs, including democracy, the rule of law, gender equality, and sustainable development. 

June 4: The Queen and members of the Royal Family attend a special service at Westminster Abbey to mark the 60^th anniversary of her coronation, which had taken place at the Abbey. For the first since it was used to crown the Queen that day in 1953, the St. Edward’s Crown was brought out of the Tower of London and placed on the Abbey’s altar for the service. The Queen also attended the Coronation Festival in July.

July 22: Prince George of Cambridge is born to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London. He is their first child, as well as the first grandchild of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the third great-grandchild of the Queen and Prince Philip. George is third in line of the thrones of the Commonwealth realms, and his birth marks the first time in over a century that a reigning monarch has lived to see three heirs in direct succession.

October 23: The Queen and members of the immediate Royal Family attend the baptism of Prince George by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace in London. 

2014 

January 17: Mia Grace Tindall is born to Zara Phillips Tindall and Mike Tindall at the Royal Gloucestershire Hospital. She is their first child, as well as Princess Anne’s third grandchild, and the Queen’s fourth great-grandchild. Mia Tindall is 16^th in the line of succession.