By Moses Adeniyi
Life for Queen Elizabeth II was eventful and demanding. Born to the British royal family, her sojourn on earth saw her sitting on the royal throne for seven decades till on Thursday September, 08, 2022 her departure was announced by Buckingham Palace. The announcement marked not just the departure of a revered Monarch, but also a reflective mood for Britons – the departure of their longest serving Monarch.
Her ceremonial life would roundly fit a description of eventful service. Elizabeth II not only served as a living link to the glories of World War II Britain, presided over the land’s fitful adjustment to a post-colonial, post-imperial era, but also saw her through its bitter divorce from the European Union.
The chronicles of her sojourn have on record the birth of a princess on April 21, 1926 at 17 Bruton St, London. The Princess who would later become Britain’s Queen, was christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. December 11, 1936 – She became heir apparent, aged 10, when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated and her father George VI became king November 20, 1947.
She married Navy Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, a Greek Prince, at London’s Westminster Abbey. They had four children: Prince Charles (born in 1948), Princess Anne, (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964).February 1952, Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, set out on a tour of Africa and Asia in place of her ailing father, King George VI. News of the king’s death reaches her in Kenya on February 6, meaning she was the first sovereign in more than 200 years to accede to the throne while abroad.
June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey in the first televised coronation service. November 24, 1953, the late Queen’s first Commonwealth tour began covering a distance of 43,618 miles.
1970, during a visit to New Zealand, she introduced the ‘walkabout,’ a meet-the-people tactic for royal tours. 1977, the late Queen marked her Silver Jubilee – 25 years as Monarch – with a tour of Commonwealth Countries and lavish celebrations in Britain.
1981, her son, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a glittering ceremony. 1982, Charles and Diana’s first child, Prince William, was born on June 21. Prince Harry was born two years later in 1984.
1986, Prince Andrew married the high-spirited publishing Executive Sarah Ferguson, known as “Fergie”. The couple became the Duke and Duchess of York.
1991, the Queen toured the United States and became the first Monarch to address Congress.
1992, her 40th year on the throne, which she called her ‘annus horribilis’ (horrible year), was marked amidst marital upsets and public dissent. Same year, Andrew and Sarah separated, while Anne divorced Mark Phillips. In November, Windsor Castle was badly damaged by fire. That year, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to pay income tax. In December, Charles and Diana announced their separation.
March, 1995, Queen Elizabeth made the first address by a British Monarch to a South African parliament since 1947. In December, Buckingham Palace confirmed she has written to Charles and Diana urging them to divorce. August 1996, Charles and Diana finally divorced.
August 31, 1997, Diana and her millionaire companion Dodi al-Fayed were killed when their car crashed while being chased through Paris by photographers on motorcycles. Criticisms trailed the reserved response of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family over the tragedy.
In November, large crowds greeted Queen Elizabeth and Philip as they marked their golden wedding anniversary. In an unusually frank speech, Queen Elizabeth acknowledged that Monarchies survive only through public support.
February 9, 2002, the late Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, died at the age of 71 after a life of glamour and heartbreak. March 30, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, died at Windsor Castle aged 101. June 1-4, was a four-day nationwide celebrations to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
2005, her Son and heir Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles at a civil ceremony in Windsor.
April 29, 2011, the late Queen attended the wedding of her grandson Prince William and Kate Middleton, estimated to have been watched by about two billion people worldwide. In May, the late Queen maked four-day state visit to Ireland, the first by a British Monarch since Ireland won its independence from London in 1921.
2012, the diamond jubilee to mark her 60th year on the throne recorded four days of celebrations in June along with a nationwide tour. A million people gathered for a pageant on River Thames, and millions more attended street parties.
2013, Prince William’s wife Kate gave birth to son Prince George. Their second child, Princess Charlotte was born in 2015 and their younger brother Prince Louis was born in 2018.
June 23-26, 2014 the late Queen embarked on what was her last foreign state visit to Germany. On September 9, at about 5.30 p.m. UK time, Queen Elizabeth became the nation’s longest-reigning Monarch overtaking her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
April 21, 2016, Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth celebrated her 90th birthday, the first British Monarch to reach such a milestone.
August 2, 2017 – Her Husband Philip bowed out of public life after 65 years of supporting his wife. November 20, Elizabeth and Philip celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with a private party at Windsor Castle.
2018, the Queen’s grandson Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, a divorced U.S. actress from Los Angeles, at a star-studded wedding at Windsor Castle.
October, 2019, a family row between William and Harry became public, with the younger prince confirming the rumours of a rift. November 15, Prince Andrew gave a disastrous interview to BBC TV in an attempt to draw a line under a sex scandal. Days later, he was forced to step down from royal duties over his links to the disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was jailed in 2008 for child sex offences.
January, 2020 – Harry and Meghan announced they will no longer be working members of the royal family. They moved to Los Angeles in March April 5. The late Queen made oly the fifth special televised broadcast of her reign to rally the nation amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
April 9, 2021, Prince Philip, Elizabeth’s husband of 73 years, died peacefully aged 99 at Windsor Castle. October 20, the late Queen spent a night in hospital for the first time in years for what Buckingham Palace termed “preliminary investigations”. November 30, Barbados became a republic, meaning the late Queen was now the head of state of just 15 realms.
January 13, 2022, Buckingham Palace said Prince Andrew has been stripped of his military links and royal patronages and will no longer be known as ‘His Royal Highness’ as he defended a U.S. lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre who said the royal sexually abused her when she was a teenager. February 6, the late Queen marked her 70th year on the throne, using the occasion to give her blessing to Charles’s second wife Camilla being called Queen Consort when he became king. February 15, Prince Andrew paid an undisclosed sum to settle the U.S. lawsuit, but admitted no wrongdoing. February 20, the Queen tested positive for COVID-19 and was said to be suffering from mild cold-like symptoms. She soon returned to official duties but finally departed on September 8, 2022. The loss would greatly shake the United Kingdom with several events to pay homage to the late long seated Monarch.