An Ode to an Era
Queen Elizabeth on the day of her coronation.
Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor died just over three weeks ago after a 70 year reign, the longest in the history of the British Monarch.” — Jen Vincent
Elizabeth was born into the royal family as the daughter of King George V’s second son, therefore meaning that she had very little to no chance of ever becoming Queen. We can recall some of her youth through a book published by the governess, Marion Crawford, of a young Princess Elizabeth, titled ‘The Little Princess,” where Crawford recalls the young Queen Elizabeth and her sister. In the book, she described Elizabeth’s love for horses and her remarkable sense of maturity for such a young age. Even Winston Churchill described her as “a character… An air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.”
Upon King Edward VIII’s (her uncle’s) abdication from the throne, Elizabeth quickly found herself first in the line of succession. Princess Elizabeth accompanied her parents on her first overseas voyage to South Africa, during which in a broadcast, she famously announced on her 21st birthday, “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
When Elizabeth was 21 she announced her engagement to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark on July 9th, 1947. With no brothers to succeed her on her father’s sudden passing, Elizabeth became the Queen of the Commonwealth Countries on the 2nd of June, 1953, at the young age of 25.
During her reign, the Queen traveled to 117 different countries, both inside and outside of the Commonwealth. During her entire life, she traveled a total of 1,032,513 miles. Before being crowned, Elizabeth enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during WW2. She dealt with the royal scandals following Princess Diana. She was the pillar of strength, the glue that held not only the royal family together, but the country.
Her son, now King Charles III, said in an interview with BBC, “‘[Queen Elizabeth’s death was a] moment of great sadness’ for him and his family and that her loss would be ‘deeply felt’ around the world.” Flowers lined the gates of Buckingham Palace as the end of an era commenced.
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Jen Vincent is a senior at EFHS and is excited to be back in a journalism classroom. She is senior editor for the Fine Arts and Literary column, and a...
