Yesterday, Thursday 8th September 2022 at 4:30pm, HRH Queen Elizabeth II passed away at her stately home in Balmoral surrounded by her immediate family.
Her reign of 70 years started at the young age of 24 whilst she was in Kenya with her beloved husband HRH Duke of Edinburgh. Upon receiving the news of her father’s passing she got on a plane and made the journey back to the UK having left a Princess and returning as the Queen. Despite not being born to be in her role, Her Majesty the Queen became one of the most inspiring leaders of her time, who truly served to lead. During her reign she showed great collaboration and resilience through uncertainty and delivered with humanity, grace and honour.
Due to rationing in world war II, Princess Elizabeth (at the time) had to save clothing coupons to purchase her wedding dress, so whilst many will see her as born into privilege, she was also born with an enormous sense of duty for the role she inherited in such a dramatic way. I think it’s fair to say through her own experiences she understood the challenges people in the world face because she was living and breathing the same challenges.
During her reign she welcomed 15 Prime Ministers.
- Winston Churchill 1951 – 1955
- Sir Anthony Eden 1955 – 1957
- Harold Macmillan 1967 – 1963
- Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963 – 1964
- Harold Wilson 1964 – 1970 and 1974 – 1976
- Sir Edward Heath 1970 – 1974
- James Callaghan 1976 – 1979
- Baroness Margaret Thatcher 1979 – 1990
- Sir John Major 1990 – 1997
- Sir Tony Blair 1997 – 2007
- Gordon Brown 2007 – 2010
- David Cameron 2010 – 2016
- Theresa May 2016 – 2019
- Boris Johnson 2019 – 2022
- Liz Truss 7th September 2022 – present
Keir Starmer, the leader of the labour party summed it up in one sentence yesterday “For most of our lifetime she’s not just been a queen she was simply ‘The Queen’”.
Not many people alive will have known any other monarch which in itself is astounding. She was working until 96 years of age having meetings, taking calls, carrying out tasks and signing papers that arrived in the red box, many of us will not realise she had to do these tasks. She lived to traditions and rules of etiquette all her life, being told how long her skirts could be, what she could say or do. She didn’t have a life of freedom, more a life of servitude which she embraced.
Until April 2021, her beloved husband and trusted confident HRH Duke of Edinburgh was by her side daily. He was the one that she had fun with, shared her darkest moments with and no doubt consulted with when huge decisions needed to be made. We can sometimes forget that she was a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother experiencing all of the emotions that human beings experience in life as well as the every day challenges. The whole world was watching and waiting for news to break yesterday and at a time when privacy is all the family would’ve wanted and needed as we know that is a challenge the family have to face. Let’s remember that members of the Royal family have lost a mother, grandmother and great grandmother as well as having to immediately take on royal duties.
Not only was she loved throughout the UK & commonwealth, she was loved around the world and as the nation goes into 10 days of mourning, the Royals will mourn for 4 weeks. Later today details of the state funeral will be announced and King Charles III will return to London and address the nation.
Everyone at Elastic FM thanks you for all you have done, a truly remarkable woman and leader who has left a legacy to be remembered. RIP maam and God Save the King.
