Princess Elisabeth was just 21 years old when she made a promise on the radio that she has steadfastly kept to this day.

She will serve her people all her life, be it short or long.

That was 75 years ago, five years before she even became queen.

Over the weekend, Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her platinum jubilee as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, having 70 years on the throne this year, longer than any other king or queen in England's more than 1,000-year history kingdom.

Peter Philipp Schmitt

Editor in the department "Germany and the World".

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In April, Elizabeth II was 96 years old, her son and successor, Prince Charles, is already 73. And even if he is now increasingly taking over tasks from his mother: the queen is not even thinking of retiring.

Or even to abdicate, i.e. to give up the crown of your own accord.

"The king is dead, long live the king," as they used to say in France.

Which meant two things: the old monarch was dead, but the crown endured, for it passed immediately to his successor.

King or Queen was a man or woman for life.

The ruler was on the throne by the grace of God, at least that was the idea at the time.

This was already the case with the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, where the pharaoh himself was even regarded as a god.

And a god could hardly be dethroned.

But times have changed.

Today's monarchs are mostly heads of state - comparable to our Federal President - who hardly make any decisions and have very little power.

Whether in Spain, the Netherlands, Japan or the United Kingdom: in all these constitutional monarchies the people rule and there are elected governments.

The kings and queens (in Japan it is an emperor) are not elected by the people, but they are only allowed to do what the law allows them to do.

Accordingly, the self-image of monarchs has changed significantly, especially in the past few decades.

In the Netherlands, for example, it is now common for monarchs to abdicate early, in the end it was exclusively queens, also to make room for a new generation that has new ideas and can therefore also do justice to social and political changes.

Beatrix, the mother of the current King Willem-Alexander, announced shortly before her 75th birthday that she would pass on the official business to her son.

Since then she has been a princess again and, like other grandmothers, takes care of her grandchildren.

Beatrix once said that she did not seek kingship, she only accepted it.

That also means for her that she can give them back.

That's exactly what Beatrix did in 2013 after exactly 33 years as Queen of the Netherlands.

Just like the King of Spain: Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014 at the age of 76 in favor of his son, who died as King Felipe VI.

was his successor.

However, the old king was also involved in all sorts of scandals and unpopular with the people.

Elizabeth II could also abdicate if Parliament allows her to do so.

As with Juan Carlos I, the representatives of the people would have the last word.

The Queen would also abdicate if her health was so bad that she could no longer be Queen.

She's never officially said so, but she confided to her cousin Margaret Rhodes a few years ago that if she developed Alzheimer's or had a stroke, she would do it.

Otherwise she wants to continue until her death.

Elizabeth II considers this to be her duty.

Precisely because her uncle Edward VIII once abdicated as king after just one year because he wanted to marry a divorced woman.

This was still considered unthinkable in 1936, which is why the king renounced the throne for love.

But Elizabeth II found her uncle's step unforgivable, also because the king or queen in England is also the head of the Anglican Church.

And something else is special in the United Kingdom: Only there is the monarch still anointed at his coronation.

As a result, the king or queen is sanctified, as it were, like a priest or kings in the Bible.

People used to believe that anointed kings could heal sick people by the laying on of hands.

Even if nobody believes that today, not even Elizabeth II, according to her understanding she experienced a special grace from God through the anointing, she entered into a contract with God, so to speak.

That's why the ritual at her coronation in 1953 was still considered so sacred that it wasn't broadcast on television.