"The young queen", this is how the British and international media described Elizabeth II when she ascended the throne of the United Kingdom 7 decades ago, at which time no one imagined that the Queen would enter history as the tallest person to sit on the throne in the world.

The Queen enters her seventh decade at the helm of her country, bearing her crown without thinking of abandoning it in favor of her son and heir, Charles (72 years).

It is true that the British political system grants the queen symbolic roles, but her mission throughout this period was never easy, and gigantic events that shook her throne went through, including some that shook people's confidence in her, and every time the queen succeeded in getting out stronger.

From February 1952, when Elizabeth was crowned Queen, to the same month in 2021, we review some of the events that were difficult for the Queen, and affected her personally and her family, and even her image as a symbol of the nation in the United Kingdom.

Princess Diana was ranked the most popular woman in the world on the year of her death in 1997 (Associated Press)

People's Princess

Queen Elizabeth described the year of Princess Diana's death as the worst year since her reign.

During that period, many accusations were leveled against the queen that she did not behave well with Diana, who grabbed the spotlight, and was classified as the most popular woman in the world, and in the year of her death, the Queen's popularity reached its worst levels.

"The Farm" by Benny Jenor provides us with a picture of the tense relationship that brought together Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana;

"The queen is accustomed from her childhood to separating her private life from public life. As for Princess Diana, this is a new life for her and she deals simply with people."

The book believes that Princess Diana's problem with the royal ocean was different, and in an ancient family that had its own strict rules.

The difference means a departure from norms and the usual.

Many interpretations say that the repulsion with which Diana was met in the palace was one of the reasons for her unhappiness, in addition to her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996, until she was tragically killed in the French capital, Paris.

The specter of terror

In July 2005, terrorism hit London with force, targeting underground stations;

As a result of which 56 people were killed, and hundreds were injured, then fear spread in the people of the Kingdom, and the citizens were amazed as they watched how danger became close to them.

During that period, the Queen gave one of her strongest speeches, according to the classification of political observers, in which she said that "brutality will only contribute to strengthening the cohesion of society, and increasing our confidence in the values ​​of humanity, our principles and our laws."

And this speech had a reassuring effect on the British public opinion.

Queen Elizabeth II with some members of the royal family (Reuters)

Scotland ... raising an eyebrow

Constitutional custom in Britain prohibits the Queen from expressing any political position, yet the 2014 Scottish secession referendum sparked a lot of controversy over the Queen's position on a step that could lead to the division of her kingdom.

And David Cameron, who was prime minister at the time, tells - in a book he has - that he asked during a session with the Queen that she raise her eyebrow only to express her rejection of the referendum.

During that period, the Queen gave a speech in which she called on the Scots to think carefully about their future, which was considered by the separatists as interference by the Queen in the referendum, which resulted in rejection, after which Cameron will also reveal by mistake that the Queen flew out of joy upon hearing the results of the separation.

The referendum was a difficult test for the Queen, who was between two fires: separation or breach of custom and interference in political affairs.

Brexit ... the hard test

The separation from the European Union is one of the most important events that the United Kingdom has known during the last century, and it was natural that everyone would turn towards the Queen to find out her position, unlike the Scottish referendum;

The Queen was careful this time, taking care not to send any indication of her position.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put her in an embarrassing and unprecedented position, when he presented her with a "binding recommendation" to suspend the work of Parliament for 3 weeks, at which time the Queen found herself before the fire of opponents who accused her of disrupting the work of the parliamentary institution, in return they called on her to use the constitutional power that was adopted before 4 centuries to dismiss the prime minister.

The Queen resisted all attempts to coax her into adopting any political stance on Brexit, but the task was not easy.

Paradise Papers

Originally in the United Kingdom, the sources of the Queen's wealth are known and are subject to strict scrutiny, before an investigation by the "Guardian" and "BBC" entitled "Paradise Papers" (Paradise Papers) revealed that about 10 million pounds (13 million dollars) of the Queen's money The British invested in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, and the Queen's money was invested in these tax havens by the "Duchy of Lancaster", a private investment fund responsible for managing the Queen's money and her revenues.

At the time, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that the Queen apologize to the people, and the Queen’s fortune controversy returned to public debate, and this affected her image in public opinion.

Harry .. Prince dismounts

When it comes to family affairs, the Queen’s rigor appears, and this is what happened with the marriage of Prince Harry and Princess Megan, as many news spread about the Queen’s opposition to this marriage, to the point where the Prince threatened to withdraw from the royal family, and the Queen actually agreed to the marriage.

But things did not go well, and the prince decided to actually withdraw from the ruling family. At that time, the Queen wrote a famous letter saying, “My family has complex issues that they must find a solution to.” The solution was to withdraw, after which the Queen refused to grant any privilege to the Prince, even by attending some occasions Official, or keep his military titles.

Corona epidemic ... isolation

During the 7 decades that the Queen spent on the throne, she was always present in the momentous events, until the Corona epidemic came, and imposed isolation on her that lasted more than a year due to her age, and this time is the first in her history that she was absent from the scene for this period.