Elizabeth II, the queen of records

A timeless figure, a symbol of the monarchy, beyond the borders of the United Kingdom.

Queen Elizabeth II died at 96.

She was born on April 21, 1926 in London to the Duke of York, who later became King George VI, and to his wife Elizabeth.

She died in peace - this was the BBC announcement - in the Scottish residence of Balmoral, where her condition - fragile in recent times despite her iron temper - had worsened.

Around her are her four children and her closest relatives, starting with her eldest son

her King, with his wife Camilla now Queen consort.

She is gone forever in the year of her

, the 70th of an era that began in 1952, and 18 months after the death of her

.

His last appearance, last Tuesday, to fulfill once again his duties as monarch: the

, the fourteenth and fifteenth premier of his very long reign, started under the sign of Winston Churchill in Downing Street.   

He had said it: "All my life, be it short or long, I will dedicate it to your service and that of the great royal family", and so it was.

She ascended the throne at 25 years after her father's sudden death on February 6, 1952, since then her life has been one with the role, choosing silence over feelings and private life and doing discretion instead, sense of duty and stability his sign of recognition, even in moments in which some scandals have made the Crown tremble.

On the morning of September 8, the doctors had "expressed concern" for Elisabetta's health, announcing the decision to place her under medical surveillance.

The confirmation that time was now coming to an end came with the immediate departure of all four of Majesty's children to Balmoral: with Anna, Andrea and Edoardo (accompanied by his wife Sophie) in the wake of Carlo, and her grandchildren.

When the BBC announcement came, a crowd was already stationed in front of the castle in Scotland, and in London, in front of Buckingham Palace, and even in Windsor.

"The death of my beloved mother is a moment of great sadness for me and for all the members of my family", commented Carlo, in his first message as King. "I know it will be deeply felt throughout the country, the kingdom, the Commonwealth and by countless people around the world. The awareness of the affection and respect felt towards the queen is comforting ", concluded the new sovereign who will reign under the name of Charles III, as announced by Clarence House.

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Flowers at Buckingham Palace

On the throne at 25 

Elizabeth is the eldest daughter of Prince Albert and his wife Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

When she was born in 1926, no one could have imagined that she would become queen, let alone the longest-lived ruler in British history. 

His father, who later became George VI, ascended the throne in 1936, after the abdication of his brother Edward VII.

And the untimely death of her parent in 1952 brought Elizabeth to the throne at the age of 25, the sixth woman to become sovereign of the United Kingdom.

The coronation at Westminster Abbey, in front of 8,000 guests, took place over a year later, on 2 June 1953, once the period of mourning for the deceased king was over. 

Imperturbable in her manner, always careful not to let emotions transpire that could be interpreted as a political endorsement, guardian of constitutional orthodoxy, which wants the Monarchy to be extraneous to the public debate, the sovereign has managed to cross, adapting herself and the Crown, to the tumultuous changes in British society.

From post-war austerity to 'Swingin' London, from the economic decline of the 70s to Thatcherism, from Tony Blair's Labor revival to the Great Crisis of 2008, to Brexit and the covid pandemic.

The Queen of records

Elizabeth II traveled to over 120 countries on the occasion of over

and participated in

.

On 21 April 2016, at the stroke of her 90th birthday, all the primates of the longest reigning sovereign in the history of the British monarchy were celebrated, having spent almost two thirds of her life on the throne of St. James. 

On September 9 of the previous year, Elizabeth had already broken

previously held by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria: 63 years and seven months.

Under the reign of Elizabeth there were

,

and

.

Another record, that of

of her, 74 years, more than any other monarch, with Prince Philip, married on November 20, 1947 and died on April 9 last year.        

The marriage with the third cousin - both were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria - and heir to the throne of Greece, which Philip had to renounce at the time of the marriage, was not arranged, but was perfectly adequate: he had been educated in the duties of ruler. , while she had not had adequate education, nor preparation. 

On November 14, 1948, their first son, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, was born.

The second child, Princess Anne, was born on August 15, 1950, while the last two children - Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Edward, Earl of Wessex, were born after Elizabeth's accession to the throne.

The death of Lady D

Among the "merits" of the Queen there is also that of having always managed to "compact" the Royal Family and to raise its fortunes and popularity even in the worst moments such as the

, the ex-wife of Prince Charles, beloved 'Lady D', killed on August 31, 1997 in a car accident under the Alma bridge, in Paris, together with her partner, the billionaire Dodi Al-Fay. 

The death of the unfortunate and beloved Diana caused a real popular hysteria that turned into an unprecedented wave of anger against the royal family and Elizabeth herself.

A poll conducted in those dramatic days revealed that 52% of Britons thought the country would be in better shape without the monarchy. 

And for over a decade, popular sentiment towards the royal family didn't improve much.

In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her Golden Jubilee, her 50th anniversary, with "the popularity of the monarchy in sharp decline", as recorded in a poll published at the time by the Guardian.

For this reason, faced with the great popular festival that invaded the streets of London, and of many other British cities, in June twenty years ago, there were those who, like a Telegraph columnist, wondered: "Who could have imagined this in 1997, the year the Princess of Wales died? Who could have imagined that the monarchy could recover from the crisis and renew itself? ". 

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Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth in front of the flowers left by their subjects for Lady D.

William and Kate's wedding

The turning point, of a reversal of the trend in the ten years between the two jubilees, the element that, to quote the Guardian again, "made the British fall in love with the monarchy again" and therefore with the queen, was another strongly media event, but opposite to the mourning one of Lady D's death, the

, a true masterpiece of media strategy of the "Firm", the Firm, as the British royal family is often defined.        

With the marriage, followed live worldwide by tens of millions of people around the world on 29 April 2011, the British monarchy has proved to be one of the most resilient institutions in the world, and its ability to capture the popular imagination does not show. signs of weakening. And if you can't stand Prince William and his bride - the historian Dominic Sandbrook wrote on that occasion in the Guardian - I have bad news for you: they will stay with us for the next 50 years, you would do well to get used to them ". 

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William and Kate's wedding

On February 6, 2017, another record.

Elizabeth becomes the first British ruler to celebrate a

, the 65th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

For the occasion, the queen preferred to celebrate in a minor tone, without pompous ceremonies, as she did on November 20 of the same year, privately celebrating, together with her husband, her seventieth wedding anniversary.        

Meanwhile, in 2014, Elizabeth's reign had overcome the risk of disintegration, with the referendum for the independence of Scotland.

With a 5% margin, the Scots chose to remain part of the UK.

That was one of the very rare occasions in which Elizabeth, although not explicitly and through her attitudes, rather than with her words, hinted at her political preference: obviously, in favor of maintaining the integrity of the kingdom.   

Two years later, in 2016, another serious political crisis, with the referendum for Brexit and the exit from the European Union.

This time, Elizabeth did not get involved, maintaining an inscrutable silence.

The queen, however, albeit indirectly, made her voice clearly heard in January 2020, when Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announced their willingness to retire from public office of the royal family, renouncing the 'Sovereign Grant'. real prerogative, to become financially independent. 

On the occasion, it was Elisabetta who managed the exit from the Royal Family of her favorite nephew Harry, dictating the times and methods of a 'tear' that in some ways reminded many of the one consumed in 1936 by Edward VIII.

Other headaches, with still unpredictable consequences for the image of the Royal Family, came to Elizabeth from her third son, Andrea, Duke of York, forced to negotiate compensation to avoid a public trial for sexual relations with the then minor Virginia Giuffrè in the scope of the sex trafficking scandal of financier Jeffrey Epstein.       

But in her long reign, Elizabeth had never had to witness a drama comparable to that experienced by the entire planet in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic.

It was shortly after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's lockdown on April 5 that the sovereign spoke to the nation through a video message.

A very rare event, which had occurred only three times in the course of her reign, if we exclude the traditional Christmas messages.

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Queen Elizabeth II during the lockdown

On that occasion, Elizabeth appealed to the British spirit forged in the Second World War.

"We'll meet again", said Elisabetta, we will meet again, borrowing the words of a famous song of the time, the notes of which resounded in 1945 when, very young, she served as a driver and mechanic in the Territorial Auxiliary Service, the civilian militia that supported the war effort.

Elizabeth II, icon

From pastel-colored dresses to ineffable hats, from a passion for corgi to favorite films, such as 'Doctor Zhivago', 'Moments of glory' and of course 'The King's Speech' dedicated to his father, George VI.

Then the gold cardigan (with diamonds, sapphires and rubies) given by children and grandchildren for 50 years of marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh (value 72 thousand euros, kept in the Tower of London), his very personal treasure that counts about 800 thousand pieces managed by 300 people, the alarm clock to the sound of the bagpipes, the Hermès scarves always knotted around the neck, the rain umbrellas, in transparent plastic, with the band in the same color as the dress. 

Elizabeth II was the first queen to be elected

, the most important personality of the year by the Times in 1952, she is the only sovereign in the world to be able to drive or ride without a license (she made the mess during the II world war), owns

(all from the same maison, Launer) alongside those inherited from Queen Mum, whom Hitler called 'the most dangerous woman in Europe'. 

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Elizabeth II with the Queen Mother in the 1970s

Rather conservative in the style of dress, Queen Elizabeth II became famous for her brightly colored overcoats and decorative hats, which allowed her to be seen easily in the crowd, true to Buckingham Palace's motto: "Has to be seen to be believed "(The Queen must be seen to be respected), even from a great distance. 

Despite her predilection for pastel tones, the Queen did not disdain strong colors, such as yellow, often chosen for weddings and baptisms, petunia pink, her favorite, but also turquoise, grass green, geranium red and blue. electric.

And then her accessories: she ranges from hats to gloves, from brooches to transparent umbrellas but with references to the color she is wearing.

The Queen does not follow fashion, but she has made her style and her image always the same an icon, long before Andy Warhol thought about it.

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Elizabeth II, the style

The Queen has been portrayed over 130 times by Cecil Beaton, Pietro Annigoni, Lucien Freud, Annie Leibovitz, a famous American photographer, who removed the crown from her head obtaining a royal denial from the English sovereign.

Her crown, on the other hand, can be seen very well in the shot of her that

in the British edition, a tribute from the magazine for the Jubilee of the sovereign.

The photo chosen, which is in black and white, is not just any shot. 

It dates back to the early 1970s and was made by photographer Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, also known for being married to Princess Margaret, younger sister of Elizabeth II, between 1960 and 1978. And the crown wearing is a diamond-encrusted tiara - more than a thousand!

- of George IV.

The king had commissioned it to the court jeweler for his coronation in 1821. The crown depicts four crosses and the flowers representing the three countries of the United Kingdom: the thistle for Scotland, the rose for England and the clover for Ireland.

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Queen Elizabeth seen by Andy Warhol

Horses and corgis

's greatest sporting passion

was for horses.

A love, that for the equestrian world, which she cultivated since she was a child;

Elizabeth's first horse was, in fact, a Shetland Pony named Peggy that her father, King George VI, gave her when she was just four years old. 

From that moment he practically never stopped riding, until about a year after his death.

Elisabetta has always favored racing thoroughbreds and has owned a top-level stable.

The passion for horses has declined in many aspects of her life: she has always loved to take long walks when she frees her from the commitments of the Court with the inevitable foulard instead of hats for official occasions, boots and green raincoat.

Finally, the beloved corgi, a 'royal dynasty' that began with Dookie, who entered the palace in 1933, when Elizabeth was still a child.

Over the years, you have bred over 30 specimens.

She with her beloved dogs she had appeared in the video for the opening of the London 2012 Olympics alongside 007 Daniel Craig. 

A Queen on the set

From the famous 'The Queen' in 2006, in which she is played by Helen Mirren to 'A Royal NightOut' (A Night with the Queen) in 2015, with a young Elizabeth who lives one night outside the palace, on May 8, 1945, for celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe, until the success of the series 'The Crown', of which the fifth season is expected. 

The Queen, however, has not only been told by cinema or TV series: she has shown that she has real skills as an actress as in the 2012 short film aired during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Daniel Craig, perfect 007, went to pick up her Majesty in the Buckingham Palace room to escort her to the stadium.

And, again in the memorable video in which she sips tea with Paddington bear.