Queen Elizabeth II has died this afternoon at Balmoral as the head of state for the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms. She died at the age of 96 following a 70 year long reign, the longest reigning monarch of British history. We understand that her passing will lead to many historical questions about her, and we have provided this thread for the purpose of keeping them in one place.
We do ask that questions are specifically about Elizabeth II rather than about the broad history of the British monarchy, and reiterate that our normal rules apply including the 20 year rule.
The Queen was the first reigning monarch to have visited British Hong Kong in 1975 since its founding in 1841 and it was followed by a second visit in 1986. What prompted the two visits towards the end of colonial rule? Was it related to the political situation between the UK and China and locally in Hong Kong at the time?
Did Queen Elizabeth give her personal opinions on the various conflicts Britain fought in? What were her thoughts on the Falkland war or the Troubles?
as the head of state for 14 Commonwealth countries
15, The number 14 you see thrown around is usually in reference to the realms other than the UK: UK plus 14 other realms etc.
The 15 Commonwealth Realms are:
What, if any, major accomplishments/ changes did she actually usher in? I know she was Queen a long time, but what actions that she took are really noteworthy/ historically impactful?
What was behind the push to knight all those popstars of the 70s and 80s?
The Queen is often called a colonizer. While she ruled over colonies that Britain had acquired, did she attempt to usher in a new era or resist it? She took to the throne in 1952, the same year India became a full republic. How did India view her then?
So, coming from Canada, I get the feeling that around the start of her reign we were more or less part of "England", or at least many of our people called themselves English. Today, that is absolutely not the case.
So my question is: how has Canadian identity/identification with the Crown and UK changed in the time of Liz's reign?
After the abdication of Edward the VIII, when Elizabeth's father ascended to the throne and it became clear that Elizabeth was the heir presumptive, were there any concerns raised over the lack of a male heir? Was there any pressure put on George VI and the other Queen Elizabeth (George's wife) to have more children in the hopes of having a son or were there any attempts made to find a male relative? If not, at what point did it become more important that the heir have a legitimate claim to the throne than that the heir be male (because as I understand it, in the past a crown would go to a male with a more indirect claim than to a king's daughter)?
One of the things apparent in a lot of responses is how little we know about the queen's opinion's politically. I'm aware the answer is probably "not a lot" but do we know at all how she was so successful at keeping her views private? Asking politely is nice but doesn't seem sufficient for someone with that much interest around them.
I’ve read that when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, she broke with tradition by choosing her birth name as her regnal name. What made her choose to do that, and why was it such a big deal?
When I heard the news, I went back and tried to find the official photograph of Elizabeth that was hung in every Ontario school I went to when I was a kid in the 90s. I had assumed this would be ubiquitous, but for whatever reason, I haven't been able to find the image after 10 or 15 minutes of looking. Does anyone on this subreddit know the image I'm referring to?
It was a portrait of her in the 50s, she is quite young, and she is wearing a crown, white gown, blue sash. I believe she is seated with her body pointed towards the right, and she is smiling. It is stylistically similar to this image.
what was the queen’s diet, activity and healthcare like when she was a child though early adulthood? Are there things that she did that led to a long lifespan in comparison to other kings/queens (tobacco use seems to be a big difference but i dont know if she ever smoked)?
I think it’s safe to say the Queen’s sartorial selections were, in a word, legendary. The fashion of the royal family has certainly come more into the spotlight over the past few decades, very notably with Diana, but Elizabeth herself has been a huge focus of this with her colorful outfits and her statement hats, to the point that her fashion has become iconic and even memeable. When did Queen Elizabeth begin to make such deliberate fashion choices? Were they conscious, deliberate decisions? If so, why? Do we have an understanding of why so many of her outfits were generally monochromatic? Her children and grandchildren don’t seem to express themselves through fashion with quite the same panache the Queen has seemed to for decades. What do we know about what shaped the Queen’s very particular style?
I'm interested in the Windsor Castle fire in 1992
It seems that there are not very many good sources of what the fire actually damaged- before and after the fire, and then also after the restoration.
However the more interesting facet is of course the financials.
So she had to pay income tax- why? What changed?
Why wasn't the Crown responsible for the £36mm bill?
Domestically, what was the reception for the crown soliciting for donations to repair their house? Didn't britons feel offended someone sitting on such an endowment appealed for more money?
After the colonial era Queen Elizabeth's Monarchy is often referred to as a "figurehead". Is this a misconception? Did the queen still have spears of influence or some control of parliament?
This is more an anecdote, but I wonder if there's any way to verify it.
In the book Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki (who was the geisha that Arthur Golden interviewed, then stole a lot of her experiences to write "Memoirs of a Geisha", Iwasaki comments that she was present during a state visit to Japan in May 1975 by Elizabeth and Phillip.
She was initially seated next to Elizabeth and got offended that Elizabeth wouldn't touch any of the food that was prepared and otherwise wouldn't acknowledge or talk to Iwasaki (who was specifically there to entertain her, as geisha do). So Iwasaki got moved to sit next to Phillip and spent the entire dinner openly flirting with him, making sure to make eye contact with the Queen every few minutes to drive the point home. Apparently it pissed off Elizabeth enough that she demanded separate rooms.
Is there any evidence out there that this happened or any similar incidents?
I admire the queen a lot, but a younger, less secure me really related that incident at the time.
I'm just wondering what her personality was like - as much as anyone could reasonably gleam from the outside, or if there's accounts from others? In many pictures I've seen today she was captured reading books and hanging out with her sister.
Edit: Why does everyone in this thread have a stick up their ass?
My grandmother mentioned to me that Queen Elizabeth was known to enjoy a alcoholic beverage from time to time. I know past monarchs like King William IV awarded a Royal Warrant to the Royal Brackla Distillery.
My questions are:
Thanks!
What biographies do you recommend? Will historians and biographers gain access to her papers?
Where there ever any pretenders during her rule ?
I'd assume none with any serious claim or backing, but maybe in some of the commonwealth states ?
I am a little surprised that Charles has chosen to retain Charles as his royal name.
Is there any significance to re-establishing that name? Should we read anything into it?
I’ve seen a handful of comments around Reddit over the past few hours refusing to mourn her because of alleged racism and homophobia during her 70 year reign — especially in the earlier decades.
Is there any merit to these sorts of allegations? And are there any other darker beliefs the Queen was thought to have possessed?
Had the Queen have any real effect on the politics at some part of her period? Like somehow at the same level as the elected parliaments, not like a public figure.
Why didn’t she try to stop the British government from doing what is often named "the Kenyan genocide", ie. waves of repression, concentration camps and arbitrary killings of Kenyan anti-colonialists which were all done in her name in the fifties and early sixties ? It is even known that many people who were rounded up and put in camps were begging her for help by writing letters (cf. Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya by Caroline Elkins) ?
Are there any decent estimates how much maintenance of the royal family and estate cost during her reign, and how that compares with previous monarchs? And any analyses of how much of that was recouped with their value as a tourist/media attraction.
(Apologies if this encroaches on the 20-year rule)
I think this counts as being about Queen Elizabeth. The BBC presenter earlier mentioned that she had more Scottish kings in her ancestry than English. Could anyone expand?
I’m assuming it has to do with the generations between Henry VII and James VI & I. Is there more to it than that?
Why did she marry Prince philip ? Was it love or did his lineage affect it? If she didn’t marry philip who else could’ve been considered
Queen Elizabeth met 13 sitting US presidents during her lifetime. Is this the highest number of sitting presidents any one person has met?
What's up with all the hate towards her? I see tons of reactions about her being a war criminal, her being responsible for deaths of many Africans, Indians, and other people from her dominions, her being imperialist, etc. What role, except representative, did she play in the foreign and colonial policy of the British empire under her rule? Sure, we could discuss the monarchy historically, but where does her own responsibility lie? Did she make any decisions for which she deserves these labels?
Why did the Queen received Ceaucescu in UK? What was the purpose?
Were there any cases where under her the monarchy interfered with democracy? Any times that her power was actually used?
Did Elizabeth really play videogames? I have heard it being said that she played the Wii, but is that just a myth?
And, with that, how did she see innovations such as videogames? She saw a lot of different technologies in her lifetime - from fliphones to VR - what did she think of it all?
How has the British Republican movement changed over the course of her reign?
Did she influence any important political decisions made by prime ministers? For example, did she have a say when uk decided to support usa in iraq.
In the news coverage of her death, a reporter noted that she had met with all 14 US Presidents who served during her reign - except for LBJ. Was there a reason for this?
Do we have any concrete evidence of how much (or when) Elizabeth knew about her uncle, Edward VIII, and his activities that condoned Nazism? Is there any evidence she acted to either stop or promote the dissemination of photos and testimony of his visit to the Reich?
What are some good books about the Queen and her life and opinions?
I saw a meme elsewhere on Reddit that stated that despite her long reign, the Queen never saw the Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl (because it never happened and not just because the Queen never saw it, for those who aren’t big NFL fans). Are there any noteworthy events that one might have expected to happen during the Queen’s reign but never did, or activities or events that one would expect that the Queen did or participated in, but she did not?
What were Queen Elizabeth’s most significant achievements? Like what will she be known the most for?
Alot of people right now are bringing up how she is implicit in the crimes of monarchy. How much power and influence did she have on some of the UK's more conteoversial history. Was she a figurehead or did she explicitly endorse and arrange what we now consider to be crimes against humanity?
Found this image on Twitter suggesting that Elizabeth II was a decedent of the prophet Mohammad. Is this actually accurate?
Was the fact that Queen Elizabeth never visited Israel a deliberate move on her post? If yes, do we know why she never visited?
Was she the longest ruler we've known? Has any other monarch ruled more than 70 years? Seems so unlikely
I've heard people say she contributed to WW2 (as a Nurse I believe), but not many specifics. What did she actually do during that period?
Someone once told me anecdotally that necause there were more Queen Elizabeth's in Scotland, she would have Elizabeth V or VI in Scotland, and that Scottist nationalists used to graffiti Elizabeth I signs to read V or Vi (not sure what the number would be). Anyone can shed any light on this?
A'ight, I've got a tangentially related question.
Queen Elizabeth II was commonly joked as being an immortal of some flavor. Now, obviously that's not true, but my question is: what other historical figures do we know of who lived to old ages and were presented like fixtures of reality, as if they were never going to die? These would be individuals whose associated groups felt fondness towards them, I would think.
Did Queen Elizabeth II have any involvement with British colonization or was that all of Parliament’s doing?
I saw that the Tel Aviv city hall lit up a Union Jack flag pattern. What were the Queen's feelings on the establishment of Israel?
The Crown and other British dramas are probably very good propaganda and PR but a common theme is "one more scandal and the monarchy is done for" was the reign of Elizabeth II really that tenuous and the monarchy that brittle? Or are the producers overemphasizing or over exaggerating the importance of the monarchy?
From Wikipedia, I read that "Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family." Why was he the one who renounced his titles and converted, and not her instead? I'm not saying I think it should have been her; I'm just wondering what determines which spouse gives up their titles and converts to the other's religion?
Edit: Never mind this question. I just realized I accidentally swapped the timing of her marriage vs. the timing of her father becoming king. The reason I asked the question was because it was not obvious she would become queen when she was younger, but once Edward VIII took the throne things moved very quickly.
I've seen a lot of people talk about how good it must feel to be Irish right now. But in comparison to someone like Thatcher the queen seemed to avoid directly influencing policy. What impact if any did the queen have on British policy regrading Ireland. Both during and after the Troubles?
Sorry if this doesn’t quite fit with the rules, but what, if any, precedent is there for members of the commonwealth to split off with the coronation of a new monarch? Given that some constituents currently aren’t happy with the arrangement, what would the process look like to leave the commonwealth? How would it differ/be similar to former British colonies declaring independence and not joining the commonwealth?
Given the history of the British empire and the overlap between that and her reign, what was her role as the British monarch? What colonial and military horrors did she oversee, and/or have a role in?
Is she responsible for British decolonization? If so, how much has she contributed?
After the Accession Council, Garter King of Arms, accompanied by the Earl Marshal (who is responsible for the ceremonial arrangements relating to the Proclamation), other Officers of Arms and the Sergeants at Arms, will read the Proclamation from the Balcony above Friary Court, St James’s Palace. Gun salutes will coincide with the Proclamation.
From the Accession Council of the Privy Council’s website.
What year did the gun salute become part of the ceremony and what would it have looked like before then?
What was the involvement of the queen in the dismissal of Gough Whitlam as prime minister of Australia in 1975?
What was the Queen’s role in transitioning colonies to independent states?
Was she a good person? Where there any scandals surrounding her that were proven to be true?
How much of a role did she have in colonial violence during her reign? I read on Twitter she ordered her troops to violently suppress any dissent in South Yemen after the 1963 uprising, and that she spent years travelling travelling around the empire trying to crush the independence movements, but did she actually have the power to do so?
Besides playing the US National Anthem after 9/11 at Birmingham Palace, what other moments of friendship have the US and the Queen shared?
How much responsibility does Queen Elizabeth II carry for the atrocities carried out by the British government during her tenure as head of state?
I suppose what I'm asking refers to her status as a figurehead. How much actual capacity did she have for affecting policy? I'm asking this question largely in response to the scorn directed at her by the descendants of people affected by British colonial policies. Quite aside from being the beneficiary of those policies, I'm wondering how much actual power, or influence, she actually had as the Crown, that she could have used to sway policy in any direction.
Are they going to remint all their currency?
Some people have ascribed to the Queen an element of personal responsibility for British atrocities in Kenya and elsewhere, while others have claimed the Queen was so powerless that if she exercised her authority to overrule Parliament there would be a constitutional crisis. So between these extremes of so powerful as to have personal responsibility and so powerless as to have no authority, where was she?
I've heard that since no written law explicitly regulates what the monarch could not do, the queen actually retained some important powers (which she did not use in her lifetime), such as dissolving the parliament in case of emergency, or vetoing a bill by not signing. Was that true? And was Queen Elizabeth II ever forced to consider such extreme measures?
How has the role of Monarch changed from a few years before she took the throne to today?
Has anyone who served with her during her time in the Territorial Auxiliary ever speak about their time with her? Did she ever attend veterans events with the women who served with her?
How much power did Queen Elizabeth II actually have and how did that change during her reign? Was she just a figurehead or did she have some ability to influence policy?
What was the Queen's role in the atrocities in Biafra?
I keep hearing about the terrible shit she did in South Yemen and certain African Countries. The Economic Freedom Fighters just released a statement shit talking her for her part in the colonization of Africa.
Can I get a broad strokes crash course on the bad things she did in those areas before 2002?
Read in a Smithsonian article that "against the advice of royal advisers, Philip and Elizabeth fell in love."
What were Elizabeth's advisor's objections?
What was her cause of death? I keep searching on Google but I can't find any answers
Why did Queen Elizabeth II not meet with LBJ? Was the decision based on politics at the time between the U.S. and the U.K.? Or was there a more personal social reason as to why the two did not meet?
How much direct influence did QEII have over the various independence movement that British colonies had over the years of her reign. I often hear it said that she was somewhat more peaceful in reliquinishing her power than her predecessors.
Since there are people asking about her diet and other minutiae I'll shoot. What do we know about Elizabeth II's sexual Life?
In "The Crown", one episode pertains to Elizabeth seeking a tutor for "general education", as she felt ignorant in conversation. I recall that her education to that point had centered on the Constitution, and that she had learned little else despite having a personal tutor.
Was this representation accurate? And would the monarch admitting to ignorance have been considered shameful? And how far did she go with her "general education"?
How come Prince Philip was not made Prince Consort when Elizabeth became Queen, and was only made a British Prince several years later?
Was there any public or political reaction to a young female monarch taking over from an older male one, given attitudes at the time
How does the mourning and accession ritual and pageantry compare to those following the deaths of previous UK sovereigns? Especially more recent ones like George V and VI?
Does anyone know what the papers/diaries and future archival footprint might be like? Did she keep a diary? Are the papers she ws circulated going to end up in Kew with everything else? Do people know if she wrote her thoughts down at all.
I was under the impression that at the accession we’d hear ‘The Queen is dead. Long live the King’.
Is this a myth, or did I miss it?
someone explain what did she do that was so horrible
I'm having discussions with some Vietnamese people about her implications about the French Colonial powers in Indochina and subsequent Vietnam war. And I can't find conclusive arguments on the internet.
Could someone tell me what was her position in this and how is she implicated in that period of South East Asian colonial regimes?
Was she secretly a lesbian?
What was the Queen's net worth 20 years ago?
