Queen Elizabeth 11, who marked70 years on the throne as a British monarch on Sunday, February 6, has announced her successor.
Queen Elizabeth who surpassed a milestone never reached by any of her predecessors for the last 1,000 years announced Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as the Queen Consort when Charles is eventually crowned as King.
It is also a milestone which only a few monarchs across the globe have ever achieved.
The record holders were King Louis XIV of France and King Sobhuza II of Swaziland.
Louis XIV who built the palace of Versailles reigned for 72 years. Sobhuza reigned for almost 83 years until his death in 1982.
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Elizabeth, 95, became the queen of Britain and more than a dozen other realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand on the death of her father King George VI on February 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on an international tour.
The news was broken to her by her husband Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99 after more than seven decades by her side.
Elizabeth will mark ‘Accession Day’ in private as is customary, not viewing it as something to celebrate. But there will be four days of national events to mark her Platinum Jubilee in June.
“While it is a moment for national celebration, it will be a day of mixed emotions for Her Majesty as the day also marks 70 years since the death of her beloved father George VI,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament on Wednesday, thanking the monarch for “her tireless service”.
Elizabeth has continued to carry out official duties well into her 90s, but has been little seen in public since she spent a night in hospital last October for an unspecified ailment and was then instructed by doctors to rest.
However, Buckingham Palace on Friday released footage ahead of Sunday’s landmark, showing her viewing items from previous royal jubilees, such as a fan given to her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria to mark her 50th year on the throne in 1887, signed by family, friends and politicians.
Ironically Elizabeth was not destined to be monarch at her birth, and only became queen because her uncle Edward VIII abdicated to be with American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
But in 2015, she overtook Victoria as Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign in a line that traces its origin back to Norman King William I and his 1066 conquest of England.
“Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones – my own is no exception,” Elizabeth said in 2015, adding that the record was not one “to which I have ever aspired”.
Her son and heir Prince Charles said it was a moment other people were more excited about than she was.
While small in stature – standing at 5ft 3ins according to reports – she has been a towering figure in Britain for seven decades. During that time she has overseen huge social, economic and political change, including the end of the British Empire.
When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were running the Soviet Union, China and the United States, respectively, while Winston Churchill was British prime minister.
Including Churchill, she has been served by 14 prime ministers – a quarter of all there have been in Britain since Robert Walpole 300 years ago. During her reign, there have been 14 U.S. presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson.
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II has announced Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as the Queen Consort when Charles is eventually crowned as King.
The statement ends years of uncertainty about what role Charles’ wife would have in the future of the monarchy.
Princess Diana would have automatically been granted the title Queen Consort had she lived and the couple stayed married. But it was never certain that, as his second wife, Camilla would receive the same title even though she was the one he loved.
In an historic Platinum Jubilee statement, Queen Elizabeth said ‘’Tomorrow, 6th February, marks the 70th anniversary of my Accession in 1952. It is a day that, even after 70 years, I still remember as much for the death of my father, King George VI, as for the start of my reign.
As we mark this anniversary, it gives me pleasure to renew to you the pledge I gave in 1947 that my life will always be devoted to your service.
As I look ahead with a sense of hope and optimism to the year of my Platinum Jubilee, I am reminded of how much we can be thankful for.
”These last seven decades have seen extraordinary progress socially, technologically and culturally that have benefitted us all; and I am confident that the future will offer similar opportunities to us and especially to the younger generations in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth.
”I am fortunate to have had the steadfast and loving support of my family. I was blessed that in Prince Philip I had a partner willing to carry out the role of consort and unselfishly make the sacrifices that go with it. It is a role I saw my own mother perform during my father’s reign.
”This anniversary also affords me a time to reflect on the goodwill shown to me by people of all nationalities, faiths and ages in this country and around the world over these years. I would like to express my thanks to you all for your support.
”I remain eternally grateful for, and humbled by, the loyalty and affection that you continue to give me. And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.
”And so as I look forward to continuing to serve you with all my heart, I hope this Jubilee will bring together families and friends, neighbours and communities – after some difficult times for so many of us – in order to enjoy the celebrations and to reflect on the positive developments in our day-to-day lives that have so happily coincided with my reign.’
Your Servant
Elizabeth R.
