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宪法地位
在英国，伊丽莎白二世的王位是根据1701年的《王位继承法》（Act of Settlement 1701）继承的，她是一名基督教新教徒，并且也未嫁给一名罗马天主教徒。尽管英国的王位一般是血缘继承，但是英国的国会自1688年光荣革命以后就一直有权决定谁来继承王位。（见英国王位继承）
在认可伊丽莎白二世为国家元首的15个英联邦国家中，她作为国家元首的地位是受到宪法承认的。原先这些国家都曾是英国的殖民地或自治领地。之前的《威斯敏斯特法令》（Statute of Westminster）用来区分英国的殖民地和英帝国的自治领，根据该法令，“任何可能改变王位继承和王室头衔的法律都必须在获得英国议会和所有自治领议会的同意后才可实施。”而这15个在独立后继续承认女王（或国王）为其国家元首的国家事实上取得了近似于这种自治领的地位，虽然根据《威斯敏斯特法令》这些国家并非自治领，也无权单独决定改变继承方法。当伊丽莎白二世去世后她的后人将根据这些国家的宪法成为其国家元首，而非根据继承原则。
以伊丽莎白二世为国家元首的16个国家：
* 安提瓜和巴布达
* 澳大利亚
* 巴哈马
* 巴巴多斯
* 伯利兹
* 加拿大
* 格林纳达
* 牙买加
* 新西兰（自1981年，作为新西兰国家元首的英王，兼任科克群岛的元首）
* 巴布亚新几内亚
* 圣基茨和尼维斯
* 圣卢西亚
* 圣文森特和格林纳丁斯
* 所罗门群岛
* 图瓦卢
* 英国
早年生活
伊丽莎白二世出生在伦敦外祖父母的家中，她的曾祖母是丹麦的亚历山德拉王后，祖母是玛丽王后。她的父亲当时还是约克公爵，10年后成为国王乔治六世。
伊丽莎白在其母亲约克公爵夫人的督导下在家中接受教育。她的历史老师C·H·K·马丁是伊顿公学校长，除此之外她还学习各种语言（她的法语讲得很流利）。坎特伯雷大主教为她提供神学方面的指点，她一直是名虔诚的圣公会会友。
1936年伊丽莎白的伯父爱德华八世退位，她的父亲继位为国王，成为乔治六世，她也立即成为王位的继承人。第二次世界大战爆发时伊丽莎白13岁，她与妹妹玛格利特公主都到苏格兰的巴尔莫勒尔避难。当时有人建议两位公主应该到加拿大避难，遭她们母亲反对：“孩子们不能在没有我的情况下离开，我不能在没有国王的情况下离开，而国王不能在任何情况下离开。”1940年伊丽莎白公主首次发表广播，对象的是所有避难中的孩子。
1945年伊丽莎白公主说服父亲，允许她直接参与协助打赢战争。她参与了一个支援战争的妇女团体，在那里她的编号是第230873号伊丽莎白·温莎第二中尉。这是她第一次与其他孩子共同受训。据说她本人非常喜欢这次经验，也正是因为这次的经验，使她之后将自己的孩子送到学校上学，而不是让他们在家学习。
1947年伊丽莎白首次外访，她与她的父母亲到了南非。在她21岁生日那天她对英联邦和帝国做了广播，宣誓将终身投入到对英联邦和帝国人民的服务中。
1947年12月20日伊丽莎白与希腊的菲利普王子结婚。菲利普是她的第三代表哥，他俩的高祖母都是维多利亚女王（菲利普王子在结婚前宣誓放弃希腊王位的继承权，在菲利普王子这个头衔之前他没有任何头衔，就叫作菲利普·蒙巴顿中尉）。伊丽莎白又同时持有爱丁堡公爵夫人的称号。这次婚事非常适合一位即将继承王位的女性，因为她的夫君接受过王室训练，却又不会继任另一国的王位。但是这桩婚姻却不是刻意安排的，两人的关系经历了许多考验，最终也是在她本人的坚持下达成的。这些考验包括菲利普不忠的流言，和伊丽莎白祖母和父母对于菲利普的四个姐姐们都是德国籍王妃所引起的猜忌。 当时健在的三位姐姐不被邀请出席弟弟的婚礼母亲由于在英国出生及成长则获准出席。
婚后夫妇两人居住在伦敦的克莱伦斯宫（Clarence Palace）。他们育有四个孩子（见下）。虽然英国的王朝被称为温莎王朝，但夫妇两人同意他们的孩子应该使用蒙巴顿-温莎（Mountbatten-Windsor）作为他们的姓氏。
从1951年起乔治六世的健康状况每况愈下，伊丽莎白开始代替父亲出席在公开场合中。那年她访问了希腊、意大利和马耳他（当时菲利普随军驻扎在此）。10月她又访问了加拿大和美国华盛顿。1952年1月伊丽莎白和菲利普又访问了澳大利亚与新西兰。2月6日他们在访问肯尼亚时得知伊丽莎白的父亲已经去世，在继位一刻她身处一家树上旅馆。她的加冕典礼于1953年6月2日在西敏寺举行。
女王生涯
在加冕之后伊丽莎白和丈夫菲利普搬到了伦敦市中心的白金汉宫。但是像之前所有的国王一样，伊丽莎白并不喜欢居住在白金汉宫。对她而言，位于伦敦西部的温莎城堡才是她的家。她也有相当一段时间是在苏格兰的巴尔莫勒尔城堡度过的。
伊丽莎白女王是英国历史上外访最多的国君。1953年至1954年她和菲利普花了半年时间周游世界，她也成为第一个访问澳大利亚、新西兰和斐济的在位君主。1957年10月她到美国进行国事访问，1959年则又访问了加拿大。1961年她首次访问印度和巴基斯坦。她访问过大多数欧洲国家和许多欧洲以外的地区，并经常出席英联邦首脑会议。
在伊丽莎白继位初期有许多人认为一个“新伊丽莎白时期”即将到来。但是事实上她必须面对的英国是一个分崩离析的落日帝国、逐渐衰弱的军事与经济强权和逐渐瓦解中的松散组织英联邦。她不断努力试图保持前殖民地与英国的特殊关系，在一些时候——例如南非——她为保持这种关系做出了重要的贡献。
伊丽莎白女王在宗教、道德标准和家庭事务上非常保守。她对待宗教责任十分严肃，并将她的加冕誓言看得很重。这是为什么她不太可能退位的原因之一。像她的母亲一样，伊丽莎白女王从来没有原谅爱德华八世选择退位，因为在她看来他抛弃了自己的职责，并迫使自己的父亲负担其这个责任，而这一责任又被视为是缩短其父亲寿命的罪魁祸首。她利用自己的权威阻止了她的妹妹玛格利特嫁给一个离过婚的男人。而多年来她也拒绝承认她的儿子查尔斯王储与情人卡米拉·帕克·鲍勒斯的关系。
政治上，她的立场则比较模糊，虽然她并非从未在公开场合上表达过她对政治的看法。她与所有政党中的许多政治人物都保持着友好的关系。一般认为她最喜欢的首相是温斯顿·丘吉尔、哈罗德·麦克米伦和哈罗德·威尔逊。她最不喜欢的首相当然是玛格丽特·撒切尔。她与前任首相，也是第一位在她继承王位之年出生的首相托尼·布莱尔的关系则相当不错。
女王只有在那些可能影响到英国统一的议题上公开她的立场。她曾表示支持英格兰与苏格兰继续保持统一，因此激怒了一些苏格兰民族主义者。她对北爱尔兰《贝尔法斯特协议》的赞誉也引起了很多联邦主义者的反对。
虽然王室其他成员经常引起许多争议，特别是女王的孩子们在1980年代和1990年代所经历的婚姻问题，但女王本人较少引发争议，并受到英国人民的尊敬和爱戴。虽然与过去相比有所放松，但她在公开场合中表现得依然十分正式。由于她在公开场合中不愿表达自己的情感，使得英国公众无法对她产生更深的感情。
伊丽莎白二世从来都没有不受到欢迎，至少没有比维多利亚女王在其统治时期更不受欢迎。唯一一次引起公众不满的是在1997年戴安娜王妃去世后，女王和王室其他成员并没有参加公众悼念活动。这引起许多一般都是亲王室的小报的批评，让英国人觉得王室冷漠、不近人情。
许多人认为，女王不太喜欢戴安娜，认为她破坏王室。最后由于巨大的公众压力，全体王室成员不得不在王妃的灵柩经过白金汉宫时向它鞠躬。女王也罕见地以电视直播的形式表达对戴安娜去世的哀悼。伊丽莎白二世的这种改变可能是王太后和布莱尔游说的结果。
1997年以后伊丽莎白二世就重新获得了之前那种受人尊敬的国家元首之形象。2002年全国为她庆祝登基50年大典，当年她巡游了全英国，对多个英联邦国家做了国事访问，还出席了多场游行活动与音乐会。6月，数千人聚集在白金汉宫外参加名为“王宫派对”的活动，全英各地的许多音乐家都云集在此表演。庆祝活动期间王太后却不幸去世。
在母亲和妹妹去世后，她与子女的关系有所亲近。她与媳妇威塞克斯伯爵夫人的关系特别融洽。不过她与儿子查尔斯王储还是很少见面。虽然她不支持王储与卡米拉的关系，但最近她曾多次公开暗示已经能够接纳卡米拉。另一方面她与孙子孙女之间的关系非常亲密，特别是威廉王子和扎拉·菲利普斯。
2003年，一向身体健康的女王进行了三项手术。1月她动手术移除了右膝盖破碎的软骨，12月又在左膝盖进行了类似的手术，并又修补了脸部的器官损害。外界曾经猜测这是由于皮肤癌引起的，不过白金汉宫表示女王并无大碍。
最近的一系列手术让人担忧伊丽莎白女王操劳过度，应该多加休息。虽然女王已经年届80，但她本人已经公开表示无意退位。许多接近伊丽莎白的人说女王不可能自行退位。但是她同意让她的子女负担更多国事活动。她也开始减少外访次数（一般来说她每年都会做两次国事访问和两次英联邦国家的访问）。但像她的母亲，她只有到身体无法负荷的那天才会停止工作。
最近几年公众发现伊丽莎白女王在公众场合表现出更多的情绪。虽然她大多数时候还是保持国君的庄严形象，但她开始在公众场合微笑，并在为911事件死难者举行的西敏寺悼念会上流泪。
2007年，女王的专用频道在短片分享网站YouTube启播，除播放多辑王室珍贵片段外，更首次在网上播放女王的圣诞文告，纪念她首次发表电视圣诞文告50周年。白金汉宫表示，女王开创先河，上载片段到网站，是希望将讯息传递给更多人，拉近和年轻一代的距离。。
2008年，英国王室高级消息来源称，82岁的女王已经改变了“永不退位”的承诺，她计划在2013年自己87岁时正式退位，从而将王位传给查尔斯王子。王室消息来源称，女王已经告诉查尔斯王子，她准备让他提前成为英国国王。但女王本人目前尚末证实这一点，亦有外界对女王将会退位的说法抱有怀疑。而白金汉宫发言人则表示女王过去一直表示，她不会退位，她的这一观点目前并没有发生改变。。
政治角色
作为国家元首，女王保护宪法执行的。在向内的职责上，女王在英国发挥国家职能中的一部分。例如为议会开幕、批准枢密院令、签署议会法案以及会见首相等等。在外向的职责上，女王在世界其他地方代表英国。例如接受外国大使和高级专员，接待来访的国家元首，并访问海外其他国家，支持英国与世界各国的外交和经济关系。
一般认为，女王在现行英国君主立宪制当中具备咨询权、褒奖权及警告权。现时，女王在政治上仍有着重要影响力，特别是在政治危机中，女王往往发挥了超党派的稳定和平衡的作用。这在1990年玛格丽特·撒切尔在保守党影响下被迫下台一事可见一斑。
女王是立法程式中的重要组成部分，她与上议院和下议院共同构成了完整的英国国会。女王能够合法地批准或否决法案，但是自1707年以来就从来没有一个英国君主曾经否决过法案。在每年新一届议会开幕是女王也按惯例需要发表讲话，勾划该年度的立法议程，但是这些讲稿都由她的大臣们负责撰写。
女王在行政上也具有其代表性。英国政府被称为“女王陛下的政府”（Her Majesty's Government），程式上是由女王负责任命大臣。但事实上女王不能任意选择大臣、官员。女王在首相要求下亦可执行解散议会的权力，以便进行大选。而在大选中取得胜利的政党领袖，则须待女王邀请其成为新一任首相。首相一职一般由下议院多数党领袖担任，然后由首相“建议”女王任命其他内阁成员。而英国政府并非向女王负责，它向下议院负责，即间接地向英国选民负责。女王也参与到国家的司法体制中，法庭以她的名义行事，政府亦以女王的名义提起公诉。
但是女王作为国家元首不能被起诉或控告，她作为个人亦不能被控告（尽管“君主”作为一个法律实体是可以被控告的）。不过在英国法律中女王却是一个自然人，必须像其他所有人一样遵守法律。但是女王是否能够在触犯法律时被控告却是未定的。在17世纪的英国革命期间，议会曾经控告查理一世叛国，但在查理二世上台后整个过程被宣告非法。
几乎每一位与她工作过的首相都给予女王极高的评价。自她登基的那天起她每天平均花三个小时在国事上，阅读各个部门和首相府送来的档。正因如此，她可以向首相提供许多有益的忠告。而首相必须每周会见女王，这种会面是十分正式且严肃的。对首相来说，与女王的会面可能要比接收下议院质询更加重要，因为首相给女王的汇报往往更加详细、坦诚。即使是反对君主制的首相们也十分看重与女王的会面。事实上，每一任首相都对与女王的会面给予极高评价。前首相托尼·布莱尔就曾表示，女王的建议之所以富价值，是因为她超人的精明和对世界事务的独特观察。
军事角色
女王担任武装部队的最高统帅，是唯一的人宣布战争与和平。英国军人在入伍时，在陆军和空军都要求军队成员，英国皇家空军成员和皇家海军陆战队成员宣誓效忠女王。女王对所有武装部队有浓厚的兴趣，无论是在英国和英联邦。她承诺定期访问军方场所和船只，以满足在国内和海外的军人和他们的家庭。
女王和其他王室成员会在武装部队中担任各种荣誉职务。女王亦会与英国国防部参谋长和各参谋长定期开会。她亦透过她的国防事务秘书，保持与军方的联系。此外，当英国卷入战争当中时，军人及其家属往往喜欢写信给女王，表示他们知道自己是在为英国和女王而战。
社会角色
女王需要履行重要的社会和文化职能。女王为民族提供了一个焦点，并促进民族团结和自豪感，使国家具稳定性和连续性。此外，女王亦特别支持公共服务和志愿部门。通过“定期走访”，女王走到联合王国每一部分，并够作为一个焦点，代表着民族的团结。
在国家庆典或悲剧，女王公开代表国家的情绪。例如，在每年在战争死难者纪念日上致哀，或在庆祝活动上庆祝国家的体育胜利。女王还会主持“花园派对”邀请宾来自各种背景的嘉宾出席，其中大多数是社区慈善机构或公共部门组织的服务代表。女王还支持人民服务他人，并担任各慈善机构的赞助人或作为主席。
支持度
女王一直获英国民众的支持及爱戴。据2001年英国广播公司的调查显示，83%英国民众承认女王极具责任感；79%民众认为女王在海外出色地代表了英国；90%以上民众认为女王工作表现出色、良好或一般，而只有9%民众认为女王工作表现差。而据2008年英国广播公司委托民调机构的调查显示，约78%的民众认为英国应该继续保有王室，80%的被访者则认为英国在30年内应该实行君主制。
个人形象
女王在普遍英国人心目中，是国家团结的象征。而她的端正品行，亦往往是为全体国民树立个人行为操守的典范。另外，女王亦时常在一年一度的圣诞节的广播谈话当中，鼓励国民互相帮助及彼此团结。
作为君主，女王仪态庄重，一丝不苟，而且总是非常严肃。她从来不打哈欠，也从来不会显得坐立不安。女王从未接受过媒体采访，因此除了少数曾与女王对话过的外国元首外，很少有人知道她的政治立场与观点。据报导女王的朋友很少，她宁愿与马和威尔士柯基犬作伴。女王的着装十分保守，并以老百姓能清楚看见她为准则。女王喜欢单色外套和各种不同的帽子。她很少改变自己的外形，例如在她继位后她的发型就很少改变。她的个人形象与公众疏远，因此经常成为漫画家和模仿演员讽刺的题材。
虽然女王经常出席各种文化活动，但据称在她的私人时间内她对艺术不太感兴趣，宁愿将整个晚上的时间花在拼板游戏上也不愿从事其他艺术活动。她对音乐和绘画的冷漠招致许多文艺评论家的批评，他们形容女王为“没有审美感的国君”。女王喜欢赛马人所共知，她到马场时会下注。看赛马时，她从不掩饰紧张心情，就跟普通马迷一样会高举双臂，为心水马匹打气。
外交场合上女王非常正式，与她会面时的礼仪繁多。任何较亲密的交流，例如触碰，都是不被允许的。因此，前澳大利亚总理基廷在一次女王访问澳大利亚时轻轻搂着女王的腰，尽管他个人辩称是一种对长者的尊重表现，亦被保王派指为“对女王不敬”。
理论上，当面见女王时，男士须深深鞠躬，女士则需行屈膝礼，而托尼·布莱尔夫人切丽·布莱尔则曾有些冒犯女王之举。1997年，切丽·布莱尔首次前往巴尔莫勒尔堡，在晋见女王时不仅没向女王行屈膝礼，还穿长裤没穿裙子。据称，这事令王太后深觉受到冒犯。另外，会见女王时亦不应该主动上前与她握手，除非她首先伸出手。此外，一旦女王用餐完毕，其他宾客必须停止用餐。所以女王往往保持有一些食物在碟中。
不过在私底下有报道却称女王非常喜欢一些“有伤风化”的幽默，她的侍女们还经常向她“报告”王宫内新的小道传闻。私底下的女王非常平易近人，并且真心关切为她工作的侍从们，据称女王非常清楚她的侍女们及侍从们的名字。很多应邀参加过王室活动的人士告诉媒体，其实女王很有幽默感，很喜欢别人说笑话，很会模仿名人，也经常会捧腹大笑。
祖先
伊丽莎白二世的祖上就都是英国君主，最早可以追溯到7世纪的威塞克斯王朝。她同时也是苏格兰王室的后裔，最早可追溯到公元9世纪。她与欧洲历史最悠久的丹麦王室也有关系，她的曾祖母亚历山德拉王后就是丹麦的公主。她还与欧洲大部分王室都有血缘关系，与她是表兄弟姐妹的国君包括丹麦女王玛格丽特二世、挪威国王哈罗德五世、西班牙国王胡安·卡洛斯一世和瑞典国王卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫，而比利时国王艾伯特二世更是她的远房堂叔。此外她与之前的希腊王室、罗马尼亚王室、德国王室和俄国王室也都有血缘关系。
女王的子孙
下列是女王的子女及子孙：
* 查尔斯·菲利普·阿瑟·乔治（1948年11月14日出生），威尔士亲王，1981年7月29日与苏格兰贵族戴安娜·斯宾塞小姐结婚，1996年8月28日离婚，在2005年4月9日与相恋多时的卡米拉结婚。
o 威廉·亚瑟·菲利普·路易斯（1982年6月21日出生）
o 亨利·查尔斯·艾伯特·大卫（1984年9月15日出生）
* 安妮·伊丽莎白·爱莉斯·路易斯（1950年8月15日出生），王室长公主，1973年12月14日与马克·安东尼·彼得·菲利普斯结婚，1992年4月28日离异，1992年12月12日又与蒂姆西·劳伦斯结婚
o 彼得·马克·安德鲁·菲利普斯（1977年11月15日出生）
o 扎拉·安妮·伊丽莎白·菲利普斯（1981年5月15日出生）
* 安德鲁·艾伯特·克里斯汀·爱德华（1960年2月19日出生），约克公爵，1986年7月23日与莎拉·玛格利特·弗格森结婚，1996年5月30日离婚
o 比阿特丽斯·伊丽莎白·玛丽（1988年8月8日出生）
o 欧吉妮·维多利亚·海伦娜（1990年3月23日出生）
* 爱德华·安东尼·理查德·路易斯（1964年3月10日出生），威塞克斯伯爵，1999年6月19日与苏菲·利丝琼斯结婚
o 路易斯·爱丽丝·伊丽莎白·玛丽（2003年11月8日出生）
o 詹姆斯·亚历山大·菲利普·提奥(2007年12月17日出生)
女王的两个外孙，彼得和扎拉·菲利普斯没有王室头衔，这在英国历史上十分罕见。出现这种情况的原因有两个：第一个是英国的王室头衔是从父亲继承的，而安妮公主的前夫马克·菲利普斯是一介平民，虽然当两人结婚之时，女王曾经要册封马克·菲利普斯为伯爵，但是遭到马克·菲利普斯的拒绝，因此他的孩子们也就都是平民。第二个原因是：当彼得与扎拉·菲利普斯出生之时，女王也曾经要册封两个外孙与外孙女王子与郡主的封号，但是遭到安妮公主的反对，因为她不想要她的儿女在出生的时候就有王室头衔，因此彼得与扎拉·菲利普斯至今仍然没有王室头衔。
在位 1952年2月6日 – 至今
(57岁 238天)
加冕 1953年6月2日
前任 乔治六世
皇储 威尔士亲王查尔斯
配偶 爱丁堡公爵菲利普亲王
子嗣
威尔士亲王查尔斯
安妮长公主
约克公爵安德鲁王子
爱德华韦塞克斯伯爵爱德华王子
全名
伊丽莎白·亚历山德拉·玛丽·温莎
王室 温莎王朝
受洗 1926年5月29日
英国 英国伦敦白金汉宫
父亲 乔治六世
母亲 伊丽莎白·鲍斯-莱昂
出生 1926年4月21日 (1926-04-21) （83岁）
英国 英国伦敦梅菲尔
Elizabeth was educated privately at home. Her father, George VI, became King-Emperor of the British Empire in 1936. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and Indian independence George VI's title of Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution of the Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
In 1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a symbol of the free association of the independent countries comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and constitutional monarch of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 58 years is one of the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.
In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her annus horribilis, meaning horrible year, two of her sons separated from their wives, her daughter divorced, and a severe fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle. Revelations on the state of her eldest son Charles's marriage continued, and he divorced in 1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticised the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before Diana's funeral, but Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in public and has since remained high. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002 respectively, and planning for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is underway.
Early life
Elizabeth was the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth. Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She was born by Caesarean section at 2.40 am (GMT) on 21 April 1926 at her maternal grandfather's London house: 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair; and was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Lang, on 29 May.[N 2] She was named Elizabeth after her mother, Alexandra after George V's mother, and Mary after her grandmother. Her close family called her "Lilibet". George V cherished his granddaughter, and during his serious illness in 1929 her regular visits raised his spirits and were credited with aiding his recovery.
Elizabeth's only sibling was Princess Margaret, born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as "Crawfie". To the dismay of the royal family, Crawford later published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Such observations were echoed by others: Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved".
Heiress presumptive
As a granddaughter of the monarch in the male line, Elizabeth's full style at birth was Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. She was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle, Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as the Prince of Wales was still young, and it was widely assumed that he would marry and have children of his own. In 1936, when her grandfather, the King, died and her uncle Edward succeeded, she became second in line to the throne after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Elizabeth's father became king, and she became heiress presumptive, with the style Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth.
Elizabeth received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from a succession of native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with girls her own age. Later she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.
In 1939, Elizabeth's parents toured Canada and visited the United States. As in 1927, when her parents had toured Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth remained in Britain as the King thought her too young to undertake public tours. Elizabeth "looked tearful" as her parents departed. They corresponded regularly, and on 18 May, she and her parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call.
Second World War
From September 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret, stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, until Christmas 1939, when they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk. From February to May 1940, they lived at Royal Lodge, Windsor, until moving to Windsor Castle, where they stayed for most of the next five years. The suggestion by senior politician Lord Hailsham that the two princesses should be evacuated to Canada was rejected by Elizabeth's mother; she declared, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave." At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which purchased yarn to knit into military garments. It was from Windsor in 1940 that the 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities. She stated:
We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.
In 1943, at the age of 16, Elizabeth undertook her first solo public appearance on a visit to the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed Colonel-in-Chief the previous year. In February 1945, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, as an honorary Second Subaltern with the service number of 230873. She trained as a driver and mechanic, drove a military truck, and was promoted to honorary Junior Commander five months later. She is the last surviving head of state who served in uniform during the Second World War.
During the war, plans were drawn up to quell Welsh nationalism by affiliating Elizabeth more closely with Wales. Welsh politicians proposed that Elizabeth be made Princess of Wales on her 18th birthday. The idea was supported by Home Secretary Herbert Morrison but rejected by the King on the grounds that such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince of Wales, and the Prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent (usually the Sovereign's eldest surviving son) while Elizabeth was only heir presumptive (and could be supplanted in the line of succession if the Sovereign had a son). In 1946, she was inducted into the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and her sister mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the streets of London. She later said in a rare interview, "we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised... I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief." Two years later, the princess made her first overseas tour, when she accompanied her parents to Southern Africa. On her 21st birthday, 21 April 1947, in a broadcast to the British Commonwealth from South Africa, she pledged: "I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
Marriage
Elizabeth met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934 and 1937. After another meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth – though only 13 years old – fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters. They married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. The couple are second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. Just before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style of His Royal Highness.
The marriage was not without controversy: Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born (though a British subject), and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Elizabeth's mother was reported, in later biographies, to have opposed the union initially, even dubbing Philip "The Hun". In later life, however, she told biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Elizabeth and Philip received 2500 wedding gifts from around the world, but the country had not yet completely rebounded from the devastation of the war. She still required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown, designed by Norman Hartnell. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters. Ronald Storrs claimed that another notable absentee, Elizabeth's aunt, Mary, Princess Royal, refused to attend because her brother Edward, the former king, was not invited; she gave ill health as the official reason for not attending.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948, less than one month after letters patent were issued by her father allowing her children to enjoy a royal and princely status to which they otherwise would not have been entitled. A second child, Princess Anne, was born in 1950.
Following their wedding, the couple leased Windlesham Moor near Windsor Castle, until 4 July 1949, when they took up residence at Clarence House in London. At various times between 1949 and 1951, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in Malta (at that time a British Protectorate) as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently, for several months at a time, in the Maltese hamlet of Gwardamanġia, at the Villa Gwardamanġia, the rented home of Philip's uncle, Lord Mountbatten. The children remained in Britain.
Reign
Succession
George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited President of the United States Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C.; on the trip, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, carried a draft accession declaration for use if the King died while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand via Kenya. On 6 February 1952, they had just returned to their Kenyan residence Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father. Philip broke the news to the new queen. Martin Charteris asked her to choose a regnal name, to which she replied: "Elizabeth, of course." She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms, and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.
Elizabeth in crown and robes next to her husband in military uniform
Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, June 1953
With Elizabeth's accession it seemed likely that the royal house would bear her husband's name. Lord Mountbatten thought it would be the House of Mountbatten, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name on marriage; however, Queen Mary and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill favoured the retention of the House of Windsor, and so Windsor it remained. The Duke complained,"I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the surname Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles.
In the midst of preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret informed her sister that she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner 16 years older than Margaret with two sons from his previous marriage. The Queen asked them to wait for a year; in the words of Martin Charteris, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but I think she thought – she hoped – given time, the affair would peter out." Senior politicians were against the match, and the Church of England did not permit re-marriage after divorce. If Margaret contracted a civil marriage, she would have to renounce her right of succession. Eventually, she decided to abandon her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. They were divorced in 1978. She did not remarry.
Despite the death of Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, in accordance with Mary's wishes. The entire ceremony, except the anointing and communion, was televised, and the coverage was instrumental in boosting the medium's popularity; the number of television licences in the United Kingdom doubled to 3 million, and many of the more than 20 million British viewers watched television for the first time in the homes of their friends or neighbours. In North America, just under 100 million viewers watched recorded broadcasts. Elizabeth wore a gown commissioned from Norman Hartnell, which was embroidered with floral emblems for the countries of the Commonwealth: English Tudor rose, Scots thistle, Welsh leek, Irish shamrock, Australian wattle, Canadian maple leaf, New Zealand silver fern, South African protea, lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
Continuing evolution of the Commonwealth
Elizabeth witnessed, over her life, the ongoing transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of Elizabeth's accession in 1952, her role as nominal head of multiple independent states was already established. Spanning 1953–54, the Queen and her husband embarked on a six-month around-the-world tour. She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen the Queen. Throughout her reign Elizabeth has undertaken state visits to foreign countries, and tours of Commonwealth ones. She is the most widely travelled head of state in history.
In 1956, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden discussed the possibility of France joining the Commonwealth. The proposal was never accepted, and the following year France signed the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, the precursor of the European Union. In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten claimed the Queen was opposed to the invasion, though Prime Minister Eden denied it. Eden resigned two months later.
The absence of a formal mechanism within the Conservative Party for choosing a leader meant that, following Eden's resignation, it fell to the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government. Eden recommended that Elizabeth consult Lord Salisbury (the Lord President of the Council). Lord Salisbury and Lord Kilmuir (the Lord Chancellor) consulted the Cabinet, Winston Churchill, and the Chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, as a result of which the Queen appointed their recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan. Six years later, Macmillan himself resigned and advised the Queen to appoint the Earl of Home as Prime Minister, advice which she followed.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led in 1957 to the first real personal criticism of the Queen. In a magazine, which he owned and edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". Altrincham was denounced by public figures and physically attacked by a member of the public appalled at his comments. In 1963, the Queen again came under criticism for appointing the Prime Minister on the advice of a small number of ministers, or a single minister. In 1965, the Conservatives adopted a formal mechanism for choosing a leader, thus relieving her of any involvement.
In 1957, she made a state visit on behalf of the Commonwealth to the United States, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly. On the same tour she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first monarch of Canada to open a parliamentary session. Two years later, she revisited the States as a representative of Canada. In 1961, she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Iran. On a visit to Ghana the same year, she dismissed fears for her safety, even though her host President Kwame Nkrumah, who had replaced her as head of state, was a target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote: "The Queen has been absolutely determined all through... She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as... a film star... She has indeed 'the heart and stomach of a man'... She loves her duty and means to be a Queen."
Elizabeth and Pat Nixon walk out of a red-brick building in step
Elizabeth (left) with US First Lady Pat Nixon, 1970; President Nixon is hidden from view behind Elizabeth, next to British Prime Minister Edward Heath (far left)
Elizabeth's pregnancies with Princes Andrew and Edward, in 1959 and 1963, mark the only times she has not performed the State Opening of the British Parliament during her reign. Instead, Parliament was opened by Royal Commission and the Lord Chancellor delivered the speech from the throne.
The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. Over 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith declared unilateral independence in opposition to moves toward majority black rule. Although the Queen dismissed Smith in a formal declaration and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, Smith's regime survived for over a decade.
In February 1974, British Prime Minister Edward Heath called a general election in the middle of the Queen's tour of the Austronesian Pacific Rim, and she had to fly back to Britain interrupting the tour. The inconclusive result of the election meant that Heath, whose Conservative party had the largest share of the popular vote but no overall majority, could stay in office if he formed a coalition with the Liberals. Heath only resigned when discussions on forming a cooperative government foundered, after which the Queen asked the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.
A year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed from his post by Governor-General Sir John Kerr after the Opposition-controlled Senate rejected Whitlam's budget proposals. As Whitlam had a majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to the Queen to reverse Kerr's decision. Elizabeth declined, stating that it was not appropriate for her to intervene in affairs that are reserved for the Governor-General by the Constitution of Australia. The crisis fuelled Australian republicanism.
Silver Jubilee
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with the Queen's associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed the Queen's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her husband. In 1978, Elizabeth endured a state visit by the communist dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu. The following year brought two blows: one was the unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy; the other was the assassination of her relative and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
According to Paul Martin, Sr., by the end of the 1970s the Queen was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau was suspected of being in favour of a Canadian republic, which he publicly denied. In 1980, Canadian politicians sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution found the Queen "better informed on... Canada's constitutional case than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats". Patriation removed the role of the British parliament in the Canadian constitution, but the monarchy was retained. Trudeau said in his memoirs: "The Queen favoured my attempt to reform the Constitution. I was always impressed not only by the grace she displayed in public at all times, but by the wisdom she showed in private conversation."
1980
During the 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, and only six weeks before the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, six shots were fired at the Queen from close range as she rode down The Mall on her horse, Burmese. Later, it was discovered that the shots were blanks. The 17-year-old assailant, Marcus Sarjeant, was sentenced to five years in prison and released after three. The Queen's composure, and skill in controlling her mount, were widely praised. The following year, the Queen found herself in another precarious situation when she awoke in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael Fagan, in the room with her. Remaining calm, and through two calls to the palace police switchboard, Elizabeth spoke to Fagan while he sat at the foot of her bed until assistance arrived seven minutes later. From April to September that year, the Queen remained anxious but proud of her son, Prince Andrew, who was serving with British forces during the Falklands War. Though she hosted President Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle in 1982, and visited his Californian ranch in 1983, she was angered when his administration ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of her Caribbean realms, without her foreknowledge.
Intense media interest in the opinions and private lives of the royal family during the 1980s led to a series of sensational stories in the press, not all of which were entirely true.[N 3][N 4] It was reported that Elizabeth was worried that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's economic policies fostered social divisions, and was alarmed by high unemployment, a series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike, and Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa.[N 5] Thatcher reputedly said the Queen would vote for the Social Democratic Party—Thatcher's political opponents. Despite such speculation, Thatcher later conveyed her personal admiration for the Queen on film and in her memoirs. Further belying reports of acrimony between them, after Thatcher's replacement by John Major, Elizabeth gave two honours in her personal gift to Thatcher: the Order of Merit and the Order of the Garter. She also attended Thatcher's 70th and 80th birthday parties.
By the start of 1991, republican feeling had risen as a result of press estimates of the Queen's private wealth, which were contradicted by the palace, and reports of affairs and strained marriages among her extended family. The involvement of the younger royals in the charity game show It's a Royal Knockout was ridiculed, and the Queen was the target of satire.
1990
In 1991, in the wake of victory in the Gulf War, she became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the United States Congress. The following year, she attempted to save the failing marriage of her eldest son, Charles, by counselling him and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, to patch up their differences.
Behind her husband, Elizabeth holds a pair of spectacles to her mouth in a thoughtful pose
Prince Philip and Elizabeth II, October 1992
In a speech on 24 November 1992, to mark the 40th anniversary of her accession, the Queen called 1992 her "annus horribilis", meaning horrible year. In March, her second son Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York, separated. In April, her daughter Anne, Princess Royal, divorced her husband Captain Mark Phillips. During a state visit to Germany in October, angry demonstrators in Dresden threw eggs at her, and in November Windsor Castle suffered severe fire damage. The monarchy received increased criticism and public scrutiny. In an unusually personal speech, Elizabeth said that any institution must expect criticism but suggested it be done with "a touch of humour, gentleness and understanding". Two days later, Prime Minister John Major announced reforms of the royal finances that had been planned since the previous year, including the Queen paying income tax for the first time starting in 1993 and a reduction in the civil list. In December, Charles and Diana formally separated. The year ended with a lawsuit as the Queen sued The Sun newspaper for breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before its broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees, and donated £200,000 to charity.
Charles and Diana
In the ensuing years, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's marriage continued. At the end of December 1995, in consultation with Prime Minister Major, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, her private secretary Robert Fellowes, and her husband, she wrote to both Charles and Diana saying that a divorce was now desirable. A year after the divorce, which took place in 1996, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, the Queen was on holiday at Balmoral with her son and grandchildren. Diana's two sons wanted to attend church, and so their grandparents took them that morning.
After that single public appearance, for five days the Queen and the Duke shielded their grandsons from the intense press interest by keeping them at Balmoral where they could grieve in private. The royal family's seclusion caused public dismay. Pressured by the hostile public reaction, the Queen returned to London and agreed to a live broadcast to the world on 5 September, the day before Diana's funeral. In the broadcast, she expressed admiration for Diana, and her feelings "as a grandmother" for Princes William and Harry. As a result, much of the public hostility evaporated.
Golden Jubilee and beyond
In evening wear, Elizabeth and President Bush hold wine glasses of water and smile
Elizabeth II and George W. Bush share a toast during a state dinner at the White House, 7 May 2007
Elizabeth II (centre, in pink) during a walkabout in Queen's Park, Toronto, 6 July 2010
In 2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee as queen. Her sister and mother died in February and March, respectively, and the media speculated whether the Jubilee would be a success or a failure. She again undertook an extensive tour of her realms, which began in Jamaica in February, where she called the farewell banquet "memorable" after a power cut plunged the King's House, the official residence of the Governor-General, into darkness. As in 1977, there were street parties and commemorative events, and monuments were named to honour the occasion. A million people attended each day of the three-day main Jubilee celebration in London, and the enthusiasm shown by the public for Elizabeth was greater than many journalists had predicted.
Though Elizabeth has enjoyed good health throughout her life, in 2003 she had keyhole surgery on both knees, and in June 2005 she cancelled several engagements after contracting a bad cold. In October 2006, the Queen missed the opening of the new Emirates Stadium because of a strained back muscle that had been troubling her since the summer. Two months later, she was seen in public with a plaster on her right hand, which led to press speculation of ill health. She had been bitten by one of her corgis while she was separating two that were fighting.
In May 2007, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported claims from unnamed sources that the Queen was "exasperated and frustrated" by the policies of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that she had shown concern that the British Armed Forces were overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that she had raised concerns over rural and countryside issues with Blair repeatedly. She was, however, said to admire Blair's efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland. On 20 March 2008, at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the Queen attended the first Maundy Service held outside of England and Wales.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2007; their marriage is the longest of any British monarch. The Queen's reign is longer than those of her four immediate predecessors combined (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and George VI). She is the third-longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, the second-longest-serving current monarch of a sovereign state (after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand), and the oldest reigning British monarch. She has no intention of abdicating, though the proportion of public duties performed by Prince Charles may increase as Elizabeth reduces her commitments.
Elizabeth addressed the United Nations for a second time in 2010, 53 years after her first address, again in her capacity as queen of all of her realms and Head of the Commonwealth. She was introduced by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "an anchor for our age". In her speech, which followed a tour of Canada and was considered by her staff to be one of her most important recently, she said that she had "witnessed great change, much of it for the better... But", she continued, "The aims and values which inspired the United Nations Charter endure." She concluded, "In tomorrow's world, we must all work together as hard as ever if we are truly to be united nations." While in New York, she also officially opened a memorial garden for the British victims of the 11 September attacks.
Elizabeth plans to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, marking 60 years as Queen. Elizabeth could become the longest-lived British head of state (surpassing Richard Cromwell) on 29 January 2012 at age 85, and the longest-reigning monarch in the history of any of her realms as well as the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history (surpassing Queen Victoria, who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897) on 10 September 2015 at age 89.
Public perception and character
Since Elizabeth rarely gives interviews, little is known of her personal feelings. As a constitutional monarch, she has not expressed her own political opinions in a public forum. She does have a deep sense of religious and civic duty, and takes her coronation oath seriously. Aside from her official religious role as Supreme Governor of the established Church of England, she personally worships with that church and with the national Church of Scotland. She has demonstrated support for inter-faith relations, and has met with leaders of other religions, and granted her personal patronage to the Council of Christians and Jews. A personal note about her faith often features in her annual Royal Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth, such as in 2000, when she spoke about the theological significance of the millennium marking the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ:
accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example.
Elizabeth and Ronald Reagan on black horses. He bare-headed; she in a headscarf; both in tweeds, jodhpurs and riding boots.
Elizabeth II and Ronald Reagan riding at Windsor, 1982
Elizabeth is the patron of over 600 charities and other organisations. Her main leisure interests include equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Her clothes consist mostly of solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats, which allow her to be seen easily in a crowd.
In the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen". After the trauma of the war, it was a time of hope, a period of progress and achievement heralding a "new Elizabethan age". Lord Altrincham's accusation in 1957 that she was a "priggish schoolgirl" was an extremely rare criticism. In the late 1960s, attempts to portray a more modern image of monarchy were made in the television documentary Royal Family, and by televising Prince Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales. At her Silver Jubilee, the crowds and celebrations were genuinely enthusiastic, but in the 1980s public criticism of the royal family increased, as the personal and working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny. Elizabeth's popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s; under pressure from public opinion she began to pay income tax for the first time, and Buckingham Palace was opened to the public. Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, though the Queen's popularity rebounded after her live broadcast to the world five days after Diana's death. In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of state. Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007 revealed strong support for Elizabeth, and referendums in Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 both rejected proposals to abolish the monarchy.
Finance
Elizabeth's personal fortune has been the subject of speculation for many years. Forbes magazine estimated her net worth at around US$450 million in 2009, but official Buckingham Palace statements in 1993 called estimates of £100 million "grossly overstated", and Jock Colville estimated her wealth at £2 million in 1971 (the equivalent of about £21 million today). The Royal Collection, which includes artworks and the Crown Jewels, is not owned by the Queen personally and is held in trust, as are the occupied palaces in the United Kingdom such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, and the Duchy of Lancaster, a property portfolio valued at £348 million in 2010. As with many of her predecessors, Elizabeth is reported to dislike Buckingham Palace as a residence, and prefers Windsor Castle. Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are privately owned by the Queen. Income from the British Crown Estate – with holdings of £6.6 billion in 2010 – is transferred to the British treasury in return for Civil List payments. Both the Crown Estate and the Crown Land of Canada – comprising 89% of Canada's area – are owned by the Sovereign in trust for the nation, and cannot be sold or owned by Elizabeth in a private capacity.
Titles, styles, honours, and arm
Elizabeth has held titles throughout her life, as a granddaughter of the monarch, as a daughter of the monarch, through her husband's titles, and eventually as Sovereign. In common parlance, she is The Queen or Her Majesty. Officially, she has a distinct title in each of her realms: Queen of Canada in Canada, Queen of Australia in Australia, etc. In the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are Crown dependencies rather than separate realms, she is known as Duke of Normandy and Lord of Man respectively. Additional styles include Defender of the Faith and Duke of Lancaster. When in conversation with the Queen, the practice is to initially address her as Your Majesty and thereafter as Ma'am.
Elizabeth has received honours and awards from countries around the world, and has held honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, both before and after her accession.
Arm
From 21 April 1944, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a lozenge bearing the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre bearing a Tudor Rose and the first and third a cross of St. George. After her accession as Sovereign, she adopted the royal coat of arms undifferenced. The design of the shield is also used on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom. Elizabeth has personal flags for use in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, and elsewhere.