Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, in which the UK’s longest-serving queen celebrates 70 years of reign, will even have a pudding competition between the celebrations, but dessert shouldn’t be enough to take the bittersweet taste out of the 95-year-old’s mouth. years old.
Crowned at the age of 25, the young woman, who did not expect to be queen, gave way seven decades later to the matriarch of a family that now counts three generations after her. Her long reign, which in 2015 exceeded that of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), was one of few controversies involving Elizabeth herself, but endless scandals carried out by her many relatives and descendants.
The House of Windsor enters 2022, still not fully recovered from the blow of Harry and Meghan’s departure from their royal responsibilities, just under a year ago, and the explosive interview of the two with the presenter Oprah Winfrey, in which they suggested that the American was targeted. of racism by the royal family.
Even more serious is the situation of Prince Andrew (who is said to be Elizabeth’s favorite son), suspected of having abused teenagers trafficked by American Jeffrey Epstein. One of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, files a civil suit against the prince in the United States.
“Andrew’s scandal is by far the worst of Elizabeth’s reign. The Queen did the right thing to distance him from the royal family, even though it must have been very difficult for her personally,” says historian Elizabeth Norton, who studies British queens and is the author of “England’s Queens: The Biography” (The Queens of England: A Biography; Amberley, 2011). Personally, the Queen has also recently gone through the trauma of losing her husband Philip after 73 years of marriage.
The 70th anniversary of Elizabeth’s reign will be completed this Sunday (6), but most of the festivities will be in June, in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The British will have a holiday from 2 to 5 June, days that will be filled with celebrations.
The traditional Trooping the Color parade, with 1,400 troops, lots of horses and Air Force flyovers, will take place on Thursday, June 2, in London. On Friday there will be a Mass at St Paul’s Cathedral, while on Saturday there will be a special horse race and show in front of Buckingham Palace, with performers to be announced.
Sunday will feature celebratory community lunches across the country, plus a special parade in London, combining art, music and a “river” of flags carried by children.
Before that, from May 12 to 15, a show with 500 horses will also honor the Queen, known to be passionate about equestrian activities, in the arena used for the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
Throughout the year, other Jubilee-related events also take place, such as a UK tree planting campaign and events at the Queen’s private residences in Sandringham and Balmoral, Scotland.
It may be difficult, from outside the kingdom, to understand Elizabeth’s popularity and the public’s appetite for so many festivities around her – after all, a developed and modern country being a monarchy in 2022 can seem anachronistic.
The generational divide is clear in the polls: last year, for the first time, more 18-24 year olds (41%) thought the head of state should be elected than they thought the monarchy should continue (31%). In the other age groups, the monarchy still wins, with increasing percentages according to the age of the interviewee, until reaching an astonishing 81% of support for the system among those over 65 years old. The numbers are from surveys by the YouGov company.
Elizabeth’s own approval is high: 83% of Britons said they had a positive opinion of her in November last year. But his succession creates a problem, as his heir Charles and his wife, Camilla, have only 60% and 45% approval, respectively, figures also from YouGov.
“The Queen will be remembered as one of the UK’s great monarchs, alongside Victoria and Elizabeth I. She has shown great strength and brought stability through many governments, most with male prime ministers,” says Norton. “Charles, on the other hand, must have a brief and lackluster reign, but he will reign until his death, I don’t think we will become a republic.”
Hope lies with Prince William, son of Charles, and his wife, Kate, who have 80% and 77% approval, respectively, as well as three cute kids. William benefits from the popularity of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in 1997, an episode that also led to a crisis for the royal family when Elizabeth was slow to express grief over the tragedy.
Will and Kate have survived the departure of Harry and Meghan with dignity and continue to carry out their royal responsibilities with professionalism, even if they are a little tedious. It remains to be seen whether the Cambridge family perfection (William and Kate are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) will be enough to deal with the growing scandal involving Prince Andrew.
American investor Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 accused by several women of human trafficking and sexual abuse, which would have happened when they were teenagers. One of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, says she received money from Epstein to have sex with Andrew when she was 17.
Amid growing criticism for his connection with Epstein, who committed suicide in August 2019, Andrew gave a disastrous interview to the BBC in November of the same year, in which he denied the accusations of Giuffre, whom he said he did not know despite the existence of a photo. of the two together, and said he did not regret his friendship with the American.
Giuffre files a civil suit against the prince in the US, in which he seeks compensation for the violence he says he has suffered. Andrew’s defense – paid for by the queen – said her testimony was “vague” and that the law on which the prosecution was based was unconstitutional, among other arguments for the dismissal of the suit, which the judge did not accept.
A day after the unfavorable decision, Andrew, who has not participated in public events since 2019, lost the title of His Royal Highness, his military ranks and his posts in charitable organizations. Depending on the course of the process, he may have to answer questions in writing and even testify in person in New York later this year. There remains the option of making a deal with Giuffre, which could bury the prince’s reputation once and for all.
Whatever the outcome of the action, a scenario is designed in which Andrew will be responsible for staining his mother’s platinum year, a stain that not all the pudding and all the queen’s horses will be able to erase.
The Life of Elizabeth II
1926
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the eldest daughter of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Prince Albert, Duke of York, youngest son of King George Fifth, was born in London on April 21.
1936
Edward VIII, Elizabeth’s uncle, abdicates on behalf of his younger brother Prince Albert, which changes the future queen’s chances of ascending the throne.
1937
Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret attended the coronation of their father, King George VI, at Westminster Abbey; thus, Elizabeth became first in line to the throne and a figure of public interest.
1947
On the 20th of November, Elizabeth’s marriage to her distant cousin Philip Mountbatten, who received the title of Duke of Edinburgh, is celebrated at Westminster Abbey.
1948
The first child of the future Queen, Charles Philip Arthur George, is born at Buckingham Palace
1951
With King George VI’s health failing, Princess Elizabeth began to represent him at official events.
1952
On February 6th, King George VI dies, and Elizabeth becomes queen.
1953
On June 2, the coronation of Elizabeth, who then becomes Queen Elizabeth II, takes place at Westminster Abbey.
1958
Charles, Elizabeth’s firstborn, becomes heir to the throne and is named Prince of Wales; the Queen’s other children are Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise), born in 1950; Prince Andrew (Andrew Albert Christian Edward), born in 1960; and Prince Edward (Edward Anthony Richard Louis), born 1964
1981
Heir to the throne, Prince Charles marries Diana Frances Spencer in a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London
1982
William is born, Elizabeth’s grandson, who is currently second in line to the throne, as a result of the marriage of Charles and Diana; his brother Harry is born in 1984
1992
After a tumultuous marriage, with rumors of extramarital affairs, Prince Charles and Lady Di’s separation is announced; the divorce is completed in 1996
1997
Lady Di dies in a car accident, raising criticism of the royal family, especially after Elizabeth II initially refused to allow the national flag to be flown at half-mast at Buckingham Palace.
2002
In the year she celebrates her Golden Jubilee as she turns 50 on the throne, the Queen loses her mother Elizabeth and younger sister Margaret, deaths that overshadowed multi-day festivities in London and Commonwealth countries.
2011
His grandson William, second in line, marries Katherine Middleton; The Queen also made history by being the first in office to visit Ireland in a hundred years.
2015
In September, Elizabeth II overtakes Queen Victoria as the UK’s longest-lived monarch
2018
Charles’ youngest son Harry marries American actress Meghan Markle of black descent
2020
In an unprecedented split in the reign of Elizabeth II, Harry and Meghan decide to leave the royal family after generating crisis for not spending Christmas 2019 in the United Kingdom
2021
Husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip dies at 99
Source: Folha
