Queen Elizabeth II’s loss of life on Thursday marks an finish to her record-breaking seven many years on the throne, with solely France’s Louis XIV forward of her within the historical past books.
Throughout her reign, she noticed 15 British prime ministers come and go, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss, through the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
The monarch additionally met 13 of the final 14 US presidents, a complete of 10 French leaders and 7 popes.
Ruling over the Commonwealth, it was Canada that she visited most frequently — 22 instances.
The Queen additionally set foot in 117 international locations and was the primary reigning UK monarch to go to Eire and Russia, amongst others.
However extra importantly, she witnessed the UK and the world change many instances over, with greater than 100 international locations gaining independence in her lifetime.
We glance again at among the most vital moments within the lifetime of the beloved British monarch.
Elizabeth famously took the throne in 1952 on the age of 25 upon the loss of life of her father, King George VI.
Reducing her journey to Kenya quick, she is seen right here as she stepped down from her aircraft in London, for the primary time as sovereign, on 7 February.
Churchill was the primary to greet her, along with opposition chief Clement Atlee and different members of the cupboard.
The hero of 5 wars and a World Struggle II icon, Churchill was infatuated with the younger royal, having identified her since her beginning as an in depth pal of her father, and the 2 remained shut all through Churchill’s mandate as he believed Elizabeth II embodied all the hallmark qualities a British sovereign ought to have to steer the nation ahead into a brand new, post-war period.
Regardless of her being politically non-partisan, it’s broadly believed that the Queen maintained essentially the most relaxed relations with Labour Celebration’s Harold Wilson, who served because the nation’s PM in two durations — between 1964-1970 and 1974-1976.
The leftist chief, who got here from a politically energetic middle-class household, was identified for his everyman attraction and quirky, amiable persona.
Wilson additionally stood out from his extra high-class predecessors because of the distinct Yorkshire accent and being solely 10 years older than the Queen — and the friendship the 2 struck was greatest illustrated by Elizabeth II inviting Wilson to remain over for drinks and permitting him to smoke his pipe throughout the weekly conferences she saved with all of her PMs throughout her reign.
In return, Wilson carried her photograph in his pockets and spoke extremely of the Queen till his loss of life in 1995.
When “Iron Girl” Margaret Thatcher took workplace, few believed that she would stay PM for 11 years. The European nation was all of a sudden headed by two highly effective ladies, who didn’t all the time see eye to eye.
The variations between the 2 hinged on their characters: the Queen was well-known for her dry wit, whereas Thatcher didn’t have a pronounced sense of humour, resulting in their conferences being formal and cordial all through Thatcher’s time as prime minister.
But Elizabeth II — who actively served in World Struggle II — appeared to have had a tender spot for Thatcher, who was simply six months her senior and disapproved of the way in which the Conservative Celebration disposed of her in 1990.
Whereas all the world was taken by the attraction of US President John F Kennedy and his spouse, Jackie Kennedy, the Queen was mentioned to have been not too impressed, primarily because of the criticism each JFK and Jackie had after their 1961 go to to Buckingham Palace.
The presidential couple weren’t impressed by the palace, and Jackie was believed to have gone so far as to offend her majesty, stating she was “fairly heavy going”, in keeping with Gore Vidal.
But there isn’t a precise proof that this ever reached Elizabeth II. Inaugurating a UK memorial for JFK two years after his assassination in 1963, the Queen solely had the kindest of phrases for the late US president.
“The unprecedented depth of that wave of grief, combined with one thing akin to despair, which swept over our individuals on the information of President Kennedy’s assassination, was a measure of the extent to which we recognised what he had already completed and of the excessive hopes that rode with him in a future that was to not be,” she mentioned on the time.
Having met 13 out of the final 14 US presidents, the Queen was identified for having the closest relations with Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan — two distinctly totally different US leaders, each by way of their political leanings and their background.
Her first state go to to Washington got here in 1957, hosted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, at an vital second for the brand new sovereign to signify her nation with its most vital ally.
Eisenhower, the commander of US forces in Europe throughout World Struggle II, hosted Elizabeth II throughout her first state go to in 1957, putting up a long-standing friendship that will see Ike, as he was identified, go to the Queen in Balmoral, her property within the Scottish Highlands the place she died on Thursday.
Her promise to provide him her recipe for scones changed into them changing into pen buddies, with the 2 exchanging letters even after Eisenhower left the workplace in 1961.
Reagan — who made a reputation for himself as a Hollywood actor, largely showing in Westerns earlier than changing into president — additionally didn’t cover his sympathies for the Queen, with their friendship revolving round their mutual love of horses.
After visiting Windsor in 1982, Reagan returned the favour by internet hosting the Queen at his Rancho Del Cielo property in California, serving her a Tex-Mex meal of enchiladas and tacos.
Their shut relations additionally continued after Reagan’s presidency ended, whereas she additionally awarded him with an honorary knighthood for his nation’s involvement within the Falkland Wars.
Identified for being a Francophile, Elizabeth II had already captured the hearts of the French by the point she was 22, visiting the nation as an alternative of her father in 1948.
The primary socialist head of state Vincent Auriol awarded her with the Legion of Honour, to which she responded with a speech in impeccable French.
The Queen additionally famously saved Charles de Gaulle’s spouse Yvonne of embarrassment attributable to her restricted information of the English language throughout the couple’s go to to London in 1960, but it surely was her friendship with François Mitterrand that stood out essentially the most.
The 2 met on a lot of events between 1981 and 1995 — notably on the inauguration of the European Union in 1992 and on the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994.
When Elizabeth II final noticed Mitterand, she was conscious that he was changing into more and more in poor health and that it was almost definitely the ultimate time they’d meet. These current on the assembly mentioned that she virtually ran to greet him in a uncommon present of affection that struck everybody.
After rising victorious from World Struggle II along with the remainder of the Allies, the onset of the Chilly Struggle meant that the UK noticed its relations with the communist bloc escalate to the purpose of fixed fears of potential nuclear battle.
Nevertheless, the Queen didn’t hesitate to ask the wartime anti-fascist chief of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, to an official go to to Buckingham Palace as early as 1953.
Simply 5 years prior, the Yugoslav president — a pal and ally of Churchill — severed his ties with Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union and located himself in between two blocs, ultimately organising a 3rd, Non-Aligned Motion and holding the nation largely open to Western affect.
Elizabeth II returned the favour in 1972, together with her journey to Belgrade marking the primary go to of a UK sovereign to a communist nation.
But it took one other 22 years for her to set foot on Russian soil, one other first for a reigning British monarch.
With the Chilly Struggle over, following the autumn of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the breakup of the Soviet Union three years later, Elizabeth II launched into a visit to Moscow hosted by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The October 1994 go to was highlighted by what was a really heat welcome by Yeltsin, who had a Rolls-Royce drive the Queen from the airport to the Kremlin and organised a lavish banquet for the British royal, clinking glasses to the renewed UK-Russian relations.
Elizabeth II, in truth, was of Russian descent, having been the great-niece of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, whereas her husband Philip additionally had household ties with the Romanovs. One of many causes for the Queen’s long-standing refusal to go to the USSR was because of the execution of the Russian royal household following the Bolshevik revolution.
Ruling over 14 international locations of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II has lengthy maintained shut relations with Canada’s leaders, having visited the nation on 22 events throughout her seven many years on the throne — greater than some other state on this planet — together with father and son Pierre and Justin Trudeau.
Though her relationship with Pierre was usually cited as tense, with him being brazenly vital of “vestiges of colonialism” and performing aloof in Queen’s presence, his son had an brazenly heat relationship with Elizabeth II.
The 2 first met in 1977 when Justin was simply 5 years outdated, having arrived along with his father at a G7 assembly in London. Discovering out about her loss of life, Justin Trudeau mentioned, “as her twelfth Canadian prime minister, I’m having bother believing that my final sitdown together with her was my final”.
“She was certainly one of my favorite individuals on this planet,” he instructed reporters in Vancouver.
On Tuesday — simply two days earlier than her loss of life — the Queen met Liz Truss, the final prime minister and politician she would obtain over her lengthy reign.
Truss, in addition to her predecessor Boris Johnson, had been each born after the Queen turned the British sovereign.
With King Charles III changing into the UK’s new monarch on Thursday and Truss being appointed prime minister simply two days earlier, this week could be very a lot the beginning of a brand new chapter for the nation.
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