Queen to visit Southwark on Millennium Eve", London SE1, December 1999, archived from the original on 13 February 2022 , retrieved 13 February 2022 ; How filming the agony of Aberfan for The Crown revealed a village still in trauma", The Guardian, 17 November 2019, archived from the original on 21 December 2022 , retrieved 20 December 2022 Bond 2006, p.97; Bradford 2012, p.189; Pimlott 2001, pp.449–450; Roberts 2000, p.87; Shawcross 2002, pp.1114–117 Hunter, Sophie (19 September 2022), "The State Funeral for Her Majesty The Queen", The Royal Family, archived from the original on 25 September 2022 , retrieved 19 September 2022

Mills, Rhiannon (12 June 2021), "G7 summit: Queen charms prime ministers and presidents", Sky News, archived from the original on 12 June 2021 , retrieved 12 June 2021

Procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey

The combined Choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal are directed by Andrew Carwood, MBE, Director of Music, St Paul’s Cathedral. Ainge Roy, Eleanor (13 January 2018), " 'Damn... I missed': the incredible story of the day the Queen was nearly shot", The Guardian, archived from the original on 1 March 2018 , retrieved 1 March 2018 At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and Margaret mingled incognito with the celebrating crowds in the streets of London. Elizabeth 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." [35] Queen Threatens to Sue Newspaper", Associated Press News, London, 3 February 1993, archived from the original on 7 April 2022 , retrieved 27 December 2021

Marr, Andrew (2011), The Diamond Queen: ElizabethII and Her People, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-2307-4852-1 Berry, Ciara (15 January 2016), "Personal flags", The Royal Family, Royal Household, archived from the original on 7 May 2016 , retrieved 18 April 2016 From Elizabeth's birth onwards, the British Empire continued its transformation into the Commonwealth of Nations. [77] By the time of her accession in 1952, her role as head of multiple independent states was already established. [78] In 1953, Elizabeth and her husband embarked on a seven-month round-the-world tour, visiting 13 countries and covering more than 40,000 miles (64,000km) by land, sea and air. [79] She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. [80] During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen her. [81] Throughout her reign, Elizabeth made hundreds of state visits to other countries and tours of the Commonwealth; she was the most widely travelled head of state. [82]Elizabeth met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934 and again in 1937. [41] They were second cousins once removed through King ChristianIX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. After meeting for the third time at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth—though only 13 years old—said she fell in love with Philip, who was 18, and they began to exchange letters. [42] She was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9July 1947. [43] Goodey, Emma (5 February 2022), "Accession Day 2022", Royal Family, archived from the original on 20 February 2022 , retrieved 8 September 2022 In 1956, the British and French prime ministers, Sir Anthony Eden and Guy Mollet, 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 to the European Union. [83] In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten said Elizabeth was opposed to the invasion, though Eden denied it. Eden resigned two months later. [84] With Commonwealth leaders at the 1960 Commonwealth Conference

Fisher, Connie (24 November 1992), "Annus horribilis speech", The Royal Family, Royal Household, archived from the original on 3 January 2017 , retrieved 18 April 2016 Significant events included Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Although she faced occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family—particularly after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana—support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom remained consistently high throughout her lifetime, as did her personal popularity. Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle in September 2022, and was succeeded by her eldest son, CharlesIII. facts about The Queen's Coronation", Royal Household, 25 May 2003, archived from the original on 7 February 2021 , retrieved 18 April 2016 a b Fisher, Connie (20 November 1997), "A speech by The Queen on her Golden Wedding Anniversary", The Royal Family, Royal Household, archived from the original on 10 January 2019 , retrieved 10 February 2017Bedell Smith, Sally (2017), Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind the Throne, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-1-4059-3216-5 The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. More than 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, in opposition to moves towards majority rule, unilaterally declared independence while expressing "loyalty and devotion" to Elizabeth, declaring her " Queen of Rhodesia". [99] Although Elizabeth formally dismissed him, and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, his regime survived for over a decade. [100] As Britain's ties to its former empire weakened, the British government sought entry to the European Community, a goal it achieved in 1973. [101] Elizabeth rarely gave interviews, and little was known of her political opinions, which she did not express explicitly in public. It is against convention to ask or reveal the monarch's views. When Times journalist Paul Routledge asked her about the miners' strike of 1984–85 during a royal tour of the newspaper's offices, she replied that it was "all about one man" (a reference to Arthur Scargill), [283] with which Routledge disagreed. [284] Routledge was widely criticised in the media for asking the question and claimed that he was unaware of the protocols. [284] After the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard saying that Elizabeth was pleased with the outcome. [285] She had arguably issued a public coded statement about the referendum by telling one woman outside Balmoral Kirk that she hoped people would think "very carefully" about the outcome. It emerged later that Cameron had specifically requested that she register her concern. [286]

a b "Indian group calls off protest, accepts queen's regrets", Amritsar, India: CNN, 14 October 1997, archived from the original on 3 May 2021 , retrieved 3 May 2021State Funeral for Her Majesty The Queen", The Royal Family, archived from the original on 18 September 2022 , retrieved 19 September 2022– via YouTube Prince Philip died on 9April 2021, after 73 years of marriage, making Elizabeth the first British monarch to reign as a widow or widower since Queen Victoria. [219] She was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, [220] and remarked in private that his death had "left a huge void". [221] Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place in England at the time, Elizabeth sat alone at Philip's funeral service, which evoked sympathy from people around the world. [222] In her Christmas broadcast that year, which was ultimately her last, she paid a personal tribute to her "beloved Philip", saying, "That mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him". [223]