George VI to Elizabeth II

ELIZABETH II reigned from 1952 to 2022 — at seventy years, longer than any other British monarch. Aided by her much-loved and mischievous husband Philip of Greece, whom she married in 1947, in a changing world Elizabeth remained (as George Santayana had said of the English generally) a steady and sane oracle amongst all the deliriums of mankind.*

In 1958 Empire Day became Commonwealth Day as the former Empire continued to dissolve peacefully. The Troubles in Ireland, which began in 1968 and in 1979 took the life of Philip’s uncle Louis Mountbatten, ended in 1985 with the Anglo-Irish Agreement. In 1975, the UK entered into the European Economic Community [EEC], which, as it developed into the European Union, threatened the sovereignty of Parliament and the Crown, but with ‘Brexit’ in 2020 the danger receded. And in 2014, after a brief flirtation with independence, Elizabeth’s beloved Scotland voted to remain in the UK.

In addition to such matters of State, Elizabeth faced a series of family bereavements and embarrassments with a dignity that only increased the public affection in which she was held. At her passing on September 8th, 2022, her subjects felt the loss keenly. Elizabeth was succeeded by her eldest son, who became Charles III.