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Golden Jubilee her Majesty's Coronation (Page 3 of 6)
The Golden Jubilee of the coronation of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the 2nd June 2003
It was in this spirit that the world had earlier joined with the Princess in her joyful happiness on her engagement to her third cousin Prince Philip of Greece in July 1947 as it did on their marriage on the 20th November 1947.
However, the real tragedy of the life of the young "fairy tale" Princess was that it was not in any way a fairy tale. Princess Elizabeth's life changed when her uncle abdicated and the awesome responsibility of not only the Throne but the conduct of a World War fell upon her ailing father. This meant that, as heir, she had to forgo the sorts of things that children and teenagers are wont to do to commence her training to become Queen. At the request of Her father King George, the British Parliament passed legislation creating Her a "Counsellor of State" and in July of that year, 1944, Princess Elizabeth at eighteen was giving the Royal Assent to Acts and yet people of that age were still not eligible to vote in an election!
Indeed there were few blissful moments in her life and even those were short-lived. The radiance that became the newly married Princess and the ensuing happily married years encompassing the births of Prince Charles in 1948 and Princess Anne in 1950, lasted just over four years and was sadly replaced by the agonising sight of the young new Queen dressed in black walking alone down the steps of the plane which had brought her home to fulfil Her destiny. To live out the rest of Her life in the service of Her People.
Under our Constitutional Monarchy there is no hiatus between Monarch and Monarch. "The King is dead, Long Live The King" has been the dictum of the Kingdom for centuries.
Her Majesty's grief had to be kept to Herself. There could be no breakdown or public shedding of tears, for She was now Queen with the overwhelming responsibilities of the governance of the Kingdom.
Her title would in future simply be "Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith".
At the time She was Proclaimed Queen, Her late father and Her mother, the recently departed Queen Mother, had through their gentle decency brought the Throne from the depths of despondency at the time of the Abdication to the high levels of popularity experienced only during certain periods in the reign of Victoria.
During the fifty years of Her Majesty's reign, She has travelled more miles than all of Her Prime Minister's put together. She has read more State Documents and discussed more issues with Commonwealth and Foreign Heads of State and Government than any elected official. Her average work-day is as long as any Prime Minister.
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