70 YEARS IN QUEEN ELIZABETH’S LIFE
70 YEARS IN QUEEN ELIZABETH’S LIFE
jeanniejeanniejeannie.co.uk BLOG Friday 3rd June 2022
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
70 YEARS IN QUEEN ELIZABETH’S LIFE
1 1926 1926 – The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London, and was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
2 1952 1952 – 6 February She began her reign
3 1953 1953 – June her Coronation
4 2015 2015 – On 9 September 2015, the Queen became the longest-reigning monarch
5 1942 1942 – The Queen’s first solo public engagement (as Princess Elizabeth) was on 21 April 1942, her 16th birthday, when she inspected the Grenadier Guards at Windsor Castle.
6 1954 1954 – The Queen hosted the UK state visit of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
7 1971 1971 – The Queen hosted the UK state visit of Emperor Hirohito of Japan
8 1991 1991 – The Queen hosted the UK state visit of President Lech Walesa of Poland (1991)
9 2011 2011 – The Queen hosted the UK state visit of President Barack Obama of the US
10 1933 1933 – Her first portrait was painted in 1933 when she was seven-years old and was a portrait painted by Anglo-Hungarian artist Philip Alexius de Laszlo.
11 1944 1944 – Her first corgi, Susan, was gifted to her on her 18th birthday in 1944.
12 1939 1939 – The Queen travelled on the London Underground for the first time in May 1939 with her governess Marion Crawford and her sister Princess Margaret.
13 1940 1940 – The Queen made her first radio broadcast in 1940 when, aged 14, she recorded a message of support for young people affected by the war in Europe, particularly those being evacuated from their homes, on the BBC’s Children’s Hour. She addressed other children who had to be evacuated from UK cities during the World War II. The central message of the speech is “in the end all will be well.”
14 1945 1945 – Joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945
15 1947 1947 – The Queen’s official overseas visit was in 1947 as Princess Elizabeth, when she toured South Africa, Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) and the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland (Botswana) with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
16 1942 1942 – The Queen’s first military appointment was as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
17 1953 1953 – In 1953 she made the first Christmas broadcast from overseas, broadcasting live from New Zealand.
18 1954 1954 – The Royal Yacht Britannia was first used by the Queen when she embarked with the Duke of Edinburgh on 1 May 1954 at Tobruk, Libya, for the final stage of their Commonwealth Tour, returning to the Pool of London.
19 1997 1997 – The last time the Queen was on board Britannia for an official visit was on 9 August 1997 for a visit to the Isle of Arran.
20 1976 1976 – On 26 March 1976, the Queen sent her first email during a visit to the Royal Radar Establishment, Malvern, now known as the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.
21 1986 1986 – In 1986 the Queen became the first British Monarch to visit China.
22 1991 1991 – The Queen was the first British Monarch to address the United States House of Congress, on 16 May 1991.
23 1997 1997 – In 1997 the Queen launched Buckingham Palace’s first official website, in 2014 she sent her first tweet and in 2019 published her first Instagram post.
24 2009 2009 – In 2009 the Queen witnessed Swan Upping for the first time. This annual event on the River Thames includes the weighing and measuring of the swans and checks are made on their health and well-being. Since the 12th Century, the Monarch has retained the right to claim ownership of all unmarked mute swans found in a particular section of the River Thames.
25 2009 2009 – The Queen introduced the Elizabeth Cross in 2009. It was the first medal to which she had put her name. The award was instituted to give special recognition to the families of those who have died on military operations or as a result of terrorism since 1948.
26 2011 2011 – Made first state visit to Ireland in 2011
27 2013 2013 – In 2013 the Queen became the first Monarch to be presented with an Honorary Bafta award in recognition of a lifetime’s support of British film and television.
28 2017 2017 – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their Platinum Wedding Anniversary in 2017, the first time a reigning monarch had done so.
29 2012 2012 – To mark the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant was held on 3 June 2012.
30 1966 1966 – In 1966 the Queen presented England men’s football captain Bobby Moore with the World Cup Trophy.
31 1977 1977 – The Queen first flew in Concorde in 1977 and went on to use it for several overseas tours before it was retired in 2003.
32 1973 1973 – In 1973 the Queen opened the Sydney Opera House.
33 2018 2018 – Following her 90th birthday celebrations in 2016, it was agreed that an award would be created in her name to recognise emerging British fashion talent. The inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for Design was presented to Richard Quinn during London Fashion Week 2018.
34 1947 1947 – The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were married on 20 November 1947 in Westminster Abbey.
35 1969 1969 – The Queen sent a message of congratulations to Apollo 11 astronauts for the first moon landing on 21 July 1969. The message was micro-filmed and deposited on the moon in a metal container. “You are here.”
36 1930 1930 – Queen Elizabeth’s very first horse was a Shetland pony named Peggy. Her Majesty got Peggy at the young age of 4 as a birthday present from her grandfather, King George V.
37 2015 2015 – She launched the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative in 2015. Almost 70 forest conservation projects across the Commonwealth have joined the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative since its launch in 2015, representing more than 100 million trees preserved for future generations as part of the fight against deforestation.
38 1937 1937 – She attended her parents’ Coronation. Then 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth, attended her parents’ Coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1937 and wrote about it for the King and Queen in an essay entitled, To Mummy And Papa, In Memory Of Their Coronation. From Lilibet, By Herself. “I thought it all very, very wonderful and I expect the Abbey did, too,” she wrote. “The arches and beams at the top were covered with a sort of haze of wonder as Papa was crowned, at least I thought so.”
39 1945 1945 – On 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day, the Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) and her sister Princess Margaret, aged 19 and 14 respectively, joined the crowds in London incognito, Princess Elizabeth with her ATS uniform cap pulled down over her face. She later said of the day, “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.”
40 2012 2012 – For the 2012 Olympics, The Queen (and her corgis!) made a cameo in a James Bond sequence. She joined actor Daniel Craig on board a helicopter for a hilarious 6-minute action sequence.
41 1992 1992 – Elizabeth refers to the year 1992 as her family’s “annus horribilis”; in that one year, both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew separated from their wives, her daughter Anne got a divorce, a fire destroyed the interior of Windsor Castle, and the entirety of Britain struggled through an economic recession.
42 1953 1953 – The first time Queen Elizabeth visited Australia and New Zealand in person was when the Queen included them in her round-the-world tour in 1953. She is also the only monarch to have visited South America.
43 1981 1981 – In 1981, a teenager fired six blanks from a gun at the Queen while she was out riding horseback. The teen was charged with treason
44 2013 2013 – Estimate, one of the Queen’s racing horses, won the Royal Ascot race in 2013.
45 1997 1997 – In 1997, the ‘Tech Savvy’ Queen launched the British Monarchy’s official website
46 2009 2009 – A Royal Twitter site was added in 2009 with teams at Buckingham Palace tweeting day-to-day updates
47 2010 2010 – In 2010 a Royal Facebook page was added featuring royal news, videos, photos, speeches
48 2010 2010 – A Royal Flickr page was also added in 2010.
49 1968 1969 – The First TV documentary on Queen Elizabeth & her family was screened in 1969. The resulting film, Royal Family, was a big hit of the time. The film was the first broadcast by the BBC and then a week later by ITV.
50 1970 1970 – In 1970, during an official visit to Australia and New Zealand, the Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh introduced a new practice ‘The Royal Walkabout’ to let them meet a greater no. of people, not simply the bigwigs.
51 1945 1945 – The Queen learned how to drive during her time in the army,in 1945 and if often spotted out taking herself for joy rides in her Range Rover or Jaguar.
52 1748 1748 – Although she was born on April 21, 1926, Queen Elizabeth II has two recognized birthdays. The first is the actual anniversary of the day she was born (April 21) and a separate day that is labeled her “official” birthday, when the weather is better, for the Trooping the Colour parade. The tradition was started in 1748 with King George II.
53 2004 2004 – In 2004, The Queen hosted a “Women of Achievement” luncheon at Buckingham Palace. The event was the first ever women-only function to take place at the palace. Women from business, politics, fashion and the arts were invited over to lunch with Her Majesty. Guests included J.K. Rowling, Charlotte Church, Twiggy, Marjorie Wallace, Kate Moss, and more.
54 1947 1947 – She was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947.
55 1948 1948 – Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948. One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince.
56 1950 1950 – A second child, Princess Anne, was born in 1950.
57 1960 1960 – Prince Andrew born February 19, 1960 – The Queen & Prince Philip’s 3rd child.
58 1964 1964 – Prince Edward was born 10th March 1964 The Queen & Prince Philip’s 4th child
59 1989 1989 – In 1989, Her Majesty made headlines as she was placed at the top of the Sunday Times Rich List. This caused controversy as her finances included state assets that were not personally hers. The Queen was listed as the wealthiest person in the United Kingdom with a net worth of £5.2 billion. In today’s value, that equates to about £13.2 billion. In the original list of the country’s 200 richest people, only 86 of them had made their fortunes themselves. Others on the list who earned top spots that year included the Duke of Westminster and Lord Sainsbury.
60 2007 2007 – To mark the 50th anniversary of the Queen’s first televised festive address, a YouTube channel for the royal family, called the Royal Channel, was launched in December 2007. At the time, the palace hoped it would make her annual speech “more accessible to younger people and those in other countries.”
61 1926 1926 -The Queen was baptized on May 29, 1926, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace and was confirmed on March 28, 1942, in the private chapel at Windsor Castle.
62 1953 1953 – The first soccer match the Queen attended was the 1953 FA Cup final.
63 2003 2003 – In 2003, she sat for her first and only hologram portrait, which is made up of more than 10,000 images of the Queen layered over one another, giving it a 3-D effect.
64 1974 1974 – The only time the Queen has had to interrupt an overseas tour was in 1974, during a tour of Australia and Indonesia. She was called back from Australia when a general election was announced suddenly. The Duke of Edinburgh continued the program in Australia, and Elizabeth rejoined the tour in Indonesia.
65 1986 1986 – In 1986, the Queen became the first British monarch to visit China.
66 1957 1957 – Her first televised broadcast was in 1957, made live. Her first prerecorded broadcast took place in 1960, allowing transmission around the world.
67 1300 1300 – The Queen was crowned in St Edward’s Chair, made in 1300 for Edward I and used at every Coronation since that time. It is permanently kept in Westminster Abbey.
68 2002 2002 – In June 2002, to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, the Queen hosted the first public concerts in the garden of Buckingham Palace. She attended both the classical and pop concerts. The Party at the Palace show was one of the most-watched pop concerts in history, attracting about 200 million viewers from all over the world.
69 2004 2004 – In November 2004, Elizabeth invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for then French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a royal residence.
70 2021 2021 – In 2021, one of the century’s greatest and most enduring love stories came to an end. On April 9, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday, Prince Philip passed on. According to his family, he left this world peacefully, and Elizabeth was at his side when it happened. Their marriage lasted 73 years, the longest of any monarch.
TOP TEN OF THE DAY
Queen Elizabeth II’s Top 10 Favourite Songs
On the Queen’s 90th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II revealed her Top 10 favourite songs. The list was compiled for the BBC radio show “Our Queen: 90 Musical Years” to celebrate her 90th birthday.
The full list is as follows:
- “Oklahoma!” – Howard Keel
- “Anything You Can Do (Annie Get Your Gun)” – Dolores Gray and Bill Johnson
- “Sing” – Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band featuring the Military Wives
- “Cheek to Cheek” – Fred Astaire
- “The White Cliffs of Dover” – Vera Lynn
- “Leaning on a Lamp-post” – George Formby
- “Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven” – traditional hymn
- “The Lord is My Shepherd” – traditional hymn
- Lester Lanin medley
- Regimental March Milanollo
THE BRITISH BESTSELLING MUSIC TRACKS OF 1952
REMEMBER: The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
– Nicolas Chamfort
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE FOR THE DAY
A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.
HAPPINESS IS…
Happiness is…reigning for 70 years.
GRANDAD’S THREE LINER JOKE OF THE DAY
I once went to an open air Queen concert.
It was good, but there was a terrible electrical storm during the set
Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening…
LOVE IS…
Love is…the ultimate thing
PEARLS OF WISDOM
“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” —Yiddish Proverb
TURN…TURN…TURN!
A time for celebrating the start of a reign…A time for celebrating each achievement during the long reign.
©2022 Phil M Robinson