Source of this article: Times Weekly Author: Ma Huan
Rain was drizzling above Balmoral Castle .
On the afternoon of September 8th local time, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom died at the age of 96 in Balmoral Castle in Scotland, England.
Buckingham Palace wrote in the statement: "The Queen died peacefully in Balmoral today."
English Queen 's obituary (Photo source: Screenshot of the official website of Buckingham Palace)
Early, Buckingham Palace reported that Elizabeth II 3 is under medical custody in Balmoral Castle, Scotland. Royal members, including Crown Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Prince William , rushed to the queen's residence.
BBC also temporarily changed the program schedule due to the news that the Queen's health deteriorated, interrupted the original broadcast and issued a statement from Buckingham Palace.
Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. It has been 70 years since he ascended the throne to his death.
Elizabeth II experienced the rise and fall of The British Empire , the shock of the British royal family, the British people described her as "the person who can grit the teeth the most in the Kingdom of Britain ", while the American media described her as "a miracle of modern monarchy" .
Queen Elizabeth II of England (Photo source: Buckingham Palace official website)
The name "Elizabeth" originated in Hebrew , and is literally interpreted as "swearing in the name of God." For Elizabeth II, she swore in the name of God and dedicated her life to England.
Elizabeth II once said: "I announce to you that my life (regardless of length) will serve you wholeheartedly."
On June 5th local time, Elizabeth II celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Queen of England's ascension to the throne, on June 5th local time, Elizabeth II, the last day of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Queen of England's ascension to the throne, Accompanied by his family, he suddenly appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (Photo source: British Royal Social Media)
Now, it is time to say goodbye.
People gather outside Buckingham Palace and outside the gate of Balmoral Castle. “It will be devastating,” a visitor from Australia said at the entrance to Buckingham Palace.
70s storm
Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926. His father was the second son of King George V .
In December 1936, Elizabeth's life journey ushered in the biggest turning point: her uncle, then King of England, Edward VIII, decided to give up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced woman in the United States, and shocked the world and The entire royal family.
At that time, people gathered on Piccadilly Street in London, cheering in front of the townhouse of Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth explained the noise outside to her 6-year-old sister Princess Margaret : "Dad is going to be the king."
" That is to say, you will be the queen?” Margaret asked.
"Yes," Elizabeth replied calmly, "I think so."
Elizabeth's father Prince Albert succeeded to become King George VI . As the eldest daughter of George VI, she became the first heir to the throne.
On February 6, 1952, George VI died of illness. Princess Elizabeth, who was visiting Africa, inherited the throne and held a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London on June 2 of the following year, becoming the 42nd British monarch.
In the next 70 years, Elizabeth II became the most stable symbol of the British royal family.
According to the rules of inheritance of the British throne, it is extremely rare for a king to abdicate from the beginning of his ascension to his death (Edward VIII is an exception). Elizabeth II even swore that he would never abdicate for his entire life. In her opinion, "abdication" is a shame and irresponsible for the royal family.
Source: Social media screenshot
Elizabeth II's diligence has also been recognized by the British people. A survey by polling agency YouGov showed that 27% of respondents believed that Elizabeth II was the most popular monarch in the UK. By comparison, Queen Victoria received only 12% of the votes, and Elizabeth I had only 13% of the votes.
Calmness and restraint
After ascending the throne in 1952, Elizabeth II's ruling career can be divided into two parts: first, nearly 30 years of relatively monotonous and dull years.
The queen's personality tends to be conservative, especially in religion, moral standards and family affairs.
She lives a very regular life: she goes to bed on time at 11 pm and gets up on time at 7:30 in the morning. She has been unable to move for decades, even when she visits abroad. At Buckingham Palace, every day at 5 pm, the queen would take her dog to the private tea room to taste tea, and the queen prefers to drink green tea.
However, in terms of dress, the queen does not like the unchanging black, but prefers colored clothes. A standard " Queen of England style" usually includes: a colorful coat, a hat of the same color as the coat, pearl necklace , Gem brooch, a Launer London tote bag and a pair of thick-heeled leather shoes. Because of the colorful colors of the dressing, Elizabeth II is called the "Rainbow Queen".
Source: Social Media Screenshot
The Queen has also experienced an era of widespread royal status: First, the marriage crisis between Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the 1980s, followed by the emergence of Camilla, and the Queen in 2020 The grandson Harry and his wife, Meghan, broke away from the royal family and ran away from home.
Family crises and scandals have followed one after another, but Elizabeth II has always maintained calmness and restraint, defending the dignity of the British monarchy.
In these 70 years, 1992 was a very turbulent year. One of the Queen's residences, Windsor Castle, caught fire, and the Queen's three children's marriages broke down one after another. However, Elizabeth II smiled and summarized it with a Latin . Past: Annus Horribilis (meaning a "terrible year" and a witty statement commonly used to joke).
On February 6 this year, the Queen of England issued a special statement on celebrating the 70th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, saying that she sincerely hopes that after Prince Charles ascends the throne, his wife Camilla will be called the queen, and hopes that people can support it like support I also support Charles and Camilla.
The iron queen, the flowing prime minister
Ascend the throne, the queen has experienced 15 British Prime Minister - from Thatcher, the same age, and the "little youth" in her eyes Blair , Brown, Cameron , Theresa May and Johnson , and the newly appointed Trass.
Most of the UK’s first choice after choosing is to go to see Elizabeth II and get the “Appointment Letter” personally awarded by the Queen.
Churchill is the first prime minister since Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne. In his letter to his wife Clementine, he wrote, "She has a self-righteous, quiet and reflective temperament, and it is surprising to appear on a little doll."
The queen is cautious and rarely expresses political views in public. When she meets the British Prime Minister on a routine basis, she will listen patiently, and the Queen will not give advice unless the Prime Minister asks her for advice.
Elizabeth II's only public political view is that the territory he ruled must be unified.
"Sometimes you hear people say that the king is just a shining ornament or just a touch of the life of the country. It's a misunderstanding of the UK and an underestimation of the queen. As far as I am with most of the people of this country, she always Be by our side, accompany us.” Former British Prime Minister Cameron once said.
On September 6, Tras, elected as the head of the British Conservative Party, accepted the official appointment of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and became the new British Prime Minister. (Photo source: British Royal Social Media)
On September 6th local time, the Queen in poor health met with the Conservative Party leader Elizabeth Trass on Scottish and officially appointed her as the new British Prime Minister. As a result, Tras, 47, became the third female prime minister in British history after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
However, after this "all day" busy on the 6th, Elizabeth accepted the doctor's advice and started to rest, postponing the Privy Council online meeting originally scheduled to be held on the evening of September 8.
The richest monarch
In addition to being the longest monarch, the queen is also the richest monarch.
In 2014, according to the authoritative statistical yearbook "European Royal Family Genealogy Yearbook", Queen Elizabeth II is regarded as the richest monarch in the world with a net worth of up to 60 billion pounds, far surpassing the king of Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
The official website of the British royal family shows that the queen's income mainly comes from annual salary, financial appropriations, private money, private real estate and investment income.
The Queen's annual salary was originally paid by British Parliament , and it comes from taxes. But the Kings Appropriations Act came into effect in 2012, changing the source of the Queen's annual salary.
Afterward, the Queen's annual salary is related to the income of the Royal Property Office of the UK, accounting for 15% of its annual income, and this income fluctuates with its operating conditions. The Royal Property Office manages countless properties in the central London area, more than a dozen large commercial centers, more than 140,000 hectares of land and forests, more than half of the beaches in the UK, as well as stone mines, wind power generation, etc. The company's market value is about 8.1 billion pounds.
Because of the good fortune, even in the context of the UK's economic downturn, the Royal Property Office's revenue is growing. According to the annual report of the British royal family, the queen's annual salary was 31 million pounds in 2012, and increased to 37.89 million pounds in 2014.
In addition to the annual salary, the queen's "private money" mainly comes from her exclusive Duke of Lancaster. The territory is the queen's hereditary territory, including some historical buildings such as Lancaster Castle, large tracts of arable land, woodland and mining rights, worth about £430 million. This part of the income is used to pay for the expenses of other members of the royal family, and the rest is the queen's private money.
Source: Social media screenshot
The Queen's private property mainly includes the Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the Sandringham Manor in eastern England. In addition to real estate, the queen's private collection also includes stamps, horse racing, and jewelry left by the Queen Mother. Among them, the stamps owned by the Queen alone have a collection value of 100 million pounds. Not only that, she also inherited many medals, including the first Victoria Cross .
The Queen has a good investment vision and owns a batch of collected treasures from the British royal family for more than 500 years, with a total valuation of about 9.5 billion pounds. But this part belongs to the state. In addition, the UK has exhibited more than 3,000 collections for exhibitions and rented to museums around the world. These collections are collectively called "Royal Collection" and are managed by the Royal Collection Foundation of the United Kingdom.
The Queen's pocket money mainly comes from the castle rental business. For example, May Castle, each rent is £50,000, and lessees can enjoy royal services in the castle and spend an unforgettable weekend, but the castle is only rented three times a year and only send invitations to business wealthy people and philanthropists. It is understood that the first official tenant of May Castle is an American rich man.
"We should not over-looking ourselves," said the Queen of England in her live-TV Christmas speech in 1991. "No one can monopolize wisdom."
