Long Live The Queen December 20, 2007
Posted by Reginald Johnson in Culture, Humor, International.add a comment
It’s official!
Queen Elizabeth II has become Britain’s oldest monarch. She has taken over the top honour from her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. Although being the oldest, Queen Elizabeth II has no plans on giving up the crown any time soon.
In a session of email-tag with someone close to the Royal British Family stated, “…this is just another normal working day for the queen.”
Queen Elizabeth II will spend the bulk of the day taking care of day-to-day dealings within Buckingham Palace and routine paperwork. The 81-year-old queen also plans to get some Christmas correspondence out of the way.
Her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria died in 1901 at the aged 81 years and 243 days. Queen Elizabeth passed that record at exactly 5:00 pm today. These numbers and dates are provided by Buckingham Palace.
Not only is she the oldest ruling British royal, she is also the world’s second-longest serving monarch alive. The person that sits atop the standings presently is Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Interestingly enough Queen Elizabeth has outlasted 11 prime ministers, with Sir Winston Churchill being the first. She is also the first to have a prime minister, Tony Blair, born during her reign.
Victoria will retain the record for longest-serving monarch ever for some time, though: she ruled Britain and its empire for nearly 64 years. Elizabeth will surpass if that she is still on the throne on September 9, 2015; at which the Queen would be 89 years old.
Despite her age, the queen shows little sign of slowing down — last month, she and her husband Prince Philip visited Uganda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and she carried out 425 official engagements last year. This trip to the east African country, also had in attendance heir to the throne Prince Charles. This marked his first Commonwealth leaders summit outside Britain.
Insiders including Elizabeth’s cousin Margaret Rhodes say it is highly unlikely she will step down early — the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, which forced her father to take over, is a painful chapter in royal history.
So while the queen could still, in the words of the national anthem, be “long to reign over us”, the royal family seems determined to make sure that when the inevitable does finally happen, the transition is smooth.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen’s next public engagement is on Christmas Day (December 25), when she will attend a church service on her Sandringham country estate in the county of Norfolk, eastern England.
