Elizabeth Alexandra Mary became Elizabeth II of England 70 years ago.
She died this afternoon.
“Queen Elizabeth II has died“
BBC News (September 8, 2022)“Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.
“She died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer.
“The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change….”
There will be no shortage, I’m sure, of pieces written about Elizabeth II.
But I’ll just say that I think she is and will be missed, and go back to what I had been getting ready for this week.
Although the death of Elizabeth II is ‘current events,’ I’ve applied the history tag to this post. That makes sense to me. I’ve talked about history and how I see it fairly often, including this stuff:
- “History, Viewpoints, Narratives and Ancient Rome“
(July 2, 2022) - “Sifting Through the Ash Heap of History“
(October 30, 2021) - “Homer, Hegel, History and Hope“
(May 12, 2018)
That is quite the age, though. I mean, I guess the memes about her alleged immortality will have to take a different turn now. X”D
Indeed, yes. On both counts.
Elizabeth II became queen when I was less than a year old: so, along with a great many other folks, I can’t remember a time when she was not queen of England.
One more thing. BBC News now has a “Queen Elizabeth II” retrospective page, linking to several articles. And on this side of the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine has a good retrospective piece: “Elizabeth II Was an Enduring Emblem of the Waning British Empire” History, Smithsonian Magazine (September 8, 2022) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/elizabeth-ii-was-an-enduring-emblem-of-the-waning-british-empire-180979613/