EDITORS DESK
In 1928, British statesman Winston Churchill met the toddler Elizabeth Alexandra Mary at the Balmoral Castle in the Scottish highlands. He later wrote to his wife Clementine how the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Albert and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, made such an impression on him — “with an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.”
Born on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth grew up, along with her younger sister Princess Margaret, in a house in Mayfair, not in a palace, a loving home, where she was especially close to her father, who called her his pride, and her grandfather, King George V, whom she called “Grandpa England.”
She was raised by nannies and educated by tutors, but her mother personally taught Elizabeth how to read and pray while her grandmother, Mary of Teck, took her through the do’s and don’ts of royal behavior. Her education, though she was home-schooled, was well-rounded — French, German, music, history, Moliere, Shakespeare, Keats, and Browning, and riding, which she enjoyed immensely. At six, Elizabeth shared with her riding instructor she wanted to be a “country lady with lots of horses and dogs.” She was a swimmer too, professionally taught at London’s Bath Club, where she was the first teen to have received a medal from the Royal Life Saving Society for completing the rigors of training.
At 19 in 1945, during World War II, trained as an auto-mechanic, she served the women’s branch of the British Army, where, as second subaltern, the equivalent of second lieutenant, she drove military trucks.
Two years later, she married her distant cousin Prince Philip Mountbatten, with whom she had four children, including Prince Charles, now King Charles III.
Elizabeth had little to no expectation — or desire — to ascend the throne when her uncle, Prince Edward VIII, gave it up in 1936 because, as he said, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility as King help and support of the woman I love.” His younger brother Prince Albert, Elizabeth’s father, took his place, becoming George VI, albeit reluctantly, while Elizabeth was only 10 years old.
The new king, with his wife by his side, busied himself with the task of restoring faith in the monarchy, even as tensions in Europe erupted into World War II. True to the advice he gave his people, the king with the queen by her side stood firm through the war years and stayed at Buckingham Palace, even as it was bombed in September 1940.
This example was not lost on Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the throne, though she and Margaret were relocated to the Windsor Castle to keep them safe. In her first public speech to the children of the Commonwealth, she said, “When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”
What led Queen Elizabeth II to a record reign of 70 years on the British throne was love. Or what appeared to be love, which her uncle Prince Edward VIII chose over power 16 years before her reign to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson.
On Feb. 6, 1952, following the death of George VI, while she was on vacation in Kenya with Philip, Elizabeth, then 25, became queen. “In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship. My father died much too young,” she said.
What carried her through was love. It was love of duty — or devotion to the role she was born to play — and it was enough to keep her going even through the most trying times not only in the monarchy, but also in her personal life, such as in 1992, what she called her annus horribilis, when her sons Prince Charles and Prince Andrew separated from their respective wives, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York, and her daughter Anne, Princess Royal, divorced her husband Mark Phillips.
On her silver jubilee, Elizabeth revisited pledging her life to the service of the people at such a young age. “I asked for God’s help to make good that vow,” she said. “Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret, or retract, one word of it.”
Love does last, but a sense of duty lasts longer.
(AA Patawaran is the Lifestyle Editor of Manila Bulletin.)
In 1928, British statesman Winston Churchill met the toddler Elizabeth Alexandra Mary at the Balmoral Castle in the Scottish highlands. He later wrote to his wife Clementine how the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Albert and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, made such an impression on him — “with an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.”
Born on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth grew up, along with her younger sister Princess Margaret, in a house in Mayfair, not in a palace, a loving home, where she was especially close to her father, who called her his pride, and her grandfather, King George V, whom she called “Grandpa England.”
She was raised by nannies and educated by tutors, but her mother personally taught Elizabeth how to read and pray while her grandmother, Mary of Teck, took her through the do’s and don’ts of royal behavior. Her education, though she was home-schooled, was well-rounded — French, German, music, history, Moliere, Shakespeare, Keats, and Browning, and riding, which she enjoyed immensely. At six, Elizabeth shared with her riding instructor she wanted to be a “country lady with lots of horses and dogs.” She was a swimmer too, professionally taught at London’s Bath Club, where she was the first teen to have received a medal from the Royal Life Saving Society for completing the rigors of training.
At 19 in 1945, during World War II, trained as an auto-mechanic, she served the women’s branch of the British Army, where, as second subaltern, the equivalent of second lieutenant, she drove military trucks.
Two years later, she married her distant cousin Prince Philip Mountbatten, with whom she had four children, including Prince Charles, now King Charles III.
Elizabeth had little to no expectation — or desire — to ascend the throne when her uncle, Prince Edward VIII, gave it up in 1936 because, as he said, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility as King help and support of the woman I love.” His younger brother Prince Albert, Elizabeth’s father, took his place, becoming George VI, albeit reluctantly, while Elizabeth was only 10 years old.
The new king, with his wife by his side, busied himself with the task of restoring faith in the monarchy, even as tensions in Europe erupted into World War II. True to the advice he gave his people, the king with the queen by her side stood firm through the war years and stayed at Buckingham Palace, even as it was bombed in September 1940.
This example was not lost on Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the throne, though she and Margaret were relocated to the Windsor Castle to keep them safe. In her first public speech to the children of the Commonwealth, she said, “When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”
What led Queen Elizabeth II to a record reign of 70 years on the British throne was love. Or what appeared to be love, which her uncle Prince Edward VIII chose over power 16 years before her reign to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson.
On Feb. 6, 1952, following the death of George VI, while she was on vacation in Kenya with Philip, Elizabeth, then 25, became queen. “In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship. My father died much too young,” she said.
What carried her through was love. It was love of duty — or devotion to the role she was born to play — and it was enough to keep her going even through the most trying times not only in the monarchy, but also in her personal life, such as in 1992, what she called her annus horribilis, when her sons Prince Charles and Prince Andrew separated from their respective wives, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York, and her daughter Anne, Princess Royal, divorced her husband Mark Phillips.
On her silver jubilee, Elizabeth revisited pledging her life to the service of the people at such a young age. “I asked for God’s help to make good that vow,” she said. “Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret, or retract, one word of it.”
Love does last, but a sense of duty lasts longer.
(AA Patawaran is the Lifestyle Editor of Manila Bulletin.)