London Bridge is Down — Charger Press

Sep 12

Sep 12 London Bridge is Down

Picture from Pexels by Adam Cole

Jarrett Borkowski

“Long Live the King.”

These words have not been spoken for 70 years. The last time these words were spoken was February 6, 1952, the day George VI died. Today, those words are spoken once more, this time to signal the rise of the new King, Charles III. Charles III is the son of the now former monarch of Great Britain, Elizabeth II.

On September 8, 2022, the second longest serving monarch in world history passed away peacefully in her Balmoral residency. She is reported to have been surrounded by family and friends in her final moments.

The death of Elizabeth II launches Operation London Bridge, the series of events in place to trigger when she was to die. The state funeral for the late Queen will be held likely 10 days after the death of the monarch. It is expected to be one of the largest gatherings in British history. The last full royal funeral (excluding Prince Philip’s limited funeral due to COVID-19) was that of the Queen Mother, Elizabeth’s mom, which had over 200,000 people queued to see her coffin alone. King Charles III will have his coronation in the spring of next year.

Elizabeth II lived a long life. She saw the largest empire ever, which she ruled, slowly fall apart over a century. She lived through the second World War. She became the most universally loved and respected across the globe. She navigated through controversy throughout her rule and many would say she saved the crown multiple times.

It all started on April 12, 1921, when Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born to Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor and Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon. She was the oldest of two children from the couple, the other being her sister Margaret. At the time of her birth, Elizabeth was unlikely to be the ruler of Great Britain at any point in her life. Her father, Albert, was the second-born child of King George V. At the time of her birth, Elizabeth’s uncle, Edward, was the heir to the throne. Any children that Edward would have would move ahead of everyone else in succession. In all likelihood, unless something happened to her uncle, Elizabeth would never sit on the throne of the largest empire in the world at the time.

Well, something did happen to Edward. Upon the death of George V, Edward became King Edward VIII. At the time, it was the rule of the Church of England that one cannot marry a divorcee. When he became king, Edward VIII was deeply in love with a divorcee by the name of Wallis Simpson. Per the rules of the Church, they were not allowed to get married while Edward was king. However, Edward’s love for Wallis was so great that he declared, less than a year into his rule, that he would abdicate the throne to wed Ms. Simpson. As a result, Elizabeth’s father, Albert, was thrust into the head of the monarchy, becoming King George VI.

Such a big change in the monarchy created a huge change in the life of Elizabeth. She had suddenly gone from a long shot to be Queen, to the almost certain future monarch. Her daily life was no longer that of a free-living royal but was now one full of studies on history, future duties, etiquette, and everything else needed to be Queen.

During her time of being a young adult, she met Philip Mountbatten, a member of the Danish and Greek royal families. By 1947, Philip and Elizabeth were married. A little over a year later, Elizabeth and Philip welcomed Prince Charles to the world. Anne, Princess Royal, came two years later in 1950. It was another 10 years until another Windsor-Mountbatten would be born. The third born would be Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Finally, in 1964, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex became the fourth and final child of the Queen.

The children have been surrounded by controversies at times, specifically Charles and Andrew. Charles married the young Diana Spencer in 1981. Over the next 15 years, the marriage was extremely shaky. Diana suffered from extreme mental health problems and Charles and she both consistently committed adultery. By 1996, Charles was demanding a divorce. Tragically, a year after the royal divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris while being chased by the paparazzi. In 2002, the Church of England declared that those who are divorced could be remarried. With this change, Charles was able to marry Camilla Shand. Camilla was a divorcee and had known Charles for years, having even dated him when they were both younger.

As for Prince Andrew, he has been connected with Jeffrey Epstein and recently settled a lawsuit outside of court from Virginia Giuffre, who claims Andrew and Epstein trafficked her as a minor. Andrew resigned from public roles in 2020 and returned his military affiliations and patronages to the Queen after much backlash.

Elizabeth had gone through a multitude of crises. In 1982, Great Britain entered a deadly 10-week conflict with the country of Argentina. Off the southeast coast of Argentina, lies the British colonies known as the Falkland Islands. Britain laid claim to the islands in 1841 and an overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the islands are of British descent. However, in 1982, Argentina laid claim to the island as well. On April 2nd of that same year, Argentine military forces invaded the island chain. Britain responded by sending the Royal Navy to defend the islands. In total, just over 900 personnel died. While both countries never formally declared war on each other, they both labeled the Falkland Islands as a warzone. This was the largest of a series of conflicts throughout the southern Atlantic between the two nations. To this day, Argentina still claims they have rightful ownership of the islands.

One of the darkest moments of Elizabeth II’s reign was the horrific Aberfan disaster. On October 21, 1966, a spoil tip near the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, killed 144 people, 109 of which were children killed inside their own school by the landslide. Local residents desperately dug at the ground, hoping to save as many children as possible. Many were digging for their own children. Calls were shared throughout the British Isles to bring reform to the coal industry, which had incredibly loose safety standards before the disaster.

Throughout her long life, Elizabeth worked with many British Prime Ministers. When she first ascended the throne, Elizabeth worked closely with famous Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Churchill is widely regarded as one of her favorite Prime Ministers as he took her under his wing for the first 4 years of her reign. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was Elizabeth’s longest-serving prime minister at just over 11 years. It is reported and commonly accepted that Elizabeth and Thatcher had a dicey relationship with each other, likely due to the Prime Minister’s cold and uncompromising leadership style. Elizabeth’s 15th and final Prime Minister was Liz Truss. Truss was formally appointed as Prime Minister by Elizabeth just two days before the monarch’s passing. Elizabeth also met with 13 of the last 14 Presidents of the United States, starting with Harry Trueman back when she was still Princess Elizabeth. The only President she didn’t meet with was President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Because of how important her rule was, the fallout of the passing of Elizabeth II will send ripples through the Commonwealth. It has been discussed for years that many countries could leave the Commonwealth upon the death of Elizabeth II. In recent years, Barbados and other Caribbean countries removed the monarch as their figurehead, effectively severing ties with the Commonwealth. Australia and New Zealand have been the two countries at the forefront of the discussion and time will tell how Elizabeth’s death will affect the future of the British monarchy and the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, will be remembered as a leader who saw the fall of an empire, navigated through crises, and witnessed great change across the world for almost a century.