Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) was Queen of the United Kingdom and of 14 other sovereign countries until her death. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days, which began on 6 February 1952 to 8 September 2022, is the longest of any British monarch and the longest recorded of any female head of state in history.
Elizabeth was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in April 2021. They had four children together: Charles, Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth – then 25 years old – became queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), as well as Head of the Commonwealth.
Elizabeth reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom’s accession to the European Communities and withdrawal from the European Union. The number of her realms varied over time as territories gained independence and some realms became republics.
Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, and the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes. Significant events include Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Elizabeth was the longest-lived British monarch and the second-longest reigning sovereign in world history, behind only Louis XIV of France.
She faced occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family, particularly after the breakdowns of her children’s marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. However, support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom remained consistently high, as did her personal popularity. Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, in September 2022, three months after her Platinum Jubilee, and was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
Queen Elizabeth II had an estimated net worth of $600 million at the time of her death.
Net Worth: | $600 Million |
Date of birth: | April 21, 1926 |
Date of death: | August 8, 2022 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Source of wealth: | Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms |