The Queen and Her Family [antikvár]

The Royal House of Windsor In the early hours of 6 February 1952 Princess Elizabeth, the elder daughter of King George VI, was given the news that her father had died peacefully in his sleep and she was now Queen Elizabeth II. At the age of twenty-five she became the forty-second sovereign of England since William the Conqueror, yet only its sixth Queen Regnant, reigning in her own right. Her Majesty is the latest in a direct hereditary line which stretches back to King Egbert, the first Monarch of all England in 802. In 1.000 years the continuity of the British monarchy has been broken only once: in the seventeenth century, when the republic of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, ruled from 1649-1660. Her Majesty is therefore the current representative of Britain's oldest secular institution which pre-dates Parliament by 400 years and the Law Courts by 300 years. The Queen is the sixth sovereign to reign in the twentieth century: Victoria (1837-1901). Edward VII (1901-1910), George V (1910-1936), Edward VIII (1936) and George VI (1936-1952). She is also the first female monarch to bear the family name of Windsor. In 1917 King George V declared that henceforth his family and descendants would be known by this surname, the decision being taken because of the anti-German feeling throughout the country during the First World War. This was reflected in the attitude towards the existing Royal surname of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, the name taken from the German family of Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria. When King George V died in 1936, his successor was his eldest son David, who became King Edward VIII. However, he was never crowned and reigned for only 326 days, abdicating after constitutional problems arose over his intended marriage to an American divorcee, Mrs Wallis Simpson (later Duchess of Windsor). King George V's second son, Bertie, reluctantly accepted the Throne as King George VI. In spite of his initial hesitation he became one of the best loved sovereigns in British history during the sixteen years he reigned, with the support of his equally well-loved consort, now Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The Second World War strengthened the bonds between the Royal Family and the nation, particularly when The King and Queen refused to leave London during the bombing, preferring to share the dangers with their people. By the time Queen Elizabeth II came to the Throne in 1952 she had already been married for five years and borne two children. Prince Charles (1948) and Princess Anne (1950). Her husband had been created Duke of Edinburgh shortly before their marriage in 1947 and allowed to use the prefix 'His Royal Highness'. Ten years later Her Majesty announced that he was also to be created a Royal Prince. His family name of Mountbatten has been incorporated with the Royal surname of Windsor, and in 1960 The Queen decided that should future generations of her family be born without Royal titles, they would be known as Mount-batten-Windsor. However there is little prospect of anyone in the immediate line of succession being affected by this decision as with the birth of Prince William of Wales in 1982. and Prince Henry in 1984. the succession of the House of Windsor is now guaranteed well into the twenty-first century. A family tree of The Royal House of Windsor can be found on the inside back cover. front cover: Her Majesly the Queen wearing the Order of Canada almve the Order of Military Merit, Canada, back cover: Three Royal Princes and a Princess. The Prince and Princess of Wales with their two sons, Prince William and Prince Henry, in the garden at Highgrove House, the family home in Gloucestershire, eacing page: The Queen and her family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Her Majesty's Official Birthday, She is accompanied by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their sons Prince William and Prince Henry,