Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II ( Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (b. 21 Apr. 1926). Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Dependencies Overseas, Queen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other independent Caribbean and Pacific countries, Head of the Commonwealth of Nations 1952–  Born in London, she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, and in 1947 married Prince Philip of Greece. She became Queen in 1952, at the age of 25, her lavish coronation in 1953 becoming a symbol of national revival following the austerity of the 1940s. In an age when the monarch has little political influence, she has devoted much of her reign to ceremonial functions and to tours of the Commonwealth and other countries. She has held weekly audiences with her Prime Minister, and shown a strong personal commitment to the Commonwealth. The serenity and distance with which she has performed her role won general respect and acclaim, but was curiously at odds with the free use of the media by her son, Prince Charles, from the early 1990s. In that decade, she was affected by the often tumultuous personal lives of her children. In the early 1990s her role as head of state of a number of Commonwealth countries such as Australia became increasingly challenged. Nevertheless, her personal popularity was affirmed in the Golden Jubilee celebrations that marked the 50th year of her rule.

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