THE sovereign who safeguarded the dignity of the Crown through a period of unprecedented social change, including the iconoclasm of the 1960s and the trivialising invasiveness of the celebrity culture that dominated the second half of her reign, Elizabeth II will be remembered for her unwavering fidelity to timeless concepts of royalty absorbed during her childhood from her parents and grandparents, for unflagging devotion to duty and for the constancy that earned her the title 'Elizabeth the Steadfast'.
'She looks a Queen and obviously believes in her right to be one. Her bearing is both simple and majestic-no actress could possibly match it,' wrote the politician and historian John Grigg at the time of the Silver Jubilee. In a cynical age, Elizabeth II preserved aspects of sovereignty's ancient mystique-the likeable, often glittering embodiment of monarchy-albeit acknowledging popular pressure for greater accessibility. We do not want the Queen to be one of us,' wrote the women's editor of the Reading Evening Post in February 1991, 'but we do want her to be with us.' Over time, Elizabeth II developed an instinctive understanding of this precarious distinction. Through more than seven decades on the throne, she balanced the requirement of accessibility with distance, the white-gloved hand smilingly extended in greeting, and skilfully she balanced her formal role as head of state with that of head of the nation, encouraging, applauding and inspiring wide-ranging initiatives that, above all, promoted community wellbeing, pride in the nation and the continuing evolution of a tolerant, compassionate, unified society. From the landmark 1969 fly-on-the-wall documentary film Royal Family, she emerged, in the words of one television critic, as a warm, friendly person, with a thoroughly engaging sense of humour'.
Esta historia es de la edición September 14, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 14, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
