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Queen Elizabeth II has died

Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom’ s longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022.

Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the second longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country.

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as 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 III; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

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 decolonization 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 have gained independence and some realms have become republics. Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and visits to or from 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 and longest-reigning British monarch, the oldest and longest-serving incumbent head of state, and the second-longest verifiable reigning sovereign monarch in world history, only behind 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 on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire.

“The Queen is dead, Long live King Charles III”

The Duchess of York with Princess Elizabeth, 30 June 1927 by Marcus Adams (The Royal Collection Trust),

Princess Elizabeth in uniform (1942) by Cecil Beaton (The Royal Collection Trust),

Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding day, 20th November 1947 by Sterling Henry Nahum ‘Baron’ (The Royal Collection Trust),

Queen Elizabeth II poses on her Coronation Day on June 2, 1953, in London (Photography by Cecil Beaton),

Queen Elizabeth II with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and family - 16 Mar 1960 by Cecil Beaton (From the Collection of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother),

Queen Elizabeth II and her son, the Prince of Wales, out riding at Windsor Castle I May 18, 1961 (PA),

The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom used outside of Scotland,

Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee 2022 - Platinum Party At The Palace. The Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington Bear having cream tea at Buckingham Palace (BBC Platinum Party at the Palace),

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II released by The Royal Windsor Horse Show on April 20, 2022 to mark the occasion of her 96th birthday.

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A LIFE IN PICTURES

Vogue Australia | Published 22 October 2022

For more than a century, British Vogue has enjoyed the rarest of relationships with the Royal Family. Barely 10 years younger than Vogue itself, the late Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most photographed women in the world, is certainly the most steadfast face to be found in the pages of the magazine. Of Her Majesty herself, its historic archive contains boxes of prints and drawers full of transparencies and illustrations of ceremonial portraits, official souvenirs and private moments. There are press snapshots, candid pictures at home and on holiday. Most are pristine, some are suffering the vagaries of age, all are remarkable. Many made it to the page, but many more have remained unseen.

Princess Elizabeth first appeared in Vogue in 1927, just a year old, at her mother's knee. Ever since, Vogue has measured out its life in tune with hers: the magazine has seen four monarchs, crowned and uncrowned; three coronations; the funerals of two reigning Kings; one abdication; one royal investiture; many royal marriages; and a jewel box of jubilees - silver, ruby, gold, diamond, sapphire and platinum. Until her passing, no one under 70 years of age could recall another reign.

Indeed, it's hard to imagine another female sovereign, not least because the next three generations of heirs presumptive are male. It is quite possible we may never see a woman monarch again. But as the twists and turns of the Queen's own history have shown us, anything can happen.

At her birth on April 21, 1926, Princess Elizabeth's uncle, David, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VIII, was still a single man and it was assumed that when he married, his heirs would propel her into the further reaches of the line of succession. But with his abdication in 1936, to marry double-divorcee Wallis Simpson, the line twitched and Princess Elizabeth - then third in line to the throne - found herself heir to an illprepared if dutiful king: Edward's brother, her father, George VI.

And it was now, in the lead up to the World War II when the Princess was a teenager, that Vogue began to play a key role in burnishing the image of the monarchy, depicting it as a unifying force for good, marrying the virtues of majesty and duty with familial devotion, faith and simplicity. Great interest was taken in Princess Elizabeth's education - "How best shall a little girl be prepared to occupy the most exalted position in the world?" asked Vogue - and in what she wore, having set a trend early on for yellow-coloured playwear. Vogue would be enchanted by Elizabeth's "gentle smile, delicate complexion and long, sensitive fingers", which belied the fact "that she can handle a light 16-bore gun".

Putting it all into practice was entrusted to Vogue's star imagemaker Cecil Beaton. Few could have done more of a service to the monarchy at such a crucial moment. It would be no exaggeration to claim that his first royal photographs, of Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth's mother, taken in 1939 during the last summer before the war, changed the public's perception of the House of Windsor. This was a fairytale Queen, the very image of what monarchy should be for a modern era: glittering and remote but possessing what Evelyn Waugh, in Vogue, would call an "accessible and human" face. The little Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, ranged next in line for Beaton. "Who of us is so without romance as not to respond to the appeal of a young Princess?" asked Vogue.

LILIBET The Duchess of York & Princess Elizabeth (1928) by Marcus Adams

The ‘Little Princesses' were much photographed for Vogue and often by Marcus Adams. They quickly became mini-celebrities across the world, with Princess Elizabeth appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1929, aged three. Adams had a long royal career; his final sitting was with the Princess Royal in 1956. His semi-formal portraits did much to bring the Royal Family closer to the people.

Beaton's romanticisation of the Royal Family paused with the coming war. Now he endeavoured to portray the King, his wife and daughters as citizens - Buckingham Palace was famously bombed - sharing in the restrictions imposed by the ration book and clothing coupon. For one Beaton sitting, in the spirit of 'make do and mend', the Princess Elizabeth wore a dress recycled from one of her mother's pre-war evening gowns.

Several years later, at Christmas 1947, Vogue wished the newly wedded 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Philip Mountbatten, good luck in their lives together. What Vogue and the royal couple did not realise, of course, is that, by February 1952, Princess Elizabeth would become Queen Elizabeth II. Her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was now destined to walk several paces behind his wife and his outspoken nature guaranteed views and opinions that would be hard to ignore.

FAMILY FRONT Princess Elizabeth & Princess Margaret (1945) by Cecil Beaton

On the Ministers' Staircase, Buckingham Palace, in recycled gowns. In the post-war years, hopes for a brighter future were enshrined in the youthful Princesses, the heir presumptive Elizabeth approaching her 20th birthday. They had endured the war with dignity and a sense of duty, earning the warmth of the British public. “Lilibet is my pride," said their father, the King, “Margaret is my joy."

The splendour and pageantry of 1953's coronation afforded fresh opportunities to bind the Crown to the full magnificence of history. The newly anointed monarch was the 'harbinger of spring' and, with Beaton, Vogue had a ringside seat. He had been appointed official photographer and from Westminster Abbey gave Vogue an exclusive first-hand account of the day, the new Queen appearing to glow with, as Peter Quennell further described it, "the strangely transfiguring radiance that encircles those who occupy a throne".

LOYAL SUBJECT Princess Elizabeth in uniform (1942) by Cecil Beaton

The Princess began the war as a patrol leader in the Girl Guides and ended it as a junior commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, having trained as a mechanic. On her 16th birthday, succeeding her godfather the Duke of Connaught, she was appointed colonel-in-chief of the Grenadier Guards, whose distinctive exploding-grenade cap badge she wore with evident pride.

In the years leading up to 1977's Silver Jubilee, there was an increasing awareness on the part of the monarch to be more in tune with values shared with the majority of her people, a new democratic age in which 'happily ever after' would not always form the conclusion to fairytale marriages. A ceremonial figurehead, the Queen was also a wife and mother, daughter and sister, and, to begin with, far against her better judgement, snatches of shared family life allowed her to be more accessible.

Norman Parkinson was the first Vogue photographer to present readers with such informal and intimate glimpses. Similarly, both Lord Snowdon's and Lord Lichfield's proximity to the throne - the former married to the Queen's sister; the latter her first cousin once removed - allowed for a more personal take on family events, unfettered by protocol. Happily for Vogue, Snowdon - then plain Antony Armstrong Jones - had been under contract as a photographer since 1956.

TYING THE WINDSOR KNOT Princess Elizabeth & the Duke of Edinburgh (1947)

The couple married on November 20, during another winter of rationing and austerity. Here, the newlyweds are pictured returning from Westminster Abbey, she wearing the diamond fringe tiara lent by Queen Mary, he created a Duke the day before. Vogue’s coverage, which included a delicately illustrated souvenir cover, was in tune with the times, emphasising love and romance over pomp and ceremony.

As the world changed, both her own and the one beyond, Queen Elizabeth II would stand unwaveringly by her earliest commitments to public service. "When I was 21,1 pledged my life for the service of our people and I asked for God's help to make good that vow," she said in 1977. "Although that vow was made in my salad days when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it."

And the Silver Jubilee, for which Vogue published a special souvenir supplement, provided an ideal opportunity for closer engagement with the people - should, of course, they wish it. Britain's economy was in poor shape and the national mood might not have been appreciative. However, the celebrations were rapturous. Now that royal 'walkabouts' had become part of the Queen's routine, more people than ever had the chance to see their monarch face to face. Walter Bagehot's caution to Queen Victoria, "We must not let in daylight upon magic," would be countered by her great-great-granddaughter's insistence that, "I must be seen to be believed."

MOTHER SUPERIOR Princess Elizabeth & Prince Charles (1948) by Cecil Beaton

Vogue’s first photograph of Prince Charles, taken just before Christmas 1948 when he was barely a month old, was also the first royal photograph to be reproduced in colour in the magazine. Accompanying this historic moment, the magazine commissioned an uplifting essay from historian Arthur Bryant, who saw in the heir presumptive (and the heir to the heir) the “steadying and unifying influence of the unchanging throne”.

HEIR OF CONVICTION Princess Elizabeth & Prince Charles (1950) by Cecil Beaton

In the grounds of Clarence House, the young Prince proffers a leaf, an early indication, perhaps, of passions for horticulture, architecture and environmentalism to come. Almost exactly 60 years later, he was opening up those same gardens for a 12-day sustainability festival.

However, it's true to say that Vogue's coverage of the Queen since the Silver Jubilee has faltered a little. Perhaps understandably, its gaze shifted to the younger royals - most prominently the Queen's daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, of whom there would be acres of coverage and four Vogue covers. Vogue's new dynamic was drawn from a string of reliable fashion photographers. Clothes were called in, stylists and hair and make-up artists engaged. The results, as polished as any fashion shoot, radiated glamour. There would always be room for displays of pomp and ceremony, but by making themselves more available and behaving more open-mindedly, more emotionally expressive even, these younger figures appeared more in tune with the fin de siècle. Take the Duchess of Cambridge's relaxed cover shoot in rural Norfolk, which marked Vogue's centenary issue in 2016 and nodded towards the future generation of the Royal Family.

GLORIANA REDUX Queen Elizabeth II (1953)

Ascending the throne at 25, the same age as Elizabeth I, the new Queen took over her father's position as head of the Commonwealth of Nations, promoting the tenets of the Commonwealth Charter. A second Elizabethan era had begun.

But the magazine has steadfastly observed the monarch's milestones. And how many there have been. At Christmas 2017, for the first issue under Edward Enninful, novelist Zadie Smith wrote a trenchant and absorbing essay for Vogue, 'Mrs Windsor', which further stitched her to the fabric of our lives. "There is no precedent for such a monarch in either our history books or our fairytales," she wrote. "The reign of Elizabeth II has been marked not by grandeur and imperiousness - as it was with the first Elizabeth - but by a quality of intense familiarity, the by-product of the unprecedented replication of her image …"

COUNTRY PURSUITS The Queen & Princess Anne (1959) by Studio Lisa

By the lake at Frogmore House, Windsor, the Queen and her nine-year-old daughter, Anne, dressed for equestrian pursuits. Lessons were clearly learnt early: in 1976, on her horse Goodwill, Princess Anne was a member of Britain's three-day eventing team at the Montreal Olympic Games.

PRIVATE LIFE The Queen at Windsor Great Park (1985) by Tim Graham

Asked as a child what she would like one day to be, the future Queen reportedly confided: “A lady living in the country with a lot of horses and dogs." Her off-duty uniform would frequently embrace Hermes headscarves, tweed skirts and stout shoes, which, when her schedule allowed it, she would wear to Windsor Great Park, her sanctuary.

SOVEREIGN Queen Elizabeth II (1968) by Cecil Beaton

For its Silver Jubilee coverage in 1977, Vogue chose from Beaton's austere ‘Admiral's Boat Cloak' series. Beaton recalled the day: “Nothing went right. Each way she turned was worse than the last." Until a coup de foudre: “She turned to the left and the head tilted, and this was the clue to the whole sitting - the tilt." This would be the last time Beaton photographed the Queen.

IN EXCELSIS Queen Elizabeth II (2017) by Peter Blake

Peter Blake, one of Britain's greatest living painters, made for Vogue this lighthearted portrait of the long-serving and oldest-living monarch. Blake's well-known fascination with American popular culture has always been balanced by an enthusiasm for British tradition and motifs drawn from the nation's heritage. He has made several studies of the Queen, including a portrait to celebrate her 90th birthday.

About the 1st portrait:

PRINCESS ELIZABETH (1943) BY PRINCESS MARINA. DUCHESS OF KENT. PRINCESS MARINA HAD BEEN MARRIED TO ELIZABETH'S UNCLE. PRINCE GEORGE. DUKE OF KENT. WHO DIED IN A PLANE CRASH THE PREVIOUS YEAR. AN ACCOMPLISHED ARTIST WHO CAPTURED "AN EXCELLENT LIKENESS WITH HER PASTEL PORTRAITS". VOGUE APPRECIATED THE CHANCE TO RUN THIS PRIVATE PORTRAIT OF HER NIECE TO MARK THE PRINCESS'S I8TH BIRTHDAY IN 1944.

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