As we all know, the Queen of England is the supreme ruler of the United Kingdom, she has always appeared in front of the world with a kind and simple image, but in the selection of royal figures in the United Kingdom, the most popular is not the current Queen, but her mother, Queen Elizabeth.
Known for her "strength", the empress dowager intervened in British politics many times to maintain the image of the royal family in the hearts of the people for a long time, and was called "the most dangerous woman in Europe" by Hitler.
So, what kind of experience did this empress dowager have? What important decisions did she make in her life?
Queen Elizabeth
Born into an aristocratic family, he rejected the prince
Queen Elizabeth, also known as Elizabeth Bose Leon, was born into an aristocratic family in Hertfordshire, England, and because she was the ninth child in the family, Elizabeth's arrival was not taken seriously, so that her sloppy father filed her birth certificate six weeks after her birth.
When she was a child, Elizabeth liked to dress up as an adult, and once there were two guests in the house, Elizabeth took the initiative to pour tea and water for the guests, and then quickly sat down opposite the guests and said mischievously: "Hey, let's sit down and talk!" ”
Looking at elizabeth with a green face, both the guests and her parents were amused by her, while Elizabeth stared at them angrily.
Elizabeth
At the age of ten, Elizabeth taught herself to speak fluent French, which her parents considered to be a reflection of her high intelligence, and then arranged for her to attend Eton College, where she received traditional and extensive courses.
Two years later, Elizabeth's mother took the initiative to ask her daughter to withdraw from school, and specially hired a governess to strictly discipline her daughter.
With a strong elite education, Elizabeth gradually grew into an excellent woman, who was not only proficient in multi-Chinese, but also very loving and compassionate.
Elizabeth
After the outbreak of The First World War, Elizabeth's educational life came to an abrupt end, her three brothers were killed on the battlefield, Elizabeth endured the grief, persuaded her parents to convert her castle into a sanatorium, and she herself became a nurse, this year she was only 14 years old.
Inside the nursing home, Elizabeth helped care for wounded soldiers, ghostwriting letters to their families or loved ones, sometimes playing poker cards with the soldiers and buying them cigarettes. It was throughout this period that Elizabeth developed the ability to bring people from different classes together.
Prince Albert
Five years later, Elizabeth met Prince Albert at a ball, and His Royal Highness became obsessed with this lovely girl at first sight, and he took the initiative to pursue Elizabeth, but Elizabeth politely refused.
For Elizabeth, she had many fantasies about her future partner, but she did not think that the other party was "His Royal Highness the Prince", because she did not want to deal with the royal family, and she was afraid that after she became a member of the royal family in the future, she could not think or act freely.
After that, Prince Albert launched two successive pursuit offensives, but Elizabeth refused in various ways, and the news reached the ears of the prince's mother, Queen Mary, who was not only not angry, but became interested in Elizabeth.
George V and Queen Mary
After a brief investigation, Queen Mary decided that Elizabeth was a good girl, not the kind of girl who coveted glory and wealth, so she encouraged her son to continue to pursue each other.
In order to help her son increase the success of his pursuit, Queen Mary specifically asked her husband, George V, to transfer Elizabeth's other suitor, the Count of Mary, to the field to create ample opportunities for Prince Albert.
Half a year later, Elizabeth agreed to Prince Albert's pursuit, and the two also entered a hot love period, Albert planned to take advantage of the victory to pursue and complete the wedding of the two as soon as possible, but Elizabeth wanted to wait, so the two had a conflict.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert
At that time, Albert told his family that he wanted to get married, and King George V said to his son: "Elizabeth is a good girl, if she agrees to your request, you will be a lucky person, brave to pursue your happiness." 」 ”
Two years later, Prince Albert finally proposed successfully, and Elizabeth also put on the ring prepared by the other party, and she said to her friends: "I really don't know, which of the two of us is the more surprised, I will actually marry a princely highness, he actually waited for my reply." ”
After that, Prince Albert and Elizabeth held a wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey, according to the rules of the British royal family, every royal bride needed to give her own bouquet to the tomb of the unknown soldier who went to the church after the wedding, while Elizabeth sent the bouquet directly to the tomb of her eldest brother who died fighting for the country, which was regarded as a symbol of her valuing her family.
Elizabeth
Become queen and save the royal family
After her marriage, Elizabeth fulfilled her duties as a duchess, a minor diplomat of the royal family, who often helped carry out various diplomatic activities.
At that time, Prince Albert was suffering from severe stuttering, and when he encountered a stranger, he would stutter and be unable to speak, so King George V and his wife were particularly distressed about this son.
In order to help her husband solve this problem, Elizabeth specifically persuaded him to visit a stuttering expert, and after a long period of language correction, Albert's stuttering was gradually overcome, and he could read a speech fluently during the country's diplomatic ceremony.
Queen Sisters
In the third year of their marriage, the two had their first child, and Prince Albert was so grateful for his wife's help that he named the child "Elizabeth", which became Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1936, King George V died of illness, supposedly succeeding Albert's brother Edward VIII, but the prince fell in love with a woman who had been divorced twice (Mrs. Simpson) and planned to marry her as his wife.
First of all, from the perspective of britain's system of state succession, this matter is absolutely not allowed. Because the King of England was the leader of the Church of England, the Church made it clear that divorce and remarriage were not accepted, let alone appoint a divorced woman as Queen of England.
Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson
Secondly, this woman named Simpson, who was also an extreme Nazi, had repeatedly issued declarations of worship for Hitler, which was unacceptable to the British people, especially since Britain and Germany were hostile countries, and as a result, her own King's wife was still a fan of the other side, which would affect the morale of the people at the bottom.
In the choice of love and the throne, Edward VIII resolutely abandoned his people, passed the throne to his brother Prince Albert, and went to the United States to pursue happiness.
As a consequence of this incident, the prestige of the British royal family plummeted, and a large number of people accused the royal family of only enjoying special treatment, but never thinking about the people.
The George VI family
A year later, Prince Albert was crowned king at Westminster Abbey, and he chose "George VI" as his title, hoping to be loved by the people like his father.
Afterwards, George VI's family moved into Buckingham Palace, but Elizabeth, as a younger sibling, hated Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, knowing that her stuttering husband did not want to be king at all, and that the crown would only bring countless pressures on her family.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the British king and his wife once again understood high-intensity pressure, and the German army defeated France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and other countries in a very short period of time, and the entire European continent fell almost completely.
Elizabeth
At that time, England was also facing German bombing, many buildings were destroyed, even Buckingham Palace was hit by nine bombs, and some people suggested that the queen and the two princesses should go to Canada to escape the danger, but Queen Elizabeth directly refused, she said to the people: "The children cannot leave without me, I cannot leave without the king, and the king cannot leave under any circumstances." ”
After this public speech, more and more British people regained confidence in the royal family, and everyone responded to the arrival of the war with emotion and respect.
Out and about
King George VI, accompanied by his wife, spent the most difficult time of his life and grew into a king loved by his subjects.
Since then, the king and queen have often visited hospitals, barracks, factories, queen Elizabeth even learned to shoot, because of her calm and resolute style, by the German Fuehrer Hitler as "the most dangerous woman in Europe", while British historians praised her as "the woman who saved the British royal family." ”
George VI
Promoted to empress dowager, interfering in family affairs
In 1949, the Second World War finally ended, King George VI was also completely exhausted, his body had many problems, Queen Elizabeth while taking care of her husband, while shouldering a lot of state affairs, she always pretended to be calm in front of outsiders, only silently weeping in front of her two daughters.
Three years later, when King George VI died in his sleep, the queen endured a letter of grief to her husband's former friends, begging them not to grieve excessively, saying: "Instead of grieving for what has been lost, it is better to be grateful for the rare peace." ”
Two months after her husband's departure, Queen Elizabeth reopened her social welfare activities, often telling her family: "Work is your obligation, it is the rent paid to life, and the people who are willing to support you must work hard to repay them." ”
Elizabeth and the Queen
After her daughter Elizabeth ascended the throne, the original queen became the queen consort, and she would still help her daughter deal with the scheming politicians like a mentor to her husband. The relationship between mother and daughter is very good, and the two often make some small jokes.
Once, the Queen and her mother had lunch together, and the Queen said she wanted a glass of wine, but her mother, who had become the Queen, asked, "Hey, Your Majesty, is it appropriate for you to do this?" You know, you're going to be in power for an afternoon today? ”
Seeing her mother say this, the Queen of England dismissed the idea of drinking, but at this time, the queen took the initiative to ask for a glass of wine and taste it carefully.
Queen of England
The Queen asked doubtfully, "Mother, why can't I drink if you can drink?" You are also a member of the royal family, and you also need to meet with the ministers. ”
Empress Wang said slowly and leisurely, "Don't be so rigid, I am not Her Majesty the Queen, I am an ordinary old lady, please don't deprive me of this hobby." ”
The Queen of England was also very helpless about her mother's completely double-standard behavior, and she watched intently as her mother drank a whole bottle of wine, which was originally the wine she wanted to drink.
Queen of England and Prince Philip
In the face of her obedient daughter, Empress Wang felt very satisfied, but only her son-in-law, Prince Philip, was always very unhappy.
It all came from something many years ago, philip was a descendant of the fallen royal family in Europe, the family conditions were very poor, and the Queen of England was the proud son of heaven, and from the moment her father inherited the throne, she was destined to become the Queen of England.
Under such extremely unequal family conditions, if Philip wants to marry the queen, he must pay some price, that is, to change his surname, change his mother's surname to Mountbatten, give up the inheritance rights of Denmark and Greece (both are low-ranking inheritance rights, which are unlikely to inherit), and enter the British royal family in a redundant situation.
Queen of England and Prince Philip
Obviously, during the period of love between the two sides, Philip agreed to it, but as the Queen of England gave birth to two children in succession, Philip also felt a little uncomfortable, he felt that he had no status to speak of, because it was because of the money, the only person in the family was Mountbatten, and the son and daughter also followed the Queen's surname Windsor.
Coincidentally, Philip's uncle, General Mountbatten, came to the door and suggested that Philip persuade the Queen to change Prince Charles's surname to "Mountbatten", so that when the next King of England ascended the throne, the dynasty that originally belonged to the Windsor family would become mountbatten.
Queen of England and Prince Philip
In this regard, the Queen of England hesitated for a long time and told the Queen Mother about this matter. In the eyes of the queen consort, Philip's behavior is completely usurpation, in order to protect the Windsor family, the queen consort and her mother-in-law, the queen, together with the British cabinet, put pressure on the British cabinet to write the rule that members of the royal family must be surnamed "Windsor" into the British national constitution.
Afterwards, Philip was completely awakened and no longer dreamed of replacing the "Windsor family" dynasty. In order to compensate her husband, the Queen also proposed to add the word "Mountbatten" to the names of her descendants, but it did not exist as a surname.
Empress Wang and grandchildren
In the early days of the Queen's reign, because the couple was busy with foreign affairs, they entrusted their son Charles to the care of the Queen. The queen consort liked her little grandson very much, and all the requirements for Charles were satisfied as much as possible, and as the grandson gradually grew into adulthood, the queen also paid attention to the marriage of her grandson.
By chance, the Queen knew that her good girlfriend, Madame Spencer, had a granddaughter named Diana, and she had seen this polite little girl, so she planned to introduce the girl to her grandson Charles.
At that time, although Charles agreed to his grandmother's idea and promised to marry Diana, he secretly entangled with Camilla behind his back.
Charles and Diana
After Charles and Diana got married, the two often clashed for various reasons, and the queen repeatedly asked her grandson to sever relations with her mistress Diana, but Charles was unwilling.
Helplessly, the empress dowager could only transfer her guilt for Diana to her two great-grandchildren (William and Harry), who were too old to take care of her grandson's family affairs.
In 1997, Diana died in a car accident, and the British people put all the responsibility on Charles, believing that it was because of his cheating that Princess Diana would die.
Empress Wang
At that time, the queen in her nineties personally attended the funeral of Princess Diana, which barely saved some prestige for the British royal family.
Half a year later, Charles insisted on marrying Camilla. In order not to let the royal family's prestige continue to deteriorate, the empress dowager publicly said: "Unless I die, Camilla must not enter the royal family." ”
Empress Wang died
In March 2002, the news that the Queen Queen, who had just passed her 101st birthday, died at the Hunting Palace in Windsor Castle, London, England, shocked the world.
On the day of the Queen's burial, more than a million Britons sent her off, and more than eighty national leaders or representatives went to commemorate her, and according to her will, she buried herself in St. George's Church in Windsor Castle, which she had chosen with her husband.
In the third year of the Queen's death, her grandson Prince Charles finally rebelled against her ideas and married Camilla into the family, causing the support of the British royal family to decline again.