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Princess Elizabeth Lived to Such a Ripe Old Age That She Became History’s Longest Serving Queen
In her old age, Queen Elizabeth recalled the end-of-war celebrations: “We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves… I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief … I remember we were terrified of being recognized so I pulled my uniform cap well down over my eyes“. As Queen, Elizabeth II held multiple records. She was the world’s longest reigning current monarch, and also the oldest and longest-serving current head of state. Elizabeth was also the longest-lived and longest-serving monarch in British history, and the longest-serving queen in history. She got close to Louis XIV’s record as longest-reigning monarch of a major state – a record she would have broken had she lived until 2024.
Her long reign, which began in 1952, witnessed major changes. Not least among them was the completion of the decolonization and dissolution of the British Empire, once history’s largest. Her reign also saw major constitutional changes in the UK, such as the devolution of statutory powers from the Parliament in Westminster to Scotland, Wales, Northern Island, and London. At the time of her death at a ripe old age, she was queen and head of state not only of the United Kingdom, but also of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, as well as eleven other countries that became independent after she was crowned: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.