Consider This from NPR - The Life And Reign Of Queen Elizabeth II

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch of Britain since 1952, died on Thursday at the age of 96. She reigned for longer than any other ruler of the United Kingdom, spanning seventy years and fifteen prime ministers. NPR's Frank Langfitt brings us the story of her life and reign, including the ups and downs of the royal family during her tenure.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org Queen Elizabeth II was no stranger to pageantry. The trappings of royalty followed her everywhere. Speeches, meet and greets, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and, of course, official government business. My Lord's prayer be seated.

Nearly every year for seven decades, Elizabeth opened the British Parliament's session with an elaborate ancient ceremony. Golden scepters, powdered wigs. And finally, words from the Queen herself. My Lords and members of the House of Commons. That's Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday, May 11th, 2021. My government's priority is to deliver a national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier, and more prosperous than before. It would turn out to be the last time she addressed Parliament. Later in the year,

the Queen, in her mid-90s, began passing official state duties to her son, Prince Charles. She started using a cane in public. And this year, for the first time since 1963, she wasn't able to open Parliament's session, citing mobility problems. Charles did it instead. My Lords and members of the House of Commons, Her Majesty's government's priority is to grow On Thursday, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen's doctors were concerned for her health, and members of the royal family rushed to see her at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Then, in the early evening, it was announced. The Queen had died at the age of 96. Consider this, the longest-serving monarch in British history has passed away. We'll take a look at the life and the reign of Queen Elizabeth

II. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Thursday, September 8th. It's Consider This from NPR. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. For Queen Elizabeth II, the summer of 2022 started out with festivities. The Platinum Jubilee, a days-long celebration honoring her 70 years of rule. The Queen herself was only an intermittent spectator, appearing occasionally on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with other members of the royal family. But she wasn't done with state business either. Just this week, the queen met with Liz Truss, the new prime minister, officially inviting her to form a government as is customary. We're going to pass it off now to our London correspondent, Frank Langfitt, to tell the story of her life and reign. A reign

which was defined by duty to country and considerable family pain. Queen Elizabeth's life spanned a remarkable arc in British history. She was born into an empire on which the sun never set and witnessed the nation's great victory in World War II when, Elizabeth recalled, she slipped out of Buckingham Palace to join the crowds. 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 think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life.

Later, she watched as Britain lost most of its colonies and much of its power. There were many personal lows. The divorces of three of her children, the death of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, a sex scandal involving her son, Prince Andrew. In addition, her grandson, Prince Harry, left the family to settle in California with his American wife. Through it all, though, the queen worked to honor a pledge she'd made when she was just 21. I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service

and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. Elizabeth was born in 1926, her ascension to the throne, an accident of history. The Queen, of course, was never born to be Queen. Christopher Warwick has written a number of royal biographies. For the first 10 years of her life, she was pretty much an ordinary little girl. All that changed in 1936, when her

uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced woman from America. Elizabeth's shy, stammering father assumed the throne as George VI, placing her next in line. When the Second World War erupted three years later, Princess Elizabeth began performing official royal duties and delivered the first of many broadcasts, billed as addresses to the children of the British Empire. When peace comes, remember, it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place. The day is November 20, 1947. The time, 11 o'clock. A nation and a world watch. At age 25, Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a naval officer and distant cousin.

Once only in 1100 years of British kingship has there been such a day. An heiress presumptive to the throne marries the man of her choice. She'd fallen in love with Philip in her early teens. While traveling in Kenya five years later, she received grim news from home. The king, who retired to rest last night in his usual health, passed peacefully away in his sleep. Elizabeth's father, who suffered from heart disease and cancer, died in 1952. The following year, her lavish coronation drew a global TV audience.

God crown you with a crown of glory and righteousness. Elizabeth made a glamorous young queen in the gray post-war years, but also a remote one. Occasionally, she appeared to drop her guard and allow TV cameras into her home. If you live in this sort of life, which people don't very much, you live very much by tradition and by continuity. I find that's one of the sad things, that people don't take on jobs for life. They try different things all the time. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, you know,

you'll know exactly what you're going to be doing two months hence or even beginning to know about next year. And I think that this is what the younger members find difficult, exactly what you're going to be doing two months hence, or even beginning to know about next year. And I think that this is what the younger members find difficult, is the regimented side of it. Difficulties involving younger royals led to some of the most painful periods of the Queen's life. In the space of a year, in 1992, the marriages of three of the Queen's four children collapsed, and that November fired devastated Windsor Castle, her childhood home. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents,

it has turned out to be an annus horribilis. A horrible year. I think the Queen really felt deeply wounded by the lack of success of her family, let's say. Lady Sarah Bradford has written several biographies of Elizabeth. She just felt humiliated and possibly she felt guilty about it. Things got even worse. We have reports from Paris that Diana, Princess of Wales, has been killed in a car accident. The Mercedes she was traveling in crashed into a pillar in a tunnel along the Seine. They were apparently being pursued by paparazzi on two motorcycles.

It was 1997, and she'd recently divorced Prince Charles, but remained, for many, a sympathetic figure. Instead of returning to London to lead her people in mourning, the Queen remained in her people in mourning, the Queen remained in her castle in Balmoral, Scotland, comforting her grandchildren, Diana's sons, Princess William and Harry. Again, Sarah Bradford. The week before Diana's funeral was probably the low point of the Queen's life, because for the first time in her life, she was actually really criticized, deeply criticized. She appeared out of touch and uncaring. Many Britons were furious.

Bowing to public pressure, the Queen eventually responded. I, for one, believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory. With that tribute to Diana, the crisis faded. When the Queen celebrated her 60th year on the throne in 2012, she'd recovered her popularity. A few weeks later came the London Olympics, where she thrilled a global TV audience by pretending to skydive into the Olympic Stadium

with Daniel Craig as James Bond. The audience belted out the national anthem with patriotic pride. Years later, during the pandemic, the Queen made a rare national speech that illustrated the unique role she played in the United Kingdom. As head of state and above politics, she reassured the British people and emphasized the country's traditional values. Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it. I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any, that the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet, good-humored resolve, and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country. But recent years brought a return of family turmoil and crises that undermined the monarchy,

including allegations that a 17-year-old girl was coerced into having sex with Prince Andrew, which she was forced to address in an interview with the BBC. She went on to have sex with you in a house in Belgravia belonging to Gerlaine Maxwell, your friend. Your response? I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. And claims by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle of racism inside the royal family. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle raised questions about discrimination towards their son, Archie. So we have in tandem the conversation of he won't be given security,

he's not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born. In a statement, Buckingham Palace called the claims concerning and said the family would address them privately. About a month later, Prince Philip, who the Queen had called her strength and stay, died at age 99 after more than seven decades of marriage. Elizabeth became Queen when Winston Churchill and Harry Truman were in power. She worked with more than a dozen British prime ministers

and a similar number of American presidents. Queen Elizabeth is the only monarch most Britons have ever known. Sarah Bradford says Elizabeth will rank among the nation's great sovereigns, including Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. I think the Queen's legacy will be holding the whole thing together, through bad and good, connecting with the world. I think she will be seen as dutiful, good at her job, and self-sacrificing in many ways. A quarter of a century after assuming the throne,

Queen Elizabeth summarized her role and her relationship with her subjects. When I was 21, I pledged my life to the service of our people, and I asked for God's help to make good that vow. That report was from NPR's Frank Langfitt on the life of Queen Elizabeth II. She died on Thursday at the age of 96. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.