CBC News Indepth: The Royal Family

INDEPTH: THE ROYAL FAMILY
The Queen at 80
CBC News Online | April 20, 2006

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Nobody since Queen Victoria has held the British throne longer than Queen Elizabeth II. She marked 50 years as monarch in 2002 at the age of 76 and - with a recent clean bill of health and no urge to step down - looks like an even bet to surpass the 63 years of Victoria's reign.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York was born on April 21, 1926, at her maternal grandparents' home in London, the first child for the Duke and Duchess of York.

While the Queen's birthday falls in April, the country officially celebrates it in June. Britain has a long tradition of marking the monarch's birthday on either the first, second or third Saturday in June. That helps avoid the risk of bad weather ruining outdoor celebrations.

Elizabeth's accession to the throne was something of a fluke, the result of the dramatic abdication by her uncle, Edward VIII, to marry the American divorc ée Wallis Simpson. Her father became King George VI on Dec. 11, 1936, when Elizabeth was 10 years old.

Elizabeth gave her first radio address at 14, on Oct. 13, 1940. In her four-minute talk, she told the world that British children were "full of cheerfulness and courage" as bombs rained down on London during a Second World War air raid.

Five years later, she learned how to drive a car when she enlisted in the army.

Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947. On Feb. 6, 1952, her father died of cancer while she and Prince Philip were touring Africa, making the princess the Queen. Although the royal couple rushed home, Elizabeth's coronation wasn't held until more than a year later, on June 2, 1953. It was the first coronation of a British monarch shown on television.

Since then, the Queen has kept a busy travel schedule. She has made more than 250 official overseas visits, including 23 to Canada, her most frequent Commonwealth destination. Her first royal visit to this country was in 1959 when she and Phillip visited every province and territory over a period of six weeks. She also officially opened the St. Lawrence Seaway.

It was during one of her overseas trips that the Queen embarked on the first "Royal walkabout." The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were visiting Australia and New Zealand in 1970 when they began mingling with the crowds that had lined up to see them. Meeting and greeting regular people, instead of just dignitaries and invited officials, proved so popular that the walkabout became a fixture of the Queen's public appearances.

Although the Queen has generally avoided scandal, her family has been known to cause controversy and make news. There was Charles's divorce, Diana's fatal car crash in a Paris tunnel, Princess Margaret's stroke, the antics of her daughter-in-law Sarah Ferguson, and the night an intruder managed to scale a wall outside Buckingham Palace and find his way into the royal bedroom, where he sat at the foot of the Queen's bed.

The Queen memorably described 1992 as an annus horribilis, after a fire at Windsor Castle and marital problems among three of her children.

The year 2002 was meant to be a big celebration of Elizabeth's 50 years as Queen, but the year was overshadowed by the deaths of her sister, Princess Margaret, and the Queen Mother, who was 101.

The Queen is known to love animals, especially dogs and horses. She has owned more than 30 Corgis, starting with Susan, which was a gift on her 18th birthday. One of her Corgis had to be put down in 2004 after it was mauled by a bull terrier owned by Princess Anne.

She has also run afoul of animal rights activists. In November 2000, Elizabeth was photographed wringing the neck of a wounded pheasant that a hunting dog had dropped at her feet. The next day, she showed up at church wearing a red hat accented with pheasant feathers.

Elizabeth is one of the wealthiest women in the world, with a net worth of $818 million in 2004, according to Forbes magazine. This is the result of a nest egg put aside for her by her father during his reign as king. Other estimates put her personal fortune at more than $4 billion, or as much as $16 billion if the Royal Collection -- which includes the crown jewels - is included.

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