Biography

Elizabeth was born at 17 Bruton Street in
Mayfair,
London on
21 April
1926. Her father
was

The Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), the second eldest
son of

King George V and
Queen
Mary. Her mother was The Duchess of York (née

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), the daughter of

Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his
wife, the

Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck, the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

She was baptised in the Music Room of

Buckingham Palace by
Cosmo Lang,
the then

Archbishop of York and her godparents were King George and Queen Mary, the

Princess Royal, the

Duke of Connaught, the

Earl of Strathmore and

Lady Elphinstone.

Elizabeth was named after her mother, while her two middle names are those of
her paternal great-grandmother

Queen Alexandra and grandmother Queen Mary respectively. As a child her
close family knew her as "Lilibet". Her grandmother Queen Mary doted on her and
George V found her extremely entertaining. At 10 years old, the young Princess
was introduced to a preacher at Glamis Castle. As he left he promised to send
her a book. Elizabeth replied, "Not about God. I already know all about him".

As a granddaughter of the British sovereign in the male line, she held the
title of a

British princess with the style

Her Royal Highness. Her full style was Her Royal Highness Princess
Elizabeth of York. At the time of her birth, she was third in the

line of succession to the crown, behind her father and her uncle,

the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). Although her birth generated
public interest, no one could have predicted that she would become Queen. It was
widely assumed that her uncle, the Prince of Wales, would marry and have
children in due course. Had Edward stayed on the throne and produced no heirs
(which would have been likely due to his wife Wallis Simpson's reproductive
issues), Elizabeth would still have become Queen, though had her parents ever
produced a son, even though younger than Elizabeth, such a son would have had
precedence over her, and assumed the throne as King.

Contributions

Constitutionally, the Queen is an essential part of the legislative process of her Realms. The Queen-in-Parliament
(the Queen, acting with the advice and consent of Parliament), in each
country, is an integral part of Parliament, along with the upper and lower
houses. In all of her realms outside of the United Kingdom she retains
her constitutional powers, but her participation is usually limited to
the appointment of representatives within the Realm in question,
usually a Governor-General, who exercises executive power in a fashion closely resembling her own exercise of power within the United Kingdom. (In Canada, this participation stretches to include the appointment of additional Senators to break deadlocks in the Canadian Senate.)

In practice, much of the Queen's role in the legislative process is
ceremonial, as her reserve powers are rarely exercised. For example,
the Queen may legally grant or withhold Royal Assent to Bills, but no monarch has refused his or her assent to a Bill since Queen Anne
in 1708. In Realms outside of the United Kingdom the power to give
Royal Assent is also practiced by her designated representative in the
Realm. The Queen, or her Governors-General in the Realms outside the
United Kingdom, also gives a speech at the annual State Opening of Parliament,
outlining the government's legislative agenda for the year, but the
speech is written by government ministers and reflects the view of the
elected government.

The Queen also has a functional role in executive government. In the
United Kingdom, she chooses her prime minister in accordance with
constitutional requirements. In her realms outside the United Kingdom,
this power is exercised by her representatives. In reality no actual choice is required as the issue of whom to ask to form a government is clear from who controls the House of Commons,
except in exceptional circumstances. She also decides the basis on
which a person is asked to form a government. That is, whether a
government should be formed capable of surviving in the House of Commons—the standard requirement—or capable of commanding majority support in the House of Commons, i.e.,
a requirement to form a coalition if no one party has a majority. This
requirement was last set in 1940, when King George VI asked Winston
Churchill to form a government capable of commanding a majority
in parliament. This necessitated a coalition. The requirement is
normally only made in emergencies or in wartime, and happened only
three times in the 20th century: with Andrew Bonar Law and David Lloyd George
in 1916 (Bonar Law declined and recommended King George V ask Lloyd
George to form a government) and Churchill in 1940. To date Elizabeth
has never set it. All her prime ministers have had to meet the lower
requirement of simply surviving in the House of Commons. The
Queen also appoints ministers of the United Kingdom and all government
is carried out legally in her name.

Theoretically she stills holds a large proportion of power in
international affairs. The Queen, as Head of State, has the power to
declare war and make peace, to recognise foreign states, to conclude
treaties and to take over or give up territory on behalf of the United
Kingdom. In her other realms she leaves the exercise of these powers to
her representatives, who likewise exercise it at the behest of elected
governments.

UK Orders-in-Council are issued only when approved by her at Privy Council meetings, Canadian Orders issued only when approved by her Governor General-in-Council.
She has access to all government minutes and documentation from all her
Realms, and has a weekly meeting with the British Prime Minister when
the British parliament is in session. In the UK she also signs
executive orders, financial and treasury papers, with her signature
required on all major financial transactions of state (countersigned by
the relevant minister). The role of Commander-in-Chief is held in each realm either by the Queen or by her Governor-General as her representative.

On three occasions during her reign the Queen has had to deal with
constitutional problems over the formation of UK governments. In 1957
and again in 1963 the absence of a formal open mechanism within the Conservative Party for choosing a leader meant that following the sudden resignations of Sir Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan respectively it fell on the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government. In both these cases Rab Butler was passed over, in controversial circumstances. In 1957 Eden did not proffer advice and so the Queen consulted Lords Salisbury and Kilmuir for the opinion of the Cabinet and Winston Churchill, as the only living former Conservative Prime Minister (following the precedent of George V consulting Salisbury's father and Arthur Balfour upon Andrew Bonar Law's resignation in 1923). In October 1963 the outgoing Prime Minister Harold Macmillan advised the Queen to appoint the Earl of Home.

On the third occasion, in February 1974, an inconclusive general election result meant that in theory outgoing Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had won more of the popular vote, could stay in power if he formed a coalition government with the Liberals.
Rather than immediately resign as prime minister he explored the option
and only resigned when the discussions foundered. (Had he chosen to, he
could have stayed on until defeated in the debate on the Queen's Speech.) Only when he resigned was the Queen able to ask the Leader of the Opposition, the Labour Party's Harold Wilson, to form a government. His minority government lasted for 8 months before a new general election was held.

In all three cases, she appears to have acted in accordance with
constitutional tradition, following the advice of her senior ministers
and Privy Councillors.

Achievements

In 1945 Princess Elizabeth convinced her father that she should be
allowed to contribute directly to the war effort. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service (the ATS) where she was known as No 230873 Second Subaltern
Elizabeth Windsor, and was trained as a driver. This training was the
first time she had been taught together with other students. It is said
that she greatly enjoyed this and that this experience led her to send
her own children to school rather than have them educated at home. She
was the first and so far only female member of the royal family to
actually serve in the armed forces, though other royal women have been
given honorary ranks. During the V-E Day
celebrations in London, she and her sister dressed in ordinary clothing
and slipped into the crowd secretly in order to celebrate with everyone
without being recognised.

Elizabeth made her first official visit overseas in 1947, when she accompanied her parents to South Africa. During her visit to Cape Town she and her father were accompanied by Jan Smuts when they went to the top of Table Mountain by cable car. On her 21st birthday she made a broadcast to the British Commonwealth and Empire, pledging to devote her life to the service of the people of the Commonwealth and Empire.

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