Queen Elizabeth II had an unparalleled reign...
...the effect of which has been felt across the world
In her record-breaking seven decades on the throne...
...she witnessed the end of the British Empire…
...and welcomed radical societal shifts
She was the first person in the UK to make a long-distance phone call...
...without an operator
…the first monarch in the world to send an email…
…and one of the first to tweet
The Queen’s reign was monumental in absolutely every sense
It was peppered with superlatives
She was the longest-reigning British monarch
Her head appeared on more coins than any other living monarch
She was herself like a monument, unchanging
Through it all, Britons’ satisfaction with the queen averaged close to 80%
Here’s the story of her remarkable reign, in numbers
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was on June 2nd 1953
She was only 27 when she formally devoted her life to the crown
By the end of that life...
...she had reigned over a Britain that was vastly transformed
For one thing, its population was a lot older
In 1953 only 11% of Britons were over 65
By 2020 that had risen to 19%
And the Queen was an oddity: she was a woman with a job
Only 26% of British women were in the labour force in the 1950s
By 2021, 72% of women worked
When Elizabeth came to the throne...
...she ruled over an England that was whiter, more conservative...
...and more traditional than the one we see around us now
Through her reign, the country’s views on same-sex marriage ...
...race relations...
...and women’s rights...
...have all dramatically liberalised
But there was no such dramatic shift in support for the monarchy
Throughout it never dipped below 60%
Perhaps that was down to the Queen’s inscrutable nature
The Queen had a talent for saying a lot while saying almost nothing at all
She was almost the perfect constitutional monarch
Nobody knew what she thought
There’s nothing more enigmatic than not knowing what somebody thinks
If being an enigma was part of the reason for her popularity…
…so, too, was her dedication to her role
And the Royal Yacht sails into Walt’s Cove to receive a salute of welcome
The Queen worked incredibly hard at her job
In 2017, at the age of 91, she attended 292 public engagements
And when her husband of 73 years, the Duke of Edinburgh, died...
...she took only four days off
She also went through her “red box”...
...a case filled with government papers for her attention
...daily throughout her seven-decade reign...
...taking time off for just Christmas Day and Easter
One of the things that her prime ministers have said...
...is that it’s very clear she has a very good grasp of what is going on
You don’t impress with your knowledge of the British state...
...without working at it
And the queen’s role extended far beyond one small island
In 1953 she reigned over a dwindling British Empire
She was head of state for 55 overseas territories
By 2021 just 14 of these remained
Singapore means “lion city”
So it’s appropriate that lions and dragons should take part...
...in the independence celebrations
Ending all our constitutional links with Britain...
...was proclaimed and given the royal seal of approval
As the empire disappeared, the Commonwealth grew...
...a voluntary club of countries with the queen at its head
By 2021 its 54 member states...
...were home to 2.4 billion people across five continents
That the Commonwealth has remained strong...
...feels like one of those diplomatic puzzles
It’s kind of the ghost of the empire and of all the things...
...you would think that who would want to belong to it?
And it was often felt...
...that the thing that was really holding it together was her
In her reign, Elizabeth visited almost every Commonwealth country
In fact, travelling to her overseas territories...
...was one of the first things she did as Queen
The five-month tour, takes the royal couple first to Africa...
...then to Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand
Between November 1953 and May 1954...
...she visited 14 in an epic tour around the world
Black Star Square, the enormous parade ground in the centre of Accra
Seven years later, she visited Ghana
The country was suffering deep political turmoil
The queen and President Nkrumah...
...first drove past the five thousand troops
Days before she arrived, bombs were going off in the capital city of Accra
But she went anyway to a roaring reception
Whatever else is blown into the limbo of history...
...the personal regard and affection...
...which we in Ghana have for Your Majesty...
...and for Your Royal Highness will remain
Even beyond the Commonwealth, she loved to explore the world
She was probably the most well-travelled monarch in history...
...visiting over 100 countries
She met 13 US presidents…
...and five popes
But it wasn’t just the many people the queen met...
...whom she made an impression on
The whole world knew who the queen was
One of the photos that was taken of her...
...that was on the British stamp for decades...
...is thought to have been the most reproduced photograph in history
Her image had appeared on more coins than any other living monarch
For that alone, she was one of the most famous women in the world
She was portrayed in 100 films and TV shows...
From the sublime...
...to the ridiculous
And a Gallup poll...
...listed her as one of the world’s top ten most admired women...
...52 times
That’s more than Mother Teresa and Oprah Winfrey combined
Elizabeth II was one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs...
...surpassed only by Louis XIV of France
The numbers behind Queen Elizabeth II’s remarkable reign...
...speak for themselves
But perhaps her most enduring legacy is the way in which she ruled
The queen’s stoic devotion to her rule was legendary
It’s said that before her coronation...
...to get used to the immense weight of her crown...
...resting upon her head...
...she used to practise by wearing it at breakfast
And in a way, she never took it off again
To see more of The Economist’s coverage...
...of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, click the link