This World War II mechanic was above the law and owned almost 20% of the world.
What do you really know about Queen Elizabeth II?
Queen Elizabeth II's 1926 birth date put her in the right age bracket to serve in the Second World
War. But as a woman and a royal, she did not have to. In fact, according to the U.K. newspaper The
Standard, her father did not want her to. But he eventually caved, and she became the only
female member of the royal family to be sent off to the army. She enlisted in the Women's
Territorial Auxiliary Corps, where she chose a surprising profession for her military service.
Truck driving is traditionally a blue-collar male profession. But this is exactly the profession
Elizabeth was allowed to take up during the war. Her father refused to allow her to work
in a factory, so instead, she was trained as a mechanic and truck driver. There are even photos
showing that she learned how to disassemble, repair, and reassemble engines of different
military vehicles. While she was not to be treated any differently from her fellow servicewomen,
she did have the perk of getting to sleep at home in Windsor Castle rather than in barracks.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump made a crass joke.
"Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth
Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters. Okay?"
Such an act would have landed him in prison. But Queen Elizabeth II could have theoretically gotten
away with such a crime because, according to British Heritage, she was above the law.
The monarch enjoys protection from all prosecution under the principle
of sovereign immunity. According to Cornell University's Legal Information Institute,
this principle of British common law surmises that the state — or monarch — can do no legal
wrong and can only be prosecuted for its crimes by its own consent. Queen Elizabeth
was the U.K.'s head of state and the courts and law all operated in her name. Police officers
in the U.K. do swear to uphold the monarch's rule, just as police officers in America swear
to uphold the Constitution. Thus, it is easy to see why she could not be arrested, interviewed,
or prosecuted. Although she did not pass laws, from a legal standpoint, she was the law.
Queen Elizabeth would have had to waive her sovereign immunity if she were to ever have
been charged in one of her courts. Otherwise, she would have been prosecuting herself,
since in Britain, the monarch, as head of the justice system,
is always the plaintiff. Fortunately, this provision only applied to her — not
to her family members — which made it legally possible to investigate and prosecute royals
that have been accused of heinous crimes, such as those allegedly committed by Prince Andrew.
"You were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender."
"It was a convenient place to stay."
As queen, Elizabeth had an army of staff to chauffeur her around. But occasionally, she
liked to drive herself like an ordinary citizen. Unlike the average Briton, however, the queen was
the only person who can drive without a driver's license, driving lessons, or plate registration.
The exemption is a matter of royal prerogative. According to History,
U.K. driver's licenses are issued in the monarch's name, and she could have issued
herself one. But under her "discretionary powers," she was exempt from these rules. Fortunately,
she had learned to drive a truck during the war, which requires a bit more skill than driving a
car. So despite her lack of a license, she was able to be relied on to drive safely.
As with driver's licenses, she didn't need a passport either. According to the royal website,
passports are also issued in the monarch's name and on their authority. Thus,
it would have been redundant to issue herself one. As with sovereign immunity,
these privileges didn't apply to her relatives.
Since taking the throne in 1952, Elizabeth maintained relations with Britain's former
colony, the United States. According to Business Insider, as head of state,
it was her job to facilitate "the special relationship" between the U.S. and U.K. Thus,
she met almost every U.S. president since Harry Truman.
"And I hope that while you're here you'll have a very enjoyable time."
Queen Elizabeth II got along swimmingly with President Dwight Eisenhower, who she met as a
princess during his London sojourn as supreme allied commander. They even exchanged recipes.
The relationship with the Kennedy administration was more complicated. According to Biography,
the queen was suspicious of President John F. Kennedy due to his father's anti-British
attitudes during his 1930s ambassadorship in London. First lady Jackie Kennedy did
not help. According to the Washington Post, during a 1961 visit to the U.K.,
Jackie stole the British public's adoration and got into a spat over her Polish relatives
being left off a royal dinner guest list. Jackie also criticized Buckingham Palace's
furnishings, although it is unclear if Elizabeth ever became aware of them.
It was President Lyndon Johnson who never met the queen in person. Elizabeth was pregnant
at the time of Kennedy's assassination, so she did not attend the funeral where
she could have met Johnson. Although the two heads of state corresponded,
they never invited each other to their respective homes. Why exactly is not known for certain.
According to the royal website, the British Commonwealth consists of 54
mostly-former British colonies that cooperate economically, culturally,
and diplomatically. Elizabeth was recognized as head of state in 16 of those countries,
while the other members of the Commonwealth recognized her as the organization's head.
Her position in the Commonwealth gave her legal ownership of about 17% of the world's landmass.
There exist two major systems of land tenure in the world. One is
the right to private property independent of the state, which the U.S. Constitution
enshrines. The other is based around the medieval idea of feudal land tenure,
under which the monarch legally owned all land and could lease it out. Territories like Australia,
New Zealand, and many Caribbean countries fall under this latter system. Thus, Queen Elizabeth
II legally owned all the land in countries where she was recognized as head of state.
European monarchs have generally been
multilingual. Multilingualism was necessary for diplomacy, religion, and internal administration.
In this regard, Queen Elizabeth was the exception, as she only spoke one other language: French.
Officially, Elizabeth was fluent in French. But the English-language French paper The Local
notes that the royal establishment refused to take questions about her language skills,
which raised doubts. While the queen was able to give speeches in French
with "excellent" pronunciation, she was reading these off a script. When
talking in private conversations, the queen appeared to be able to hold her own. However,
she did resort to English at least once, casting doubts on claims of fluency.
What is the truth? Queen Elizabeth learned French as a child. Her former governess Marion Crawford
said that she hated it, dousing herself in ink in frustration at learning verbs. Thus,
she was probably fluent as a child. But language needs to be used or it
is lost. The queen did not regularly speak French,
so she may have lost fluency. Nevertheless, she still seemed to get by just fine.
King Henry VIII passed the Acts of Succession and Supremacy in 1534. The English monarch replaced
the pope as head of the English Church and made England a Protestant country. As a result,
from 1952 to 2022, the Anglican Communion held the distinction of having a female head in Queen
Elizabeth II, unlike Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which bar women from clerical leadership.
According to the royal website, the reigning monarch is the "Defender of the Faith and
Supreme Governor of the Church of England," preserving Henry VIII's 1534 title. So it
was for Queen Elizabeth II who, upon her coronation, swore to uphold the authority,
doctrine, and structure of the church. In daily life, though, the queen delegated the
everyday affairs and doctrines of the church or decisions to her bishops. But the queen
also had one crucial power: the power to appoint bishops, who can influence the church's direction.
Anglican bishops are nominated by their parishioners, elected by the
Crown Nominations Commission, and approved by the prime minister. Although the queen did
not play a role in the selection process, she formally approved the appointments. Generally,
however, she did not interfere with the selection of bishops and tended
to rubber stamp appointments unless the prime minister advised her otherwise.
As both head of the Anglican Church and the U.K.'s head of state, Queen
Elizabeth had the responsibility of meeting with the head of Anglicanism's old enemy,
the Roman Catholic Church. Relations between Catholics and Anglicans have much improved
since the days of Henry VIII, and the queen met with multiple popes since the 1950s. But
one visit stands out — her private Vatican audience with Pope John Paul II in 2000.
When Queen Elizabeth visited the Vatican in 2000, her staffers argued about her outfit.
According to the book The Other Side of the Coin, written by the queen's former
dresser Angela Kelly, her advisors urged her to wear a brightly colored outfit for
her private meeting with Pope John Paul II. She agreed and they went to Rome.
There was a major problem, however, seeing as all women must wear all-black,
long-sleeved dresses that go below the knee and a head covering during private
papal audiences. When the Vatican reminded the royal party of the dress code, Elizabeth
panicked. She did not have a black outfit and there was no time to get one. But fortunately,
Kelly, who had been raised Catholic, had snuck in two black dresses for the queen
and averted a diplomatic embarrassment. The audience went ahead without a hitch.
Royal life can seem tedious. Behind the glitz and glamor,
there are the never-ending functions, charity events, and strict, mind-numbing protocols and
courtesies that must be observed. Although Queen Elizabeth was touted as a stickler for
propriety and "the rules," she had had plenty of opportunities to showcase her
fun-loving side. One of her most memorable moments saw her "jump" out of a helicopter.
Now, why would a then-86-year-old lady agree to jump out of a helicopter? It was all part of
the promotion of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Queen Elizabeth II was escorted from Buckingham
Palace by actor Daniel Craig, who played the legendary agent James Bond on the big screen.
"The name's Bond. James Bond."
They then flew in a helicopter to the stadium,
where both of them appeared to parachute into the venue. While the queen participated in
the scenes set in Buckingham Palace, she did not actually parachute. At that age,
such a stunt would have probably killed or at least maimed her, so she had a stunt double.
On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II's death at the age of 96 was announced several
hours after it was reported her health had taken a serious downturn. The news
made headlines around the world, but her funeral was to be the real showstopper.
The queen's coronation in 1953 was the first televised coronation of a British
monarch in history, and her grand finale was also a global television event. Her
funeral was a meticulously planned affair, surrounded by the largest security operation
on British soil since the Second World War. For good reason, too: A global audience of
over 4 billion people was expected to watch — over half of the population of the planet.
For those that wanted to pay their last respects to the queen in person,
or for the numerous representatives of the almost 200 nations and territories that were invited,
the event was even more daunting in scope on the ground. So many heads of state arrived that,
to soothe a giant security headache, most were bussed into London, instead of the limousines they
would typically expect. And the line to see Queen Elizabeth II as she laid in state, before the
historic televised funeral, was a truly British queue — over 10 miles long at its greatest extent.