1. What were Elisabeth’s favourite occupations in youth?

2. How old was the Princess when her father died?

3. Does the Queen support any political forces?

When the Princess Elizabeth, first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, was born on 21 April 1926, there seemed little prospect that she would become Queen. In 1936, however, her uncle King Edward VIII abdicated, to be succeeded by her father as King George VI, and the l0-year-old princess became the heir presumptive to the British throne.

The Princess had a happy, if sheltered, upbringing. With her sister Margaret Rose, four years her junior, she was educated at home, first by governesses, later by the Provost of Eton. Though her opportunities to mix with other children were somewhat limited, she and her sister had a great deal of fun together; they had a miniature house of their own to play in, given by the people of Wales, and they put on Christmas pantomimes at Windsor, in which Princess Elizabeth took the part of the Principal Boy. Country sports and riding were among Princess Elizabeth's favourite occupations and she is reputed to have said that if she were not a future queen, she would liked to be 'a lady living in the country, with lots of horses and dogs'.

During the war years the Princesses were sent away from the bombing, like many London children, and Windsor Castle became their base. At the beginning of 1945, when she was 19, Princess Elizabeth persuaded her father to let her do National Service, like other girls, and as Second Lieutenant Elizabeth Windsor she became a useful driver in the ATS. With the end of the war came a still greater change in her life: she had fallen in love.

The young man was her third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece. His mother was a sister of Lord Louis Mountbatten, his father the deposed Prince Andrew of Greece. Prince Philip, who had been born in Corfu in 1921, was educated at the Scottish public school of Gordonstoun. He and the Princess had first met as children, but during the war their paths crossed again, and friendship turned to attraction and love. With the blessing of the King and Queen, their engagement was announced on 10 July 1947. The wedding of the heir to the throne took place in Westminster Abbey on 20 November, and just a year later their first son, Prince Charles, was born. Before King George VI died in 1952, he had seen his daughter happily and securely established, with a supportive, yet strong-minded consort beside her, and a son and daughter of her own to secure the succession.

The princess was visiting Kenya when her father died, and she at once flew home to take up her new duties. She was then 25, the same age as her namesake Elizabeth I had been at her accession. Though there were few outward resemblances between the two queens, they shared a willingness to make themselves personally accessible to their subjects - Elizabeth I by constant royal progresses throughout her kingdom. Eliza­beth II through the modern means of television, film and radio, as well as constant visits all over Britain, at which the innovation of 'walkabouts', during which the sovereign would stop and speak to members of the crowds, was introduced. At Buckingham Palace, the archaic presentation of debutantes to the sovereign was discontinued, and large summer garden-parties, to which people from all walks of life were invited, were held. Without ever compromising the dignity of the monarchy, Elizabeth II brought it up to date.

For the first time, an heir to the British throne was sent away to school: at Gordonstoun, his father's old school in Scotland, Prince Charles mixed normally with other boys, and he went on to experience ordinary undergraduate life at Trinity College, Cambridge, before following royal tradition and entering the Royal Navy. The experiment was a success, and both his younger brothers - Prince Andrew, born in 1960, and Prince Edward, born in 1964 - followed him to Gordonstoun, while Princess Anne was sent to the girls' public school Benenden.

The young Queen took her function as Head of the Commonwealth intensely seriously: whether hosting conferences for the Commonwealth leaders, or travelling extensively among the various countries, she gave the role an identity and an importance which helped to maintain the ties between an increasingly separate group of independent nations. As Britain's monarch she retained considerable political powers — such as the right, if necessary, to appoint a Prime Minister if a General Election should result in stalemate – but these, by mutual consent, would only be used in consultation with others, never as the expression of a private preference. Its political neutrality is one of the modern monarch's greatest strengths.

Public interest in British royalty rose to new heights during the 1980s. The wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer, in 1981, was watched on television by some 600 million people; and in the decade that followed, the Princess of Wales brought a blend of glamour and humanity to her role which helped to make her one of the most admired - and photographed – women in the world. With the birth of the couple's sons, Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984, the future of the crown seemed secure.

The fairytale facade disguised harsher realities, however. In 1992 the breakdown of the marriage of Prince Andrew (now Duke of York) was followed, still more dramatically, by the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales. As if to underline the royal plight, a fire at Windsor Castle completed what the Queen dubbed her 'Annus Horribilis': a horrible year. In the new climate of media criticism, republicanism became a fashionable topic of debate.

Yet the House of Windsor, like its ancient castle, has survived largely intact. The Queen, mindful of public opinion, reduced the Civil List and opted to pay taxes; her heir Prince Charles has earned widespread support for his commitment to causes such as architecture, business, and the environment. (J.Ross)

Suez

Task 35. Find out what British Foreign policy was like after WW II.

In 1956 the United States told the president of Egypt, Colonel Nasser, that it could not give financial assistance on which he had been relying to build a second Aswan dam for irrigation and hydroelectric power from the Nile. Britain, which had been considering a smaller contribution, also backed out. Nasser announced that to raise the money he would have to nationalise the Suez canal.

A third of the vessels using the canal regularly were British. More than half Britain's oil supplies came by this route. Sir Anthony Eden, Conservative prime minister, saw in the Egyptian president a sinister shadow of those dictators whom he had so strenuously denounced before the war, and accused him of putting his hand on the nation's windpipe. In Parliament there were demands for military intervention. Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour opposition, advocated an appeal to the United Nations. John Foster Dulles, American secretary of State, visited London and, while preaching caution, contrived to leave Eden with the impression that America was not entirely opposed to the use of force if all else failed.

In a secret collaboration, details of which have never been disclosed, Britain and France reached agreement with Israel for joint operations against Egypt. Israel would make a surprise attack on the canal, whereupon Britain and France would send in a peace-keeping force and order both combatants to move back.

The scheme went into action in October. Israel advanced towards the canal, British and French bombers attacked Egyptian airfields, and an invasion fleet made its slow way towards Suez. Airborne landings started on 5th November, by which time Nasser had sunk enough blockships to choke the canal. The military advance was soon halted. An order from the United Nations to cease hostilities might have been ignored. What could not be ignored was a report from Harold Macmillan, chancellor of the Exchequer, that the pound sterling was in a bad way and that British drawings from the International Monetary Fund had been blocked by the USA until the invasion was called off.

Eden notified the French that he had no option but to order a cease-fire. Anglo-French troops along the canal were replaced by a token United Nations force. The waterway remained impassable. Three weeks after the final withdrawal Eden, seriously ill from the effects of an operation he had undergone before the crisis, resigned. The climb-down infuriated the French. Their resultant mistrust was one element in their unwillingness to accept Britain into the fellowship of nations soon to be formed.