The Late Queen and the name ELIZABETH

The name Elizabeth comes from the Hebrew words shava (oath) and el (God). In totality Elizabeth means
God Is My Oath, God Is My Oath, Consecrated To God. This name was found in the Old Testament,
mentioned as the wife of Aaron. It is also found in the New Testament as the mother of John the Baptist.
Elizabeth is a classic name that never seems to lose its appeal. It has been a popular name since the
the early 1900s, having been a top-30 baby name for girls in the U.S. throughout the past century.
Elizabeth is a name that evokes logical reasoning. Possibly intelligent, Intuitive, Graceful, and even a
Psychic. Elizabeth is a stubborn, energetic and purposeful woman, ready to work hard for the sake of
achieving her goal. When making any decisions, she is always guided by reason and logic. Elizabeth can
handle challenges with unorthodox solutions, charm, mobility, and cleverness. Elizabeth also has the
desire to achieve a goal and also attain an active life position
Elizabeth is most often used as a girl name and is likely pronounced as [uh-lih-zuh-beth]

Due to the personality traits above, Queen Elizabeth possesses most of the characteristics, and below is her
life history.

Elizabeth II, in full Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, officially Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of
the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, (born April 21, 1926, London, England—died September 8,
2022, Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland from February 6, 1952, to September 8, 2022. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
As the child of a younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the
throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward duke of Windsor), abdicated in her father’s favor on
December 11, 1936, at which time her father became King George VI and she became heir presumptive.
The princess’s education was supervised by her mother, who entrusted her daughters to a governess,
Marion Crawford; the princess was also grounded in history by C.H.K. Marten, afterward provost of Eton
College, and had instruction from visiting teachers in music and languages. During World War II she and
her sister, Princess Margaret Rose, perforce spent much of their time safely away from the London blitz
and separated from their parents, living mostly at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at the Royal Lodge,
Windsor, and Windsor Castle.

Early in 1947, Princess Elizabeth went with the king and queen to South Africa. After her return, there
was an announcement of her betrothal to her distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal
Navy, formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. The marriage took place in Westminster Abbey on
November 20, 1947. On the eve of the wedding her father, the king, conferred upon the bridegroom the
titles of duke of Edinburgh, earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They took residence at Clarence House in London. Their first child, Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), was born on November 14, 1948, at Buckingham Palace.

In the summer of 1951, the health of King George VI entered into a serious decline and Princess
Elizabeth represented him at the Trooping the Colour and on various other state occasions. On October
7 she and her husband set out on a highly successful tour of Canada and Washington, D.C. After
Christmas in England she and the duke set out in January 1952 for a tour of Australia and New Zealand,
but en route, at Sagana, Kenya, news reached them of the king’s death on February 6, 1952. Elizabeth,
now queen, at once flew back to England. The first three months of her reign, the period of full
mourning for her father, were passed in comparative seclusion. But in the summer, after she had moved
from Clarence House to Buckingham Palace, she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and
carried out her first state opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952. Her coronation was held at
Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Beginning in November 1953 the queen and the duke of Edinburgh made a six-month round-the-world
tour of the Commonwealth, which included the first visit to Australia and New Zealand by a reigning
British monarch. In 1957, after state visits to various European nations, she and the duke visited Canada
and the United States. In 1961 she made the first royal British tour of the Indian subcontinent in 50
years, and she was also the first reigning British monarch to visit South America (in 1968) and the
Persian Gulf countries (in 1979). During her “Silver Jubilee” in 1977, she presided at a London banquet
attended by the leaders of the 36 members of the Commonwealth, traveled all over Britain and
Northern Ireland, and toured overseas in the South Pacific and Australia, in Canada, and in the
The Caribbean.

Read more about other historic women on journal.nameslexicon.com/what-is-special-about-the-name-esther

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles became heir apparent; he was named
prince of Wales on July 26, 1958, and was so invested on July 1, 1969. The queen’s other children were
Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise), was born August 15, 1950, and created princess royal in 1987;
Prince Andrew (Andrew Albert Christian Edward), was born February 19, 1960, and created duke of York in
1986; and Prince Edward (Edward Anthony Richard Louis), born March 10, 1964, and created earl of
Wessex and Viscount Severn in 1999. All these children have the surname “of Windsor,” but in 1960
Elizabeth decided to create the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor for other descendants not
styled prince or princess and royal highness. Elizabeth’s first grandchild (Princess Anne’s son) was born
on November 15, 1977.

In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her 50th year on the throne. As part of her “Golden Jubilee,” events were
held throughout the Commonwealth, including several days of festivities in London. The celebrations
were somewhat diminished by the deaths of Elizabeth’s mother and sister early in the year. Beginning in
the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century, the public standing of the royal family rebounded,
and even Charles’s 2005 marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles found much support among the British
people. In April 2011 Elizabeth led the family in celebrating the wedding of Prince William of Wales—the elder son of Charles and Diana—and Catherine Middleton. The following month she surpassed George III to become the second longest-reigning monarch in British history, behind Victoria. Also in May,
Elizabeth made a historic trip to Ireland, becoming both the first British monarch to visit the Irish
republic and the first to set foot in Ireland since 1911. In 2012 Elizabeth celebrated her “Diamond
Jubilee,” marking 60 years on the throne. On September 9, 2015, she surpassed Victoria’s record reign
of 63 years and 216 days.

In August 2017 Prince Philip officially retired from public life, though he periodically appeared at official
engagements after that. In the meantime, Elizabeth began to reduce her own official engagements,
passing some duties on to Prince Charles and other senior members of the royal family, though the pool
of stand-ins shrank when Charles’s younger son, Prince Harry, duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan,
duchess of Sussex, controversially chose to give up their royal roles in March 2020. During this period,
public interest in the queen and the royal family grew as a result of the widespread popularity of The
Crown, a Netflix television series about the Windsors that debuted in 2016. Having dealt with several
physical setbacks in recent years, Philip, who had been Elizabeth’s husband for more than seven
decades, died in April 2021. On their 50th wedding anniversary, in 1997, Elizabeth had said of Philip, “He
has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.” Because of social-distancing protocols
brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the queen sat alone in a pew in St. George’s Chapel (in
Windsor Castle) at Philip’s funeral. The widely disseminated images of her tragic isolation were
heartbreaking but emblematic of the dignity and courage that she brought to her reign.

In June 2022 Britain celebrated Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne with the “Platinum Jubilee,” a four-
day national holiday that included the Trooping the Colour ceremony, a thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s
Cathedral, a pop music concert at Buckingham Palace, and a pageant that employed street arts, theatre,
music, circus, carnival, and costume to honor the queen’s reign. Health issues limited Elizabeth’s
involvement. Concerns about the queen’s health also led to a break in tradition when, in September, she
appointed Boris Johnson’s replacement as prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral rather than at
Buckingham Palace, where she had formally appointed more than a dozen prime ministers.

Elizabeth was known to favor simplicity in court life and was also known to take a serious and informed
interest in government business, aside from the traditional and ceremonial duties. Privately, she became
a keen horsewoman; she kept racehorses, frequently attended races, and periodically visited the
Kentucky stud farms in the United States. Her financial and property holdings made her one of the
world’s richest women.

Read more about other women on journal.nameslexicon.com/what-is-special-about-the-name-esther