England's Elizabeth II

A Queen Adored: England's Elizabeth II

Countess of Longford, Elizabeth Pakenham, was born in London England in

1906. She attended Lady Margaret Hall and Oxford University where she studied classical history and philosophy. She later married Oxford professor and politician, the seventh Earl of Longford in 1931, with whom she had eight children. She worked as a tutor from 1930-36 in the Worker's Educational

Association, and was a member of the Paddington and St. Pomcras Rent Tribunal from 1946-51. She was also a Labour party candidate for Cheltenham, and later for the City of Oxford. After both campaigns proved unsuccessful, Longford began her career as a writer in 1954, where she concentrated on the topic of parenting. She later turned her focus to British history, and became recognized for her talent as a biographer. She was awarded the James Tait Memorial Prize for best biography in 1964 for Victoria R.I. Longford claimed the Yorkshire

Post Book of the Year Award twice with Wellington,1969, and The Royal House of

Windsor, Winston Churchill in 1974. It is with this same thoroughness and true human interest that she captures the life of England's reigning monarch in The

Queen; The Life of Elizabeth II.

Though surveys have revealed that at any one time between 15 and 30% of the English people claim they would prefer a republic, the majority uphold the traditional support of the monarchy, as has been the English custom for over a thousand years. Since 1952 the endeared Queen Elizabeth II has played this role in her country's politics as an important aspect of the modern nation's identity. As she has proved neither conservative nor liberal in her stance, she has so come to symbolize a popular democracy.

It was raining on the sunless April day in 1926 when Elizabeth Bowes-

Lyon announced to her husband of three years that it was time. The Duke and

Duchess of York were anticipating the birth of their first child. As the doctors were soon to discover, this was not to be a routine delivery. The child was breech and as night fell the decision to perform a cesarean section was made and thus commenced. The operation a success, at 2:40 AM, Wednesday, April 21, a princess was born. As is characteristic of cesarean birth, the first granddaughter of King GeorgeV and Queen Mary was particularly immaculate with a shapely head, fair hair, and pink skin. Her bright blue eyes were framed by long dark lashes. She was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, after her mother, great-grandmother, and grandmother the Queen. Her delighted father wrote to his