The Royal Family
For more than a thousand years Britain has always had kings or
queens. In the past, kings had great power and they really helped to make
history. They started wars, made laws, and did things in their own way. But
gradually more and more power went to Parliament. What does the Queen do now?Why does Britain need monarchy? And does it?
Elisabeth II calls the Windsor family a УFirmФ. She thinks of it as a business rather than a family. And the main business of the royal family isЕ well, probably being royal. And they are paid for it. The Queen is one of the richest women in the world and yet she gets about 8 million pounds a year to be queen. But many people agree that she does her job well and she deserves her salary.
The work of the royal family has continued through all the changes of the last fifty or sixty years. There are hundreds of traditional ceremonies which the Queen has to keep. Each year, in September or October, there is the State Opening of Parliament. The Queen, wearing her crown, arrives at the Houses of Parliament by carriage. There she reads the QueenТs Speech, which discusses the governmentТs work for the next year.
Another traditional ceremony takes place on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. The Queen gives out purses of money to older people who have done good work. This is called СMaundy moneyТ and the tradition is almost seven years old.
Every summer the Queen gives three or more royal garden parties at Buckingham Palace. About 8,000 guests come to each party. They drink about 27,000 cups of tea and eat 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 pieces of cake.
The Queen and other members of the royal family often travel abroad as guests of other countries. They meet important visitors. They are invited to the opening of hospitals, schools, museums, embassies Ц not long ago Princess Anne came to Moscow for the opening ceremony of the new British Embassy. So their life is quite busy. Besides, the Queen acts as head of the government - so every day she reads official papers from the government and once a week she has a meeting with the Prime Minister. She also has to read the report of the day from Parliament. Any law made by Parliament really becomes a law only if the Queen agrees to it. But no king or queen has refused a new law since 1701!
When Elisabeth
was born nobody knew she would be queen. Her grandfather, King George V, had six
children. His eldest son, Edward, was the next in line to be king and
ElisabethТs father, Albert, was only second child. Edward loved a good time. He
enjoyed women, drank a lot, spent money, liked fashionable clothes. Albert, or Bertie, as his friends called him, was rather shy, he stammered, and all his
life it was difficult for him to make speeches. As he did not expect to become
king, he chose the Navy.
He married Lady Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon Ц she is the Queen Mother now and this year she has celebrated her 100th anniversary! Ц and they had two daughters, Elisabeth and Margaret.
The family lived in a house on Piccadilly. It was not a palace, but it was a nice place with twenty five bedrooms, a library and a room for dances and parties. The girls had a private teacher, they also studied music, dancing and art. As a child Elizabeth was nicknamed Lilibet Ц because that was the way she pronounced her name. She was a serious, tidy little girl, but her governess said that Lilibet and Margaret could fight on occasions.
In 1936 King George died.When his coffin with the crown on top of it was carried through the streets on a horse-drawn carriage, the crown fell. Many people thought it was a bad sign. Indeed, 1936 becameТ the year of three kingsТ. In January, after his fatherТs death, Edward became king. In December he refused from the throne and his younger brother, Bertie took his place.
Love Story
Many people think that this is one of the most romantic love stories of our century. Handsome and popular King Edward was in love with an American woman Wallis Simpson and he wanted to marry her. But Wallis was divorced Ц twice! The royal family did not like her, the government was against this marriage, so was the Church.
It was not an easy choice for Edward, but he made it. He preferred Wallis to the crown. They got married and lived in Paris for most of their lives. They were never friendly with the royal family again.
Marriage
When Elisabeth was 13 she met Prince Philip of Greece. He was six years older than her. He came from the Greek royal family, but also had relatives in the Danish, Britain and Russian royal families. During the war he was in the Navy and that was in the Navy and that was when Elisabeth first saw him. Certainly at the time she was only a schoolgirl, but later they fell in love and in 1947 they got married.
The next few years were very happy. They had their first children: a son, Charles, born in 1948, and daughter, Anne, born in 1950.
The Queen
In 1952 King George VI died. Elisabeth was only twenty-five and she was Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Like other kings and queens since 1066, she came to Westminster Abbey for the government didnТt welcome the idea. It was an important ceremony to be on television. The church and the government didnТt welcome the idea. It was an important ceremony and not a public show, they said. But Elisabeth won. The whole country watched how the heavy gold crown was placed on the young QueenТs head.
Family Life, Family Problems
Almost thirty years
later, in 1981, people not only in Britain but in many other countries watched
the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Diana looked lovely in her
beautiful dress with a long train. She seemed a perfect bride for Prince of
Wales. She was young, beautiful, elegant. Her family were relatives of the royal
family, so there were no problems there.
By that time Princess Anne was already married. Anne was fond o riding. Horses are very popular in the royal family, they all like riding and also own race horses Ц one of the Queen MotherТs greatest interests. Anne took riding very seriously. She took part in many shows and was chosen to ride in the Olympic Games in 1976. And she married another rider, Mark Phillips, in 1973.
The Queen has two more children, Andrew and Edward, born in 1960 and 1964. Andrew went into the Navy like his father. Edward, like Charles, went to Cambridge University, and then he has worked in theatre and television.
In 1986 Prince
Andrew married Sarah Ferguson. They first became friends at one of Princess
DianaТs parties. Elegant Diana and СFergieТ with her bright red hair were very
popular with the press. These two girls wee like fresh air coming into rather
formal atmosphere of Buckingham Palace. Diana and Charles had two sons, William
and Harry. Andrew and Sarah Ц two daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie. Everything
seemed fine. But the three couples had serious problems. Journalists and
reporters were quick to write about royal scandals. They showed photos of Sarah
on a holiday with a lover. They followed Diana everywhere and wrote about her
private life. Finally Diana decided to tell her own story .
She worked with a journalist and his book Diana, Her True Story was printed in 1992 and sold millions of copies. The Queen called 1992 her Сterrible yearТ . The book and newspaper reports told everybody about Prince CharlesТ lover Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles and Diana divorced, so did Andrew and Fergie. These were not the only divorces in the royal family. The QueenТs sister, Princess Margaret, had divorced. Princess AnneТs
Marriage had ended too. For a family who avoided scandalТ the number of divorces is too big!
Into the Future
The Сterrible yearТ of
1992 began the changes for the royal family. That year part of Windsor Castle
was badly damaged by a fire. The government refused to pay for the repairs. So
the Queen opened Buckingham Palace to playing tourists to get the money. Later
she agreed to pay taxes.
After DianaТs death many people asked if Charles would be king or the crown would go to his eldest son, William? Prince William is 18 now, he looks very much like his mother. He and Prince Harry are the royal family of the future. Both boys study at Eton, they spend a lot of time with their father and often visit their grandmother.
People no longer believe in great and wise kings and queens. They understand that the royal family are also people with their problems and worries. Many people think that the Royals are useless and monarchy is outdated. But they are of the tradition of monarchy. England has had kings and queens for a thousands years Ц probably theyТll have them for another thousand.
Shatskaya Lena
14 years
Okha, Sakhalin, 2002