Queen Elizabeth was more than just a queen. Having reigned for 70 years and surpassing monumental events that shaped today’s world, she was a figure of strength and power not only in British lives but all over the world. Even I, a 15 year old who has never even gone to the UK was extremely shook once I heard of her death. But why? Why does an event that does not affect someone at all have such an extreme impact on their mood and attitude?

Let’s begin taking into consideration who the queen was. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, was born in Mayfair, London, on April 21st 1926 (People, 2022). According to PBS, Elizabeth was never supposed to be queen, but once her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated from the throne in December of 1936, her father became King George VI and, at age 10, Lilibet, as she was known in the family, became heir to the throne. Within three years, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret, spent much of wartime at Windsor Castle, for their parents did not like the idea of sending them off to Canada until the war was over. In 1944, she turned 18 and throughout the war, she exchanged letters with her third cousin, Philip, Prince of Greece, who was serving in the Royal Navy. Their romance grew and the couple finally married at Westminster Abbey in November 1947, with the prince taking the title of Duke of Edinburgh (BBC, 2022). They had 3 sons Charles, Andrew and Edward, and one daughter, Anne. Elizabeth was in Kenya in 1952, when Philip broke the news that her father had died. She immediately returned to London as the new Queen. “It was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can,” she later recalled . Being 27 years old, she was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2nd 1953, in front of a then-record TV audience estimated at more than 20 million people (BBC, 2022).

Because she reigned from 1952 to 2022, she lived through moments that have literally changed the world. Here is a list of some events that happened during the queen’s reign.

• WW2 (1939 – 1945)
• World’s first commercial jet service began (1952)
• Polio vaccine declared safe (1955)
• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
• Vietnam War (1955 – 1957)
• Launch of Sputnik 1 (1957)
• Beatlemania (1960 – 1970) 
• Hippie movement (1960’s) 
• Assassination of JFK (1963) 
• Civil Rights Act (1964)
• Winston Churchill dies (1965)
• Malcolm X assassinated (1965) 
• China’s Cultural Revolution begins (1966) 
• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
• Apollo 11 moon landing (1969) 
• Woman’s suffrage + gay rights movement in the US (1970’s)
• Equal Rights Amendment (1972)
• World Trade Center opens in NYC (1973)
• Death of Elvis Presley(1977) 
• Invention of the GPS (1978)
• China’s “one child per family” rule (1979)
• Assassination of John Lennon (1980)
• Ronald Reagan became president (1981)
• Falkland War (1982) 
• Assassination of Indira Gandhi (1984)
• Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl (1986)
• The first “The Simpsons” cartoon short (1987)
• Soviet Red Army withdrew from Afghanistan (1988)
• Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) 
• Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (1990)
• The Cold War ended (1991) 
• Creation of the internet (1991) 
• Prince Charles and Princess Diana separate (1992)
• Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd U.S. president. (1993)
• Nelson Mandela was elected president (1994)
• Rwanda Massacre (1994)
• Death of Princess Diana (1997) 
• Google is founded (1998) 
• The Euro currency is created (1999)
• September 11 attacks (2001) 
• The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918 (2004)
• Hurricane Katrina (2005)
• I was born (2006) 
• First iPhone released (2007)
• Nato celebrates its 60th anniversary (2009)
• Fidel Castro stepped down from presidency (2008)
• Barack Obama was elected and becomes the first Black president of the US (2008)
• South Africa Fifa World Cup (2010) 
• Osama bin Laden killed (2011)
• “Marvel’s The Avengers” is released (2012)
• West African Ebola virus epidemic begins (2014)
• Saudi intervention in Yemen (2015) 
• Donald Trump was elected president (2016) 
• Hurricane Maria (2017)
• #MeToo movement goes global (2018)
• The impeachment Donald Trump (2019)
• The Covid pandemic began (2020) 
• The Taliban returned to power (2021)
• Ukraine-Russia War (2022) 

As you can see it’s a long list, and these are only some of the most important events that have occurred in the past 70 years. The world has completely changed, and Queen Elizabeth was there to see it. She experienced worldwide evolution and globalization, and nationwide growth and development. Talking about her nation, Elizabeth II was constantly hard at work carrying out her duties as monarch, which include holding weekly audiences with her prime minister and attempting to maintain political neutrality. She also thought that meeting “her” people was also part of her job, and would conduct walkouts and garden parties in the palace. She traveled around the world and met countless leaders and inspirational figures, as well as hosting dozens of them at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. 

But why is the entire population shocked? Perhaps the global reaction is a result of the emotional attachment to the queen. She was a symbol of stability and structure, and, because she ruled for such a long time, it was implied that the queen would always be there. People pictured her as a permanent monarch, living off of the belief that “the queen would never die”. But like any of us, she was not immortal and therefore had to leave the Earth sooner or later. All in all, it was a tragic event that has not been taken lightly and will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, Legend.