New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Issue 39, 2022

For most of us, Queen Elizabeth II had always been a part of our lives – we haven’t known a time without her calming influence and inspiring leadership. She was a beacon of light in an ever-changing world and as people come together in grief at her passing, we honour and reflect on her remarkable life in this special tribute issue. We look back on her young, carefree years, to her beautiful love story with Prince Philip, her “strength and stay” and beyond. At the age of 21, four years before she would become Queen, Elizabeth declared “my whole life, whether it will be long or short, shall be devoted to your service”. It’s a promise that shaped her, and one that she not only kept but went above and beyond. Even…

It was a heartfelt vow made when Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II had just turned 21 and was yet to take the throne. “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,” she said during a speech to mark her milestone birthday. She kept her pledge right up until the very end of what turned out to be a long and remarkable life. And as her heir – now King Charles III – said in his tender tribute to his “darling Mama”, “That was more than just a promise; it was a profound personal commitment that defined her whole life. “She made sacrifices for duty. Her dedication and devotion as sovereign never wavered, through times of change and progress, through…

APRIL 21, 1926 She was not born to be Queen. The princess was, after all, only third in line to the throne, after uncle David and her father. David was bound to marry and have children of his own. She would be pushed down the line. Even so, when Princess Elizabeth was born at home in London’s Mayfair by Caesarean section at 2.40am on April 21, 1926, the British home secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, had to be present. He was witnessing her legitimacy. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York – Bertie, George V’s second son, and the former Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon – were immediately besotted. “You don’t know what tremendous joy it is to Elizabeth and me to have our little girl,” wrote the duke to his mother, Queen Mary. “We always wanted…

As children, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece met a couple of times and treated each other with complete indifference. They were both guests at Elizabeth’s uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent’s wedding to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark in 1934. She was eight and he was 13. And both went to George VI’s coronation three years later. But in July 1939, fate intervened in the form of an outbreak of mumps and measles at the Royal Naval College. The King, an alumnus of the college, and Queen were visiting with their daughters. Philip, then a penniless 18-year-old cadet and one of the few who remained healthy, was ordered to keep the young princesses entertained. Elizabeth, by now 13, was entranced by his Viking good looks – blond hair and…

Being the monarch one day may not have been on the cards when Princess Elizabeth was born, but after her father took over the role following her uncle’s abdication, she gracefully accepted that it was her future too. However, when she pledged during a speech to mark her 21st birthday to devote her life to service, she would never have expected that just five years later her father’s untimely death would mean she was Queen at 26. With George VI still in his 50s, it was anticipated that it would 20 years or so before Elizabeth stepped into the job. But fate had other plans. In 1951, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and part of his left lung was removed. He covered up the illness – Elizabeth was not told – but…

In 2012, Kate Winslet was invested by the Queen as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. During their brief chat, the actress told the monarch that she “loves being a mum”, to which the Queen is said to have replied, somewhat wistfully, “Yes, that’s the only job which matters.” The Queen effectively had two families, separated by a decade. She also had two attitudes to bringing up her children. Charles and Anne, born in 1948 and 1950 respectively, saw the more formal side of her. By the time Andrew and Edward came along in 1960 and 1964, she had mellowed, just as society’s attitudes had relaxed. Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born at Buckingham Palace and, according to a courtier, “Prince Philip just didn’t want to be involved”,…