Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022
We would like to thank all those who offered their thoughts and feelings for this publication, it is greatly appreciated!
We hope that you enjoy looking through the images in this publication, many of which were sourced from the University of Exeter’s archives, and were taken around campus and Exeter during the last 70 years. We also
We understand that the monarchy is a deeply complicated, imperfect institution, and would like to emphasise that everyone’s feelings around this institution, and at this time, are valid. This edition is written to mark the end of an historic era, and not in support of this institution.
All the best, The Senior Print Team (Joshua Hughes, Megan Ballantyne and Livvy Mason-Myhill)
hope it offers readers a sense of how the life of this influential and historical figure is connected with our own here at Exeter.
Editorial Front page & page 2 image: University of Exeter
Exeposé are putting out this commemorative special edition in order to offer a visual remembrance of how the late Queen Elizabeth II’s life of service touched Exeter and the University.
Elizabeth travelled to Yugoslavia in 1972, and in doing so became the first British monarch to visit a communist country.
Obituary: Queen Elizabeth II
as barbecuing and decorating the Christmas tree.
During the war Elizabeth trained as a mechanic and started as a second subaltern in the ATS — the King made sure that she was not given a special rank in the Army. She undertook a driving and vehicle maintenance course at Aldershot and qualified on 14 April 1945. The press dubbed her “Princess Auto Mechanic.” Elizabeth was later promoted to Junior Commander, the equivalent of Captain. After the war, Elizabeth’s desire to marry Prince Philip of Greece was met with several obstacles. The most notable was Philip facing the prejudice of an establishment that was reluctant to accept his foreign ancestry. The couple married on 20th November 1947 in Westminster Abbey. In January 1952, Elizabeth, then 25, embarked on an overseas tour with Philip. Against medical advice, the King went to the airport to wave farewell to the couple – this was the last time Elizabeth saw her father.
Domestically the Queen also faced issues when she was the subject of a personal attack by the writer Lord Altrincham. In a magazine article, Altrincham suggested her court was “too British” and “upperclass”. This resulted in a furious backlash in the press and even a physical attack on Lord Altrincham in the street by a member of the League of Empire Loyalists. The incident highlighted the changing viewpoint of British society towards the monarchy.
CommonsWikimediaCanada,ArchivesImage:
The end of the 1960s saw the royal family release a documentary with the BBC, called Royal Family. The BBC was invited to film the family at home doing ‘normal’ domestic activities, such
News of her father’s death was received by Elizabeth when staying at a game lodge in Kenya and the new Queen subsequently returned to London. Later recalling the events, the Queen stated that “In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship,” and that her “father died much too young”. Despite strong opposition from then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the Coronation of the Queen in June 1953 was televised. Millions gathered around television sets to watch as Queen Elizabeth II made her oath. World War Two led to the hastened retreat of
the British Empire, and by the time the new Queen set off on a lengthy tour of the Commonwealth in November 1953, many former British territories had gained independence. The Queen was the first reigning monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand with it being approximated that threequarters of Australians turned out to see her.
Born on 21st April 1926 in a house just off Berkeley Square in London, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was the first child of Albert, Duke of York, second son of George V, and his duchess, the former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret, born in 1930, were schooled at home and brought up in a family atmosphere. The young princess was very close to both her father and grandfather, George V. After the death of George V in 1936, his eldest son, David, became Edward VIII. However, as a result of his decision to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, he eventually abdicated at the end of the year. This left the Duke of York to become King George VI.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, decolonisation processes continued to took place across Africa and the Caribbean, as part of a planned transition to self-government, and in this period, over 20 countries gained independence. Many of these states went on to become part of the modern Commonwealth, in which Elizabeth II took great pride.
QUEEN
The decline of British influence was hastened by the Suez crisis in 1956, which revealed the inability of the Commonwealth to act together in times of crisis. The move to send British troops to prevent Egypt’s threatened nationalisation of the Suez Canal ended in a humiliating withdrawal and prompted the resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.
During the 1981 Trooping of the Colour ceremony, six shots were fired at Elizabeth as she was riding down The Mall in London. Elizabeth continued riding in the parade, and it was later found that the shots were blanks, but she was widely praised for her composure. A few weeks later 600,000 people watched Charles’ and Diana’s wedding on the streets of London, 750 million on TV, one of the high points in
Elizabeth II died aged 96 on the 8th September 2022. The reign of the Queen, at 70 years, was the longest of any British monarch. Marked by her sense of duty and her commitment to dedicate her life to the throne, the Queen was a constant in a rapidly changing world. 42nd in the line of kings and queens, she was the sixth queen-sovereign of England and the fourth of the UK. Along with this, she was also the head of state of 15 other countries including Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Fiji, Canada, and Jamacia. For seven decades, the Queen was also head of the Commonwealth, whose 54 countries comprise of 2.1 billion people, a third of the globe’s population.
With the Conservative Party having no mechanism for electing a new leader at the time, this sparked a point of major instability. Eventually, after series of consultations, the Queen invited Harold Macmillan to form a new government.
Elizabeth celebrated her Silver Jubilee in 1977 to mark 25 years as Queen, with celebrations across the Commonwealth confirming her popularity. 1979 went on to be a difficult year for the Queen, as her Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Anthony Blunt, was revealed to have been a Communist spy and with the assassination of her cousin and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the IRA.
In 1975, Elizabeth showed her devotion to noninterventionism when she refused to interfere in the Australian constitutional crisis. The Prime Minister Gough Whitlam had been dismissed from his post as PM by the Governor General Sir John Kerr after the senate rejected his budget proposal, despite having a majority in the House of Representatives.
The Queen found herself at the centre of political turmoil again when Harold Macmillan stood down as prime minister in 1963. Since the Conservative Party didn’t have an established system for choosing a new leader, she followed Macmillan’s advice and appointed the Earl of Home in his place. This was a difficult time for the Queen, as throughout her reign she almost always made sure to defer to the constitution, preferring to advise and inspire in her position as monarch, not engage in political processes. Following this, a proper system was put in place for the election of a new Conservative Party leader. She attracted criticism in 1966 for her delay in visiting Aberfan after the Aberfan mining disaster, in which 116 children and 28 adults were killed. Those in the village, however, expressed the view that while rescue efforts were underway, the entourage and press coverage that comes with a royal visit would have been inappropriate. There were multiple reports of the Queen being visibly upset when she did eventually visit Aberfan, a rare occurrence for the usual stoic monarch. She went on to visit Aberfan a further three times in her reign, the last time in 2012 when she opened the new school in the village.
the focus that she had always given during great national moments. The Queen herself felt obliged to take the role of a caring grandmother as she needed to comfort Diana’s sons after their loss in the privacy of their family circle. The public still criticised the Queen, who did not leave Balmoral Castle for several days, until she was arguably forced to by tabloid pressure. Despite her initial reluctance to address the event in public, she soon made a live broadcast which paid tribute to her daughter-in-law as well as promising a commitment that the monarchy would adapt.
In 1986 the Queen paid a six day visit to the People’s Republic of China, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country. Elizabeth’s visit also signified the acceptance of the UK and China that Hong Kong would be transferred to China in 1997.
In the following year, the infamous incident occurred in which palace intruder Michael Fagan appeared in the Queen’s bedroom. Security lapses meant that two phone calls to the palace switchboard failed. Palace security was upgraded after this incident, and Elizabeth was praised for her calm handling of the situation.
Elizabeth was said to have had a strained relationship with Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990. The press were quick to compare the two, as two female leaders of similar ages, who had very different styles of leadership. The Queen went on to grant Thatcher Britain’s highest honour, the Order of the Merit, in 1990.
Another major event in the 1990s which arguably brought one of the worst crises of the reign, was the death of Princess Diana, who suddenly died in a car accident in Paris on 31st August 1997. The Queen faced criticism after the death of the Princess of Wales. Whilst millions of people across the globe mourned the loss of the people’s Princess, with crowds gathering around the palaces in London with bouquets of flowers as tribute, the Queen appeared hesitant to provide
Princess Anne’s marriage to Mark Phillips ended in divorce, while the Duke of York, the Queen’s second son, Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah Ferguson also divorced. The Prince and Princess of Wales eventually proved to be deeply unhappy and famously separated. The year came to a close with a significant fire at Windsor Castle, the Queen’s favourite home. It seemed to be an ominously fitting sign of a royal house in jeopardy. A public debate about who should pay for repairs — the taxpayer or the Queen — did not help. In a speech in the City of London, the Queen referred to 1992 as her “annus horribilis” and seemed to accept the need for a more democratic monarchy in exchange for a more favourable press.
April 2011 saw another happy occasion when the Queen attended the wedding of her Grandson, Prince William to Catherine Middleton. Later on, in May that same year, she made an official visit to the Irish Republic which was an event of great historical importance as she became the first British monarch to make this official visit. A year later in 2012, as part of the celebrations of her Diamond Jubilee, on a visit to Northern Ireland, she shook hands with the former IRA commander Martin McGuinness. It was a moving moment for the Queen whose much-loved cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, had been killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 in which the Queen spent the pandemic in isolation at Windsor with her husband. In a broadcast summoning a wartime spirit she highlighted that “We will meet again”. A personal tragedy hit Her Majesty in the spring of 2021 as her husband Prince Philip died a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday. Prince Philip had given up public duties since 2017, yet the death of such a resilient public figure still came as a shock.
Despite her recent loss, the Queen continued stoically into the eighth decade of her reign. She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. She had officially been experiencing “mobility issues” allowing her only two brief appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Her sketch appearing with a CGI version of Paddington Bear during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in which they took tea together and shared their joint fondness for marmalade sandwiches, was beloved by the nation.
also apparently parachuted into the stadium.
During the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Queen even made a cameo appearance in a James Bond sketch. Starring alongside Daniel Craig who played Bond at the time, the Queen
During the 1990s, the Queen, who was well into her middle age and had three of her four children married at the time, may have thought she was peacefully approaching the conclusion of her reign. But the 1990s would bring about the monarchy’s greatest threats to its standing since the abdication crisis. The royal children’s marriages which had initially appeared to have been so fortunate, started to fall apart. 1992 in particular was a year in which the Queen endured a series of scandals and disasters which began to affect the Royal Family and shed a negative light on their image.
During Princess Diana’s funeral, the Queen even bowed her head as the coffin went past, something protocol suggested only happening when the monarch stood before the Cenotaph. 2002 was the year the Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee. However, the year didn’t begin joyfully for the Queen, with the deaths of her sister, Princess Margaret, and the death of her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, which cast a shadow over nationwide celebrations of her reign. Despite these saddening events paired with the recurring debate over the future of the monarchy, a million people crowded in front of Buckingham Palace, into the Mall, on the evening of the Golden Jubilee. The celebrations of the Jubilee included a pop concert in the back garden of Buckingham Palace alongside extensive royal tours across Britain.
2012 was a significant year within the Queen’s reign as the Diamond Jubilee brought thousands of people to the streets of London in celebration. The same year, London hosted the Olympic and the Paralympic Games which the Queen opened.
The Queen’s death on 8th September 2022, shocked and saddened the nation. Thousands of people have left tributes outside of Buckingham Palace including flowers as well as marmalade sandwiches as a nod to the Paddington Bear sketch.
During the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations in April 2006, crowds of well-wishers lined the streets of Windsor as the Queen partook in an informal walkabout. In November 2007, a service at Westminster Abbey was attended by 2,000 people as the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated 60 years of marriage.
Obituary: Queen Elizabeth II
Image: PolizeiBerlin, Wikimedia Commons
9th September 2015 marked a symbolic moment as Queen Elizabeth II surpassed Queen Victoria’s record reign of 63 years and 216 days. Queen Elizabeth II is now known as the longest reigning monarch in British history and the second longest reigning monarch in global history.
the popularity of the Queen and the royal family.
Throughout the Queen’s enduring reign she saw as many scenes of celebration as she did tragedy. She dedicated her life to service and her committment will leave a lasting impression on the nation and the world for many years to come.
“She took on arguably one of the biggest responsibilities at such a young age, I couldn’t imagine doing that myself”
“We are saddened to hear about the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty has been an influential figure to the University of Exeter. We are aware that this news and topic can inspire many different opinions and some very important discussions, we hope at this time above all else people can be kind to each other.”
“It was a moment we knew would happen, but it’s as if we just never expected it”
“She is a prominent figure in the history books”
Comments from students and staff
“She fulfilled her duty as Queen, she was 96 and lived a long life”
“She was dutiful and devoted” Ballantyne
— Lily Margaroli, Guild President
“She was a global icon”
“She dedicated her life to serving the country”
“She seemed such a close figure to people — it felt quite personal almost as if we knew her”
— Lisa Roberts,Vice Chancellor
Image: Outside Exeter Cathedral, Megan
“There is great sadness within our community over the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. The Queen has played a central role in our national life for more than 70 years. Our thoughts are with the Royal Family at this time, and we think of those members of Queen Elizabeth’s family who are graduates of the University of Exeter.”
“Considering we will not get another Queen probably in our lifetime, it is the end of an era of female ruling. She had such a long reign and fulfilled her role”
Comments from Exeter Students
Her Majesty the Queen on a visit to present the new University of Exeter with its Charter and unveil the foundation stone of the Queen’s Building
1956
Image: University of Exeter
The Queen unveils the foundation stone of Exeter University (1956)
Image: University of Exeter
The foundation stone laid by the Queen on her visit in 1956. In Latin it reads:
A timeline of Queen Elizabeth II in Exeter
1995
Her Majesty the Queen, with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, returns to the University for its 40th anniversary celebrations
(British Pathé)
‘This stone, unveiled by the Queen, com memorates the visit of the University of Exeter on the 8th May 1956 by Queen Elizabeth II and Phillip Duke of Edinburugh’Image:Joshua
Hughes
Queen’s Drive today, renamed in 1956 to mark her visit.
A plaque outside the Forum commemorating its opening in 2012 during her Diamond Jubi lee visit to the University
Image: Joshua Hughes
2012 1995
Image: University of Exeter
Her Majesty the Queen with then Chan cellor, Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE DL, Hon D. Litt (Exeter) in the Forum during the Royal visit
Image: Joshua Hughes
Image: University of Exeter
The Queen visiting the Peter Chalk Centre as part of her visit to the university for the 40th anniversary celebrations
Image: Outside Exeter Cathedral, Megan Ballantyne
