Saturday/ the Platinum Jubilee 👑

2022: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, appearing with family members on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. She is flanked, from far left, by Princess Anne; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; and Prince Charles. From far right, Prince William; Price George; Princess Charlotte; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; and Prince Louis.
1953: The Queen on the balcony after her coronation, with Prince Charles, Princess Anne and husband Prince Philip (Duke of Edinburgh) to her left.
Photos: Top- Hannah McKay/ Reuters, Bottom- Associated Press.

There has never before been a Platinum Jubilee in the United Kingdom. No king or queen before Elizabeth II had ever reigned for 70 years— but ‘the power concentrated in the British crown began diminishing in the 19th century, and it has continued to shrink during Elizabeth II’s time as queen’, writes Hayes Brown for MSNBC.

After Elizabeth had ascended the throne in 1952, the British Empire dissolved as colonial states, dominions and protectorates gained their independence, one by one.
(The Union of South Africa gained its independence from Britain in May 1961 and became the Republic of South Africa. Northern Rhodesia became Zambia in 1964, Botswana gained independence in 1966, and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1979.)

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act of 2011 took away her ability to dissolve parliaments at her whim.
In practice, is the UK Parliament, and not the Queen’s Privy Council, that sets laws and carries them out.

The Queen is very popular, especially among older Britons (the rest of the royal family, not so much).
Will the monarchy survive? Time will tell, but there may not be another another Jubilee for several decades to come, given how old the heirs nearest to the throne are.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *