This Is Why Queen Elizabeth Never Relinquished The Throne
After 70 years on the throne, people can hardly fathom anyone aside from Queen Elizabeth reigning over the United Kingdom. She’s been the monarch since 1952 and served her country until her final moment. Technically, the Queen could have abdicated if she wanted to and passed the crown along to a younger family member. But according to people who’ve spent time with her, Elizabeth never had any plans to do this – and here’s why.
Elizabeth took the throne in 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI. By that point, she had already achieved a lot as a princess: she’d been a part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, she had wed Prince Philip and she had become a mother. And Elizabeth was only 25 when she became a monarch.
Plus, the Queen has witnessed several historical events just within the past decade alone. Many of them, of course, have involved her family. In 2011 Prince William – who is second in line to the throne – married his fiancée, Kate Middleton. And millions of people around the world watched the wedding – demonstrating as a result that the younger royals can certainly draw in the crowds.
In fact, William and Kate have appeared to have helped improve public opinion of the monarchy. The family had experienced serious damage to its reputation in the 1990s, due to Prince Charles’ separation and subsequent divorce from the late Princess Diana. Prince William marrying a “commoner” seemed to turn things around in terms of positive publicity, however.
Since tying the knot, Kate and William have had three children together: Prince George in 2013, Princess Charlotte two years later, and Prince Louis in 2018. And before Charlotte was born, the royals adopted a new rule of succession. Male children no longer took precedence, meaning that if the oldest direct descendant of the reigning monarch was a girl, she would still be first in line even if she had brothers.
