For a vast majority of Americans — including many who saw her during a 1983 visit to Seattle — Queen Elizabeth II has been the only British monarch of their lifetimes.
The queen, who acceded to the throne in 1952, died Thursday at the age of 96. For seven decades, she largely defined Americans’ perception of Great Britain, piqued our curiosity about monarchies and influenced our view of global politics. The American public and their elected leaders long have embraced Queen Elizabeth for her decency, humility and dignity as the ceremonial leader of a nation that has grown into a great ally.
The length of her reign was mind-boggling. Some perspective: Queen Elizabeth’s first official visit to the United States was in 1957 — when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Her last was in 2007, during the administration of George W. Bush. She met President Harry Truman as Princess Elizabeth in 1951 and met 13 of the 14 subsequent presidents as queen (all but Lyndon Baines Johnson).
But it is a 1983 visit to the West Coast, at the invitation of President Ronald Reagan, which resonates most clearly for Washington residents. After several stops in California, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip boarded a Boeing 707 and flew to Boeing Field in Seattle. Their brief visit included a monorail ride from Seattle Center to downtown Seattle.
Charley Royer, then the city’s mayor, recently told MyNorthwest.com: “It was a big deal when the Queen came, and everybody wanted to be involved in it.”
During prepared remarks, Queen Elizabeth reportedly acknowledged Captain Cook for recognizing the economic potential of the Pacific Northwest and lauded early British fur traders for initiating trade with Asia. Writes MyNorthwest: “Know-it-all historians will be disappointed to learn that there was no mention of the decades of conflict between American settlers and the Hudson’s Bay Company, or the 40 years of joint British-American occupation of the Old Oregon Country that ended with the Treaty of 1846.”
The visit is a blip on the broad landscape of a vast reign. But it lends credence to something included in the Associated Press obituary of Queen Elizabeth: “Through countless public events, she probably met more people than anyone in history. Her image, which adorned stamps, coins and banknotes, was among the most reproduced in the world.”
And yet, Americans often struggle to comprehend Great Britain’s system of a constitutional monarchy. It is a system in which a king or queen presides but wields little political power. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth asked 15 prime ministers to form a government in her name and the first one, Winston Churchill, reportedly said, “All the film people in the world, if they had scoured the globe, could not have found anyone so suited to the part.”
That, in itself, is a remarkable piece of her story. Unlike most of her predecessors, Queen Elizabeth was not born into the role. She was 11 when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne and her father became King George VI — altering the line of succession and the trajectory of her life.
By all appearances, Elizabeth adapted well, standing as a symbol of decorum and a steadying influence in a rapidly changing world. She oversaw changes in British society and changes in how her subjects view the monarchy, yet she remained a constant that tied her nation’s past to its future. In the process, she earned admiration throughout the world.
Queen Elizabeth is one of the defining figures of the post-World War II era. Long live the Queen.
