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The Official Visit of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh to the Slovak Republic

Slovakia has experienced another of its foreign and historically, perhaps, most important visits. During her two days spent here, the British Queen Elizabeth II met with Slovak politicians, artists and athletes, Slovak hosts showed the Queen the centre of Bratislava, Devín castle, the High Tatra Mountains and the historical quarters of Poprad – Spišská Sobota. Both politically and socially the Queen’s visit was regarded very positively.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21 April 1926 in Mayfair as the oldest daughter of the ruling King’s brother, the Duke of York. She became the crown Princess in December 1936 following the abdication of King Edward VIII and her father’s accession to the British throne as George VI. Owing to the fact that George VI did not have a son, Princess Elizabeth also became the heiress presumptive. At the time of her father’s death on 6 February 1952 she was visiting Kenya and the Royal Council of the Throne proclaimed her Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She was crowned on 2 June 1953 in Westminster Abbey. Despite the fact that she was only 25 upon her coronation, she regarded her role to be that of serving her subjects from the very first moment of her reign.

In addition to the United Kingdom, the British monarch is respected as the Head of State by 15 other countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu and as the Head of the Commonwealth by all its members. In some countries such as Australia or Canada she also holds the title of the sovereign of the country and is addressed as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia or the Queen of Canada. Her full title is „Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.“

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The Queen officially reigns over 125 million people. She is traditionally considered to be the Head of the Church of England and chief of the British Army, Air Force and Navy. She has been married to Phillip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh since 20 November 1947. The couple have four children: crown Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales was born in 1948, Princess Ann in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.

Immediately following her accession to the throne Queen Elizabeth II began to modernise the monarchy, became more open towards the media and made efforts to listen more to public opinion. She organised informal lunches at Buckingham Palace to which she invited artists, businessmen or athletes, and thus increased her personal credit in regard to public relations.

The 70s and 80s were the best of times for the Queen. During this period she became more self-confident and more approachable. At the beginning of the 90s, however, the personal problems of her children overflowed. The year 1992 was named by the Queen as annus horribilis. First, her daughter Ann was divorced, shortly after that Prince Charles and Diana and Prince Andrew and Sarah announced their separations. As if this wasn’t enough, one of the Queen’s official residences, Windsor Castle, was seriously damaged by fire. The string of disasters continued when the unhappy public disapproved of the Palace being repaired using tax payers’ money. People were convinced that the Queen, who was exempt from paying taxes, should finance the reconstruction herself. The conflict was ended by the Queen’s statement that she and her family would pay taxes just as all other citizens do.

However, the greatest upheaval in the monarchy followed the death of the world’s beloved Princess Diana. The Queen withdrew to her Scottish castle of Balmoral and many Brits and tabloid newspapers felt that she was isolating the young Princes, that she was too tied up with protocol, that her responses were cold and that she was not deeply touched by the shock that the car accident in France had caused to the whole world and especially to the British nation. Queen Elizabeth, as masterly captured in the Oscar winning film “The Queen”, finally arrived in London and spoke to the British people in a special television appearance. Her dignity and determination to face uneasy situations have certainly led to the reduction of the doubts of the British as to whether they still need the monarchy and a monarch and after her 56 years on the throne the Queen herself has become an authority recognised worldwide.

By Beata Pašková
Photo: archive SK Magazine, The British Embassy in Bratislava