Queen Elizabeth’s 'legacy is locked in': 100th anniversary of her birth prompts nostalgia, commemoration
There will be a statue. And a garden. And an exhibition that puts iconic — and highly recognizable — fashions she wore on display.
There’s also a reception that will be attended by centenarians who share her birthdate of April 21, 1926.
Early in the coming week, the Royal Family will take part in events commemorating Queen Elizabeth and the 100th anniversary of her birth.
The commemoration, which comes almost four years after her death in September 2022 at the age of 96, offers what might be considered typical royal recognitions for such milestones. But the moment also offers an opportunity to assess the legacy of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
These sorts of commemorations for previous monarchs “are quite normal,” royal historian Justin Vovk said in an interview.
“But there certainly is a degree of heightened … cultural memory and nostalgia here, because obviously there have been few British monarchs who have left such a cultural, political, international legacy as Queen Elizabeth II.”
The centenary commemoration is in ways more lower-key overall than recognitions of royal milestones sometimes are.
“You would have expected that such an event would have the hand of government all over it,” said Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scholar and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in southwestern England, in an interview. “That’s not the case.”
Instead, Rowbotham said, it’s been left “very largely up to a whole range of disparate initiatives … feeding off the decision of the Royal Family, the royal household, to mark the centenary, to make it an upbeat royal occasion.”
On Monday, King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit an exhibition at Buckingham Palace that focuses on the fashion of his mother, entitled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style.
There’s always been popular interest in royal fashion, Vovk said, and Elizabeth’s was a topic of interest for decades.
“Having the dresses on display is a way of making the history of not just the monarchy, but the person of Elizabeth, feel more tangible.”
The exhibition features more than 300 items and includes Elizabeth’s wedding and coronation gowns, dresses from state occasions and clothes she slipped into when she was off duty.
Hats, shoes, jewelry and accessories are on display, too. (Tickets for the exhibition, which runs until mid-October, are sold out until the beginning of July.)
On Tuesday, Princess Anne will officially open the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London’s Regent’s Park.
“The opening of the garden — there again, that’s a very tangible memorial,” said Rowbotham.
Also on Tuesday, Charles and Camilla, along with other members of the Royal Family, will visit the British Museum to see the recently approved design for the Queen Elizabeth Memorial in a park in front of Buckingham Palace.
“The statues are probably the most consistent and well-known form of commemorations in the modern monarchy,” said Vovk.
Charles and Camilla are also hosting a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. Among the guests will be centenarians who share their birthdate with Elizabeth. Charles will give them cards marking the occasion as birthday cake is being served.
While such official events mark the centenary of Elizabeth’s birth, it also seems to have set off an onslaught of unofficial observation about the Queen and her life. Several books about her — none of them the official biography that is still a few years off — are being published. Excerpts have been grabbing headlines in the U.K. media over the past few weeks.
“I think there’s going to continue to be extreme interest in these books in particular, because the Queen is somebody who we don’t often get these insights about,” said Vovk.
The excerpts in the media focused in several instances on controversial moments or members of the family who have been a significant focus of headlines, such as Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, after they stepped back as working royals; and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who is mired in the fallout from his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I think probably most people, if they’re following this, are probably aware of … the story or the claim that any time Prince Harry called after the break with the family that … the Queen always had a lady-in-waiting there to keep a written record and that her answers were only yes and nos and sort of monosyllables,” said Vovk.
The degree to which such excerpts might have a lasting effect on the Queen’s reputation is unclear.
“We’re going to see stories like this, I think, create more controversy regarding the secondary figures than the Queen herself,” said Vovk.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published a 35,000-word entry on Elizabeth earlier this month and noted that “she adapted, slowly and not always enthusiastically, but on the whole wisely and well.” Some media reports on the entry highlighted its references to some “missteps” with her family.
Vovk doesn’t see that much of a change in how the Queen is viewed now, as the centenary of her birth is marked, compared to how she was seen at the time of her death in September 2022.
“Certainly for the foreseeable future, it seems like … her legacy is locked in as this global, hard-working grandmother who led an increasingly troubled family, yet somehow has remained separated in the public mind from a lot of those issues.”
Rowbotham sees the celebration of Elizabeth’s centenary as a “very sensible thing” for the Royal Family to be doing.
“She did embody both change and flexibility, but also tradition. Change is difficult. She represented, for many people living through a particularly dangerous time at the moment … a continuity that people wish was still there.”
On the U.S. agenda
A few more details are emerging about the diplomatically dicey state visit King Charles will make to the U.S. later this month.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the dates U.S. President Donald Trump had already shared — April 27-30 — and offered an outline of an itinerary that includes a private tea for King Charles and Queen Camilla with Trump and his wife, Melania; a garden party; and a ceremonial military review.
There will also be a state dinner and Charles will make an address to the U.S. Congress while he is in Washington, D.C.
The visit comes at a time of deep strain in the “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S. over the war in Iran and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic lobbing pointed barbs. Trump has been particularly strident in his criticism of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Yet the visit, which is at the request and direction of the U.K. Foreign Office and the prime minister, is going ahead.
“They have clearly decided to try to mend relationships at least a bit with Trump … by letting the state visit go ahead, because they are aware of the extent to which Trump has made it very plain he admires and respects the Royal Family,” said Rowbotham.
U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted by King Charles and Queen Camilla outside Windsor Castle, but protests in the U.K. continued as many object to the state visit.
The visit, which is being billed as part of efforts to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, will also take Charles and Camilla to New York.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Charles and Camilla will also commemorate those who lost their lives on 9/11 and meet with first responders and families of victims, the palace said.
Camilla, who has a longstanding interest in literacy, will attend an event focusing on literature, which will include a nod toward author A.A. Milne’s stories about Winnie the Pooh — who, the palace noted, marks his 100th birthday this year. (There is a Canadian connection there, given that Winnie was based on a real-life bear found in White River, Ont., and ultimately donated to the London Zoo by a Canadian Army veterinarian during the First World War.)
Charles and Camilla will also visit Virginia, where they’ll attend a block party to mark the anniversary of American independence. Charles will visit a national park, where he will meet members of an Indigenous community.
While some broad strokes of the itinerary are known, the finer details haven’t been made public.
“I think it’s no coincidence that the details are opaque at the moment,” said Vovk.
“Given the state of U.S. politics at the moment, details will likely be kept as tightly wrapped as possible until the last possible minute, just even for the security implications. And I think that the lack of detail is also a way to try … to minimize demonstrations against the president and I think indirectly against the King.”
As much as state visits are carefully orchestrated events, much attention is bound to focus on any spontaneous, off-the-cuff moments that may arise, particularly given Trump’s penchant for such moments.
“This [visit] is going to be, as far as possible, curated within an inch of its life,” said Rowbotham.
“That doesn’t mean to say that there won’t be glitches … But more than anything else, the [U.K.] government, and undoubtedly the King and Queen themselves, are going to wish for this to just go off as smoothly and as boringly as possible.”
After the time in the U.S., Charles will continue on his own to Bermuda, where he will make his first visit to a British Overseas Territory.
Keeping up with family appearances
When the Royal Family arrived for the Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle, two new attendees drew some attention.
Accompanying Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son, were his fiancée, Harriet Sperling, and her daughter, Georgina. (Phillips and Sperling are to marry in June.)
Along with them were his daughters, Savannah and Isla, from his previous marriage to Canadian-born Autumn Kelly.
“Children are remarkably poor at putting on an act and it’s plain that the girls are comfortable at least with each other,” said Rowbotham.
To be included visibly as Sperling and her daughter were in the holiday life of the Royal Family “is the statement of acceptance, it’s the statement that they have the King’s approval and the family’s approval,” said Vovk.
There is also, he said, “at the very least an implied” recognition of “family diversity, blended families, this acknowledgment that family looks different in the monarchy today in the same way that family looks different among the general population today.”
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, and their three children were also at the Easter Sunday service, making their first appearance there since 2023.
The behaviour of their youngest — Prince Louis, who turns eight on Thursday — caught some attention, not because of any of the mischievous antics he has been known for, but rather because he seemed to be on his “best behaviour.”
“Louis is reaching an age where [children] start to become aware of what is and is not appropriate behaviour,” said Vovk.
“I think that we are going to see more of the buttoned-up Prince Louis, but I don’t believe we are going to see that personality of his suppressed.
“I think that William and Catherine know better than to try to suppress the individuality of any of their children. I think … we’re just going to see Louis maintaining more event-appropriate behaviour as he ages.”
Royally quotable
“You have, quite simply, brought huge joy to untold numbers of people across the globe and we are all in your debt.”
— Queen Camilla, in a message to English singer and actor Elaine Paige, as she was honoured at this year’s Olivier Awards, which celebrate the London theatre and stage scene.
Royal reads
An upcoming book authored by a prominent royal commentator says U.S. President Donald Trump was primarily interested in annexing Canadian territory just above the U.S.-Canada border — but that his respect for King Charles may have quashed that goal. [CBC]
Prince William rejected plans for a major investiture ceremony and church service to mark him becoming Prince of Wales, a new royal book has revealed. [Daily Mail]
Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has been pictured at a luxury ski resort in Austria, as she’s seen for the first time in seven months amid the scandal surrounding her former husband’s relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [The Sun]
A charity co-founded by Prince Harry is suing him for defamation. [BBC]
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have met survivors of the Bondi Beach attack as they wind up an Australian tour. [The Guardian]
