Queen Elizabeth: Time Man of the Year 1953

It was January 31, 1952, a dismal winters day, when the Edinburgh’s, Elizabeth and Philip, left London to represent King George VI on a trip to Africa. The King, only 56 years of age, had lost one lung to cancer and was quickly losing his remaining lung to its ravages as well. His face was haggard, his complexion gray; it blended with his hair and the sky that seemed to engulf him as he waved good-bye to his beloved Lilibet. This would be the last time his dutiful daughter would see him alive.

Less than a week later on Wednesday, February 6^th, she received the news that her father had passed away in his sleep at Sandringham - she was now the Queen. At 26 years of age, I’m sure the prospect was daunting. It would also rob her of the time to grieve for a man that she had loved and looked up to all of her life. As with all her trips outside the country over that final year, Elizabeth was traveling with the necessary paperwork to ‘legalize’ her accession. It is reported that when asked what name she would use she replied, ‘Oh, my own name – what else?’ As with all international travel undertaken by the Monarchy, she had packed appropriate mourning clothes. After dispatching the necessary cables and handling the other details of the cancelled trip, she boarded her flight from Kenya back home.

At home her family, both immediate and the 500 million in her Commonwealth ‘family’, awaited their Queen and looked to her to help them through their grieving process. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the King’s limousine met her at the airport. Two more reminders of the position she now held.

The following day, February 8^th, after reading her Declaration of Sovereignty during her first Privy Council Meeting, Queen Elizabeth II addressed her councilors. ‘My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than that I shall always work as my father did.’ A statement reminiscent of the solemn vow she delivered to the people at the time of her 21st birthday. The Garter King at Arms now proclaimed her accession outside of Saint James Palace, ‘Queen Elizabeth the Second by the grace of God Queen of this Realm and of all Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith…’

‘Queen Elizabeth II – Defender of the Faith’ is the title Time magazine gave to its feature article for ‘Man of the Year’ published January 5, 1953. It had been only eleven months -almost to the day - since she became Queen and the first part of the article describes the turmoil felt all around the globe during this period in history. As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it in his February 11, 1952 speech to the House of Commons, ‘She comes to the Throne at a time when tormented mankind stands uncertainly poised between world catastrophe and a golden age.’

Time commended the young Queen for giving the Tory’s and Laborite’s some common ground – their belief in her. They praised her saying; ‘becoming Queen has added a new dimension to her practical intelligence.’ They said her subjects hoped her an omen of a bright future like those experienced under the Elizabethan Age of Elizabeth I or the Victorian Era under Queen Victoria.

The hopes of her subjects the world over were pinned on this lovely young woman with the steely spine. She possessed the poise of a gentlewoman with the grit of a leader. She was revered as was her father and her grandfather before her. She was loved, as a member of the family would be. Another article of the time suggested that the British people were looking forward to the Queen’s Coronation day with the interest in the detail, the pride and excitement one has when planning the wedding of a daughter. Time magazine agreed stating that her life was like ‘a fairy tale in which the world could believe’.

Time also provided a timeline for a typical day in the life of the new Monarch. She scored many points with her obvious ability to juggle family life, state business, visiting dignitaries and official duties such as launching ships and opening hospital wards. In regard to finding balance in the overall picture, fulfilling her family needs while meeting the obligations of state in a way that appeased her subjects, she was also applauded. Their take on it was rather humorous, ‘It meant diverting but never offending the polyglot family of 500 million subjects, many of them as outspokenly critical as a spinster aunt.’

Another area in which it was felt she had put her foot right was in continuing with the Monarch’s Christmas Broadcast a tradition begun by her grandfather, George V, and continued by her father, George VI. At Christmas 1952, her first broadcast, she acknowledged the ‘grave problems and difficulties’ confronted by all and said she believed we would be able to ‘venture beyond the safeties of the past’. It was the inspiration for Time’s closing statement, which I believe bears repeating.

‘In cynical 1952, Britons and Americans alike were often too plagued by doubt to venture beyond the safeties of their past. In Elizabeth II, by God’s grace Queen, Defender of the Faith, each might see a reminder of what was old and splendid, and also a fresh, imperative summons to make the present worthy of remembrance.’

Looking back on this summation, almost 49 years to the day after she took her father’s place on the Throne, I see that people the world over not only expected Queen Elizabeth II to be the ‘Defender of Faith’, but to be the restorer of it. In a world so jaded by unrest, military coups and the first stages of the cold war she was a beacon of hope. A shining example of faith in herself, in her subjects, in God and the Church of England and in the monarchy she was fated to inherit. Looking back, I’d say she didn’t let us down, that she is still uniting people through the strength of her faith. God save the Queen!

Many thanks for the letters received recently. I especially want to thank the readers who so kindly wrote to say they too are concerned for Prince Andrew in this uncertain time as he searches for a new and meaningful way to spend the next phase of his life. Saly wrote to say that she continues to believe what his Nanny and Princess Diana agreed upon – Andrew is the best of the lot. Jim shared this belief and went a step further by noting that Andrew’s grandfather, George VI, once Duke of York, founded camps where he brought youth, both poor and rich, together. He suggested that Andrew might find his place by taking this idea and updating it by using the camps to promote race rather than ‘class’ relationships.

As for the article on Princes Margaret, the consensus is we wish her well.

The ‘Letter to the Editor’ of the Daily Mirror, circa 1996, drew some criticism for my humor, which was construed by some to be tasteless. Of course still others perceived it as a glimpse into my psyche (scary place). As far as the quote about Charles being a ‘lavatory minded adulterer’, that was not an original sentiment on my part. It was taken from a book I'd been reading at the time called "The Tarnished Crown: Diana and the House of Windsor" by Anthony Holden. The complete quote is this, "As the writs of the mighty flew, even more eyebrows were raised by the restraint of the Prince of Wales, who, by contrast, declined to take action over the published transcript of a bugged telephone call which persuaded most of the nation that the heir to the throne, the would-be Defender of the Faith, was a lavatory-minded adulterer."

Lastly, regarding Princess Diana and the stripping of her HRH, though I received a dozen or so letters, there were only two who directly addressed that issue. Most simply said that she died knowing she was a Queen in our hearts and that her sons will ensure that she is not forgotten. Pat pointed out that they are her legacy – and what a beautiful legacy they are.