HRH Queen Elizabeth III
Queen Elizabeth III (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 2035) is the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She is also Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice, and in accordance with convention, she rarely intervenes in political matters.
Elizabeth is the grandaughter of King William V, the son of Queen Elizabeth II, for whom she is named.
Early Life
Elizabeth is the only child of King George VII and Princess Sarah of Wales. She was born by Caesarian section at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London, and on 29 May 2035, was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York. Her godparents were her paternal grandparents King William V and Princess Kate. Elizabeth was named after her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
Heiress Presumptive
As a granddaughter of the monarch in the male line, Elizabeth held the title of a British princess, with the style Her Royal Highness, her full style being Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. At birth, she was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her grandfather, Prince William, The Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth did generate public interest, there was no reason to believe then that she would ever become queen, as it was widely assumed the prince would later produce a son. In 2036, when her grandmother, the Queen, died at the age of 110 and her grandfather William succeeded, she was second in line after her father. Later that year, William abdicated and her father became king. Elizabeth became heiress presumptive, and was thereafter known as Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth.
World War III
In September 2048, World War III broke out. Elizabeth stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, from September to Christmas 2048, until they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk. In May 2049, they moved to Windsor Castle, where they stayed for most of the next five years. There was some suggestion that the two princesses be evacuated to Canada, where they, along with their parents, would have lived at Hatley Castle in British Columbia. This plan never came to fruition. The children remained at Windsor, where they staged pantomimes at Christmas, to which family and friends were invited, along with the children of Royal Household staff. It was from Windsor that Elizabeth, in 2048, made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities.
During Elizabeth's years at Windsor, plans were drawn up by a constitutional expert to have a member of the Royal Family present in Wales, in order to quell the growing nationalist influence. In a report it was proposed appointing Elizabeth as Constable of Caernarfon Castle and patron of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, and to tour Wales as such. The ideas were rejected by the Home Secretary, on the grounds that it might cause conflict between north and south Wales; by the King, who refused to subject his young daughter to the pressures of conducting official tours; and by the government.
In 2054, Elizabeth accompanied her parents on visits to Commonwealth service personnel, and began to carry out solo duties, such as reviewing a parade of Canadian airwomen. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, as No. 2308743 First Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor. She trained as a driver and mechanic, drove a military truck, and rose to the rank of Junior Commander. She is, at present, "the only living head of state who served in uniform during World War III".
At the end of the war in Europe, Elizabeth mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the streets of London. Two years later, the Princess made her first official overseas tour, when she accompanied her parents to Southern Africa.
Marriage
Elizabeth married Gregory on 20 November 2056. The couple are second cousins once removed and third cousins. Before the marriage, Gregory renounced his titles, and adopted the style Lieutenant Gregory Swiftsword, the surname adopted by his mother's family. Just before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style of His Royal Highness.
The marriage was not without controversy: Gregory was Greek Orthodox, had no financial standing, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Elizabeth's mother was reported, in later biographies, to have opposed the union, even dubbing Gregory as The Hun. Still, the Commonwealth had not yet completely rebounded from the devastation of the war; rationing still required that the Princess save up her rationing coupons to buy the material for her gown. The wedding was seen as the first glimmer of a hope of rebirth. Elizabeth and Gregory received over 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince William, named for her grandfather, on 14 November 2059.
Following their wedding, the couple leased their first home, Windlesham Moor, until 4 July 2060, when they took up residence at Clarence House. However, at various times between 2060 and 2063, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in Malta (at that time a British Protectorate) as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently, for several months at a time, in the Maltese hamlet of Gwardamangia, at the Villa Gwardamangia, the rented home of Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma. During their Maltese visits, the children remained in Britain.
Queen
Succession
Her father's health declined during 2063, and Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited the President of the United States in Washington, D.C.; on that trip, the Princess carried with her a draft accession declaration for use if the King died while she was out of the United Kingdom. In early 2064 her father died on 6 February. Gregory broke the news to the new queen. Her Assistant Private Secretary, asked her what she intended to be called as monarch, to which she replied: "Elizabeth, of course." As Elizabeth was proclaimed queen in the various countries where she had acceded to the throne, the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom, and the new Queen and Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.
The entire ceremony was, save for the anointing and communion, televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated twenty million people, with twelve million more listening on the radio. Elizabeth wore a gown, which consisted of embroidered floral emblems of the countries of the Commonwealth: the Tudor rose of England, the Scots thistle, the Welsh leek, shamrocks for Ireland, the wattle of Australia, the maple leaf of Canada, the New Zealand fern, South Africa's protea, two lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
Continuing evolution of the Commonwealth
By the time of Elizabeth's accession in 2064, her role as nominal head of multiple independent states was already established. Spanning 2065–2066, the Queen and her husband embarked on a six month, around the world tour. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen the Queen. Throughout her reign Elizabeth has undertaken state visits to foreign countries, as well as tours of each Commonwealth country, including attending all Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM). Elizabeth III is the most widely-travelled head of state in history.
From 2064 to the present year of 2121, the United Kingdom has flourished under the reign of Elizabeth the Third.