The third section of Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II focuses on her growth from a child to a young adult. At the beginning of the section, her father has just been crowned George VI, making her next in line for the crown. Her education is begun under Sir Henry Marten, who taught her history and government most of all. Her textbooks contain notes in the margins on how to rule (even if her powers are mostly ceremonial) effectively. She wrote, "If the King had a strong will, and a good capacity for business, he ruled the witan [an early form of Parliament]; if not, the witan was the prevailing power in the State" (117). She also, however, recognized that the monarchs did not have much power in the modern world, and the era before elected ministers was noted as "The days before responsible government" (117). She chose to rule responsibly and sensibly, putting her people before herself. This was in contrast to her uncle's reign, which was dominated by a powerful and overdone sense of progress and a decision to abdicate for personal reasons. Elizabeth would argue that no personal reason is a good enough excuse.
Elizabeth continues to grow older, and she makes her debut as a public figure. Most of her work was charity- related, though she did take an Army class in auto mechanics to help the war effort. She met, and fell in love with at age 13, her third cousin Philip, whom she would marry. Another burst of character shows through the cloud of public facade in her response to her former governess, who wanted to publish a tell-all series of articles for the Ladies' HOme Journal. When Princess Elizabeth asked her not to give information to any journalists, she softened the blow by offering her former governess another job. She chooses gentle firmness over her sister Margaret's disdain. Elizabeth's first two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, are born. For all her public kindness, Elizabeth does not seem to have been a particularly maternal figure. She left her young son and newborn daughter with their grandparents for Christmas in 1950, as she had done to Charles in 1949. However, when her father died in 1952, she stayed in England to prepare for her new role as sovereign.
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3 comments:
It is surprising that Elizabeth does not seem to be there for her own children, yet she is for so many other people. This is probably because she saw the publics needs ahead of her own.
I agree with mackenzie. No one really expects any one to make the public more important than their family, but this is what we were just discussing in the play All My Sons. The way you summarized this book seems very interesting, it make me want to read it as well!
It is interesting how timeless the ideas you are discussing are. This book shows that the same problems from hundreds of years ago are still hear today, although in a slightly different form.
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