10 September 2015 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest reigning British monarch
Activer le mode zenThe secret of Queen Elizabeth II's record reign: faith, patience, and a touch of cunning
Charles Moore (The Telegraph)
As the Queen prepares to overtake Victoria as our longest-reigning monarch, she is being compared with the Queen Empress. It is true that both women became icons of their country. Both represent an idea of stability and duty. But they are also extreme contrasts.
If Victoria were alive today, her behaviour would make the monarchy totter. Her depression, over-excitement, selfishness, partisanship, outspokenness, favouritism and laziness would become apparent, via the media, to the world.
Even at the time, it was a constant struggle to prevent her opinions becoming known. To Gladstone, her most detested prime minister, she wrote to threaten abdication if he reformed the House of Lords. She “will not be the Sovereign of a Democratic Monarchy”, she told him. Luckily, her private secretary made sure the letter was not sent.
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Celebration
Lizzie Edmonds (Evening Standard)
Londoners today hailed the Queen as an inspiration to millions around the world as they held celebrations in her honour across the capital.
At St Peter’s Church of England Primary School in Walworth, pupils made crowns, pictures and flags for a special service at the neighbouring church.
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In pictures
(BBC News)
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history on the evening of 9 September 2015. To mark the event we present an image from the archives of the Press Association from every year of her reign.
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Monarchy
Polly Toynbee (The Guardian)
Long to reign over us – that old incantation has worked, so next week the Queen’s reign becomes the longest ever. She overtakes Victoria, who kept going for 63 years, seven months and two days. That’s all they need do – stay alive, procreate and do nothing to upset the multitudes.
She is past-mistress of nothingness. A dutiful enigma, say her flatterers, or a conveniently empty vessel into which Helen Mirren can imagine any amount of knowingness and intelligence. Another avalanche of adulation is about to asphyxiate us; with glossy supplements on “The Greatest Reign”, exhibitions in royal palaces selling souvenir albums, and Douglas Hurd’s gushing biography, Elizabeth II: The Steadfast. Steadfast or hanging on until grim death? Charles is now the oldest ever Prince of Wales. If the Queen lives as long as her mother, he’ll be 79 when/if he accedes. His lugubrious presence at Queen Beatrix’s abdication in 2013 couldn’t but suggest a certain longing, the same year Belgium’s King Albert stood down for his son. Is steadfastly denying her son so admirable, when other parents remortgage and raid pensions to help their children on their way? But then, “they” are not at all like us.
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10 September 2015 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest reigning British monarch, La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), octobre 2015. Consulté le 04/01/2025. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/key-story/archives-revue-de-presse-2015/10-september-2015-queen-elizabeth-ii-becomes-longest-reigning-british-monarch