queen elizabeth visit to solomon islands

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Tears, candles and a farewell to ‘boss lady’: the world mourns Queen Elizabeth II

From the UK to the Commonwealth and beyond, admirers are paying their respects to the longest reigning monarch in British history

• World leaders pay tribute to the Queen – latest updates

O n the streets of Sydney and Kyiv, they laid flowers. In California they lit candles; in Honolulu, flags flew at half-mast, and, in Paris, the Eiffel Tower dimmed its lights. In London, two rainbows emerged in the skies above Buckingham palace.

The remarkably broad sweep of Queen Elizabeth II’s life spanned the great to the inglorious, Churchill to Ceaușescu, Mandela to Mugabe. But much of her lasting legacy will lie in the tens of thousands of quieter lives she touched during her reign.

As news of her death spread , personal tributes were paid across the world.

On the Mall in London, a phalanx of black cabs formed an impromptu honour guard. “Liz is a London girl,” Michael Ackerman, a cab driver of 26 years said. “She’s one of your own, she’s one of ours.”

The late monarch was born 96 years earlier less than a mile away, at the Mayfair home of her grandparents.

By Friday afternoon, the crowds that had gathered outside Buckingham Palace to say goodbye to one monarch found themselves welcoming another. King Charles III emerged from his state Bentley to a rapturous reception, chatting to wellwishers, shaking hands and receiving a kiss on the cheek from one woman.

Thousands of miles away – and despite the terrors, pressures and privations brought by Russia’s invasion – some Ukrainians travelled to the British embassy in Kyiv with bunches of flowers.

Anatolii Zakletskyi, a 75-year-old resident of the capital, said he wanted to offer his condolences to the UK and express his admiration for the monarch: “First, as a symbol of devotion to the motherland. Secondly, [for] an absolute sense of duty before – as she herself said – God and the people. And thirdly, to all of Britain for being true friends of Ukraine.”

The news spread too, to the more distant corners of the monarch’s realm.

Eleven thousand miles away, the prime minister of Aotearoa-New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, was woken by a police officer’s torchlight in her bedroom before 5am.

Having gone to bed reading of the Queen’s ill-health, “when that torchlight came into my room I knew immediately what it meant”, Ardern said. “I am profoundly sad.”

In the country’s official condolence book, Ardern thanked the Queen for her “life of service”. She followed the words with the Māori proverb “ he kotuku rerenga tahi ”, which translates to “a white heron’s flight is seen but once”. It refers to a rare event, and the comparison is intended as an honour.

New Zealand radio host Mike Hosking broke down in tears on-air, discussing the Queen’s death. He’d earlier professed his love for the Queen: “She might be the greatest representative of most of our lifetimes in terms of dedication, consistency and loyalty”.

In Sydney, the sails of the city’s harbour-side Opera House will be illuminated for two nights in the Queen’s honour. Paying tribute at the Sydney’s Government House nearby, Ross Harris said his earliest memory of the Queen was when she and Prince Philip visited his primary school in Tasmania in 1977.

“When they visited, Prince Philip remarked: ‘What a jolly cold place you live in.’

“Whether you like the monarchy or loathe the monarchy, you can’t take away the fact that all these are people that are born into that situation. They make the most of that situation; they set the example for others in terms of work and giving to others.”

In India , MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor – who wrote the anti-Imperial polemic Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India – paid tribute to the Queen’s personal devotion to duty.

“An era in history has ended today. It had to happen one day but it is still hard to escape a sense of disbelief. RIP Queen Elizabeth.”

In Hong Kong, some used social media on Friday to mourn the woman affectionately nicknamed “boss lady” among older residents of a city that was one of Britain’s last colonies.

Elizabeth II visited Hong Kong twice during her reign, while her son – now King Charles III – was present for its handover to China in 1997.

“My grandmother who raised me always spoke of the ‘boss lady’, I heard about her so much she felt like family … today it’s like a family member passed away,” Facebook user Vincent Lam wrote.

Nathan Law, a prominent pro-democracy politician who now lives in Britain and is wanted by Hong Kong police under the sweeping, Beijing-imposed national security law, said the Queen had held a special place in many Hong Kongers’ hearts.

“The Queen is loved by millions of Hong Kong people,” he wrote on Twitter.

When the Queen first set foot in Solomon Islands , she was given the appellation Fau Ni Qweraasi , meaning “a people’s protector” by a former chief. Flags across Solomon Islands, where the Queen was head of state, were flying at half-mast on Friday, and many on Facebook changed their profile picture to images of the Queen.

Outside Ye Olde King’s Head pub in Santa Monica, California, Gregg Donovan set up a small shrine to the monarch, replete with candles, roses and a framed official portrait.

Donovan, who met the Queen, told PA Media: “She was so kind and gracious, and it’s a sad day around the world”.

“America loves the Queen … and where I work in Hollywood people were shocked, the British tourists were crying on the streets.”

At the Rose Tree Cottage English Tea Room in Pasadena, California, Brecken Armstrong was moved to tears among the memorabilia for Her Majesty. Armstrong and her husband Martin said they admired the Queen’s strong, positive feminine role. “The world just got more masculine,” Martin said.

On the other side of the American continent, New York’s Times Square projected an image of a smiling queen, while the Empire State Building was illuminated after sunset in purple and silver to honour her life and legacy.

Tel Aviv’s Municipality Building was lit up with a union flag in tribute.

In Berlin, flowers and candles were laid outside the British embassy, while in Venice, God Save the Queen was played outside the Italian city’s Festival Buildings.

Six years after the Brexit referendum that triggered a late period of tumult and bitter division in the Queen’s long reign, EU flags in Brussels flew at half-mast as a sign of respect.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer, overlooking Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, was lit up in red, white and blue.

In Kenya, where Elizabeth – then still a princess – received news of her father’s death in 1952, many reflected on the country’s colonial links to the UK and its monarchy.

“It’s a sad day because Kenya was colonised by the British, so Kenyans are part and parcel of the British system,” Vincent Kamondi, a 51-year-old taxi driver, told Agence-France-Presse.

Although Kenya’s Mau Mau freedom fighters suffered horrific abuses under the colonial regime for taking part in one of the British empire’s bloodiest insurgencies, independent Kenya has maintained strong ties with its former rulers.

“The education we have, the religion we have, it came from the British, so it gave us a path of where we are heading to,” said businessman Jacob Midam, 38.

The Queen’s death, he added, “matters a lot”.

But beyond formal and official acknowledgements, in many other parts of the former British empire – India, the Pacific, Africa, and the Caribbean – public outpourings have been muted.

In Jamaica, Leslie Henriques said the Queen’s death “doesn’t really mean anything to me”.

“Let’s hope he [King Charles III] is done with the monarchy. We don’t need kings and queens anymore. She visited Canada 22 times, Australia 16, New Zealand 10 and Jamaica six.”

With AFP, PA. Additional reporting by Natasha May, Stephanie Convery, Georgina Maka’a and Charlotte Graham-McLay

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• Solomon Islands
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Queen elizabeth ii’s historic visit remembered.

British High Commissioner Joins Makira Ulawa Assembly to Mark 50th Anniversary with Commemorative Plaque

On Monday 18 February 1974, Queen Elizabeth II visited Solomon Islands for the first time, setting foot in Namuga, East Makira. The late Chief Simon Kariqwongi greeted the Queen and bestowed upon her the name Fau Ni Qweraasi, meaning “people’s protector.”

Fast forward to today, in response to a request from the Premier and the Makira Ulawa provincial assembly, British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, His Excellency Thomas Coward, accompanied the Premier, a Member of the Provincial Assembly for Ward 14, and the Provincial Secretary to Namuga to install a plaque commemorating this historic moment.

Upon arrival, the traveling party received a customary welcome from a Makira warrior, followed by speeches from Mr. Alfred Murray, the Deputy Speaker of Makira Ulawa Province, Solomon Kekesia, Premier Maka’a, and the High Commissioner. The ceremony then proceeded to the monument, where the plaque was installed by the High Commissioner and the Premier.

The Premier expressed gratitude, stating, “My sincere thanks to the British High Commissioner Tom Coward for quickly responding to our humble request for this long outstanding issue. His support brings us all here today so this is a big milestone both for Namuga and the Province of Makira Ulawa Province. In other words, this is an early Christmas present for our communities of Namuga. I therefore appeal to the Ward Development Committee and our communities here to cherish and look after this as our own in order to keep the important link between our two countries.”

The High Commissioner remarked, “This plaque stands as testament to our historic and enduring bonds of friendship. With the 50th Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s visit approaching, it is timely that we have together laid this plaque. It stands next to the renamed Queen Elizabeth II Memorial school to celebrate an important moment in history. I hope for the future, this site can help spur tourism. This area is truly stunning and blessed with surfing, wildlife, and history. The area has rich culture, including Wogasia in nearby Santa Catalina, and just across the bay from here the British Solomon Islands protectorate was declared.”

Source: BHC

Georgina Kekea

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The Royal Watcher

Queen’s tour of the south pacific, 1982.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh completed a month-long Tour of the South Pacific on this day in 1982 (40 years ago), visiting   Australia (for the Commonwealth Games), as well as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Fiji, travelling on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

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The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh began the Tour in Australia, presiding over the closing ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. The Queen (in the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara ) also attended a Commonwealth Variety Performance, and also attended a Gala at the Queensland Cultural Centre (in the Vladimir Tiara ). Additionally, the Queen (in the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara ) opened the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

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The next stop on the Tour was Papua New Guinea, where the Royal Couple received a traditional welcome before a State Banquet in honour of the Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara and Cambridge Emerald Parure ) and Duke that evening. The following day, after a sing-sing at Mount Hagen, the Queen (in the Vladimir Tiara and Japanese Pearl Choker ) hosted a Dinner on the Royal Yacht Britannia for Governor General Sir Tore Lokoloko, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, and their families.

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In the Solomon Islands, the Royal Couple received a traditional welcome and met hundreds of islanders on visits to multiple islands, at the end of which the Queen (in the  Belgian Sapphire Tiara ) hosted a Dinner on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

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The Queen and Duke also visited Nauru and Kiribati, making brief visits to tour the sights and partake in traditional ceremonies.

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The Queen and Duke then went to Tuvalu, where they were carried ashore in a boat and were guests of honour at a traditional feast, taking part in a series of rituals and ceremonies as well as touring the Islands.

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The Tour ended in Fiji, where there was a traditional welcome ceremony, an investiture and a Banquet held for the Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara ) and Duke in in Suva, at the end of the Tour.

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With Queen Gone, Former Colonies Find a Moment to Rethink Lasting Ties

In Commonwealth nations with British colonial histories, Queen Elizabeth’s death is rekindling discussions about a more independent future.

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By Damien Cave

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — Millicent Barty has spent years trying to decolonize her country, recording oral histories across the Solomon Islands and promoting Melanesian culture. Her goal: to prioritize local knowledge, not just what arrived with the British Empire.

But on Friday morning, when asked about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Ms. Barty sighed and frowned. Her eyes seemed to hold a cold spring of complicated emotion as she recalled meeting the queen in 2018 with a Commonwealth young leaders’ program.

“I love Her Majesty,” she said, sipping coffee on the Solomon island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific, 9,300 miles from Buckingham Palace. “It’s really sad.”

Reconciling a seemingly benevolent queen with the often-cruel legacy of the British Empire is the conundrum at the heart of Britain’s post-imperial influence. The British royal family reigned over more territories and people than any other monarchy in history, and among the countries that have never quite let go of the crown, Queen Elizabeth’s death accelerates a push to address the past more fully and strip away the vestiges of colonialism.

“Does the monarchy die with the queen?” said Michele Lemonius, who grew up in Jamaica and recently completed a Ph.D in Canada with a focus on youth violence in former slave colonies. “It’s time for dialogue. It’s time for a conversation.”

Many former British colonies remain bound together in the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 countries. The vast majority of them are connected by their shared histories, with similar legal and political systems, and the organization promotes exchanges in fields like sports, culture and education. Especially for smaller and newer members, including a few African countries that were not British colonies and joined more recently, the group can confer prestige, and while the Commonwealth has no formal trade agreement, its members conduct trade with one another at higher-than-usual rates.

Most of the Commonwealth members are independent republics, with no formal ties to the British royal family. But 14 are constitutional monarchies that have retained the British sovereign as their head of state, a mostly symbolic role.

In these countries, the monarch is represented by a governor-general who has ceremonial duties like swearing in new members of Parliament, though there have been moments when their actions proved contentious — a governor-general dismissed Australia’s prime minister, Gough Whitlam, in 1975, to end a political conflict. And though Prince Charles has now been proclaimed the new king for all these “realm and territories,” in many of them, the queen’s death has been greeted with bolder calls for full independence.

On Saturday, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced plans to hold a referendum on becoming a republic within three years. In Australia , the Bahamas, Belize, Canada and Jamaica, debates that have simmered for years about their democracies’ ties to a distant kingdom have started to heat up again. From the Caribbean to the Pacific, people are asking: Why do we swear allegiance to a monarch in London?

Historians of colonization describe it as an overdue reckoning after the seven-decade reign of a queen who was as diminutive in stature as she was commanding in her use of duty and smiles to soften the image of an empire that often committed acts of violence as it declined .

“The queen, in a way, allowed the whole jigsaw puzzle to hang together so long as she was there,” said Mark McKenna, a historian at the University of Sydney. “But I’m not sure it’ll continue to hang on.”

Her son King Charles III , at 73, has little chance of matching the queen’s power as a shaper of global opinion — a task she took on at a younger age, in a different time.

Her reign began overseas when her father died in 1952. She was 25, traveling in Kenya, and she made it her mission to ease the transition away from colonial rule. On Christmas Day in 1953, in a speech from Auckland, New Zealand, she emphasized that her idea of a Commonwealth bore “no resemblance to empires of the past.”

“It is an entirely new conception — built on the higher qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty and the desire for freedom and peace,” she said.

Queen Elizabeth went on to visit nearly 120 countries. She met more leaders than any pope and often embarked on 40,000-mile jaunts around the world, all while colony after colony bid adieu to old Brittania after World War II. India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947 and declared themselves republics in the 1950s. Nigeria did the same the following decade . Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972 , while the most recent country to cut ties with the crown was Barbados, just last year .

“The British monarchy has shown a capacity to evolve over the ages, from colonial to a post-colonial monarchy, and the queen undertook that re-creation quite well,” said Robert Aldrich, a historian at the University of Sydney.

Unlike many of England’s political figures, she was quick to accept former colonies’ independence. She often signaled her approval with awards and a personal touch.

After the Solomon Islands pursued its independence in the 1970s, she knighted the country’s first prime minister, Peter Kenilorea. His son, Peter Kenilorea Jr., a current member of Parliament, was 10 at the time.

“I remember how nervous I was — and how her smile put me at ease,” he said.

Even in some countries with deep colonial wounds, the queen often seemed to benefit from a belief that she could be separated from Britain’s at times callous rule . Queen Elizabeth was assigned little blame when the British authorities in Kenya tortured suspected Mau Mau rebels in the 1950s, or after British forces fighting anticolonial unrest used similar tactics against civilians in Cyprus in 1955 and Aden, Yemen, in 1963.

“She was seen merely as a female monarch,” said Sucheta Mahajan, a historian in India, where the queen was also welcomed after decades of exploitive British rule. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Decades later, Queen Elizabeth was still seen by many as a unifying symbol of august values. Even in countries where the push for a republic has grown, people found themselves getting emotional about the queen.

“She is not only a constitutional monarch for the country I was born in,” said Sarah Kirby, 53, a public relations executive in the Bahamas. “She was also, for me, just an amazing representation of what a woman can do and how to serve your country with honor and to be the backbone of the country as well.”

But as the queen aged and receded from view, and as the world tackled a broader examination of the sins of colonialization, it became harder to keep the monarchy at a benign distance from racism and the acts of empire. In former colonies worldwide, demands for a full accounting of the pain, suffering and plundered riches that helped contribute to the royal family’s enormous wealth have been increasing.

At the ceremony in November marking the end of the queen’s status as Barbados’s head of state, Prince Charles acknowledged “the appalling atrocity of slavery” in the former British colony.

In Jamaica in March, Prince William and his wife, Kate, were met with protests that demanded an apology and reparations. And in August, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana — which gained its independence from Britain in 1957 — urged European nations to pay reparations to Africa for a slave trade that stifled the continent’s “economic, cultural and psychological progress.”

Now that the queen is gone, even her royal accouterments face a more critical gaze. Twitter users have begun loudly calling for the Great Star of Africa — the largest uncut diamond in the world, which is part of the Sovereign’s Scepter — to be returned to South Africa.

In India, newspapers have also asked about the future of the Kohinoor diamond, which sits in the queen’s crown and is said to have been taken from India.

And yet, trying to decolonize — to free a country from the dominating influence of a colonizing power — is an empire of work in its own right. The queen gazes from the currency of many countries, and her name graces hospitals and roads. Institutions like the Scouts have created generations who swore allegiance to the queen, and educational systems in many countries still prioritize the British colonial model.

“Post-colonial does not mean decolonized,” said Dr. Lemonius, who runs community projects in Jamaica, including one focused on sports for young girls. “The eye still looks to the monarchy, toward the master. Once you shift your gaze away from that long enough, you have the time to start looking at yourself and moving toward reconstruction.”

Some Commonwealth countries find it hard to get worked up either way about the monarchy. Only a slight majority of Australians favor making their country a republic, and in a poll of New Zealanders last year, just a third expressed that preference.

“It’s simply not an important part of our life,” said Jock Phillips, a New Zealand historian.

Yet, inevitably, royal succession is a turning point, and not just for the new sovereign.

Ms. Barty, 31, who studied in England and at Columbia University, said the queen’s former realms would keep evolving. Western and Indigenous ways of thinking, she said, can complement each other — the kauri tree Queen Elizabeth planted when she visited the Solomon Islands for the first time nearly 50 years ago has grown into a tower of shade.

“To get to the thought where I’m decolonizing the system, I had to come through the Western system,” Ms. Barty said. “It’s about reconciling.”

And perhaps, she added, the process begins with what the queen tried to embody.

“For me personally, what she upholds — and what I feel needs to be a lasting legacy that we continue to instill in our youth — is service,” Ms. Barty said. “She fulfilled her services; she lived a life of duty, all the way through to the day she died.”

Reporting was contributed by Suhasini Raj from New Delhi; Skandha Gunasekara from Colombo, Sri Lanka; Victoria Kim from Seoul; Abdi Latif Dahir from Nairobi, Kenya; Yan Zhuang and Natasha Frost from Melbourne, Australia; Jasper Williams-Ward from New Providence, the Bahamas; and Tamica Garnett from Georgetown, Guyana.

Damien Cave is the bureau chief in Sydney, Australia. He previously reported from Mexico City, Havana, Beirut and Baghdad. Since joining The Times in 2004, he has also been a deputy National editor, Miami bureau chief and a Metro reporter. More about Damien Cave

Program: Pacific Beat

Queen Elizabeth's legacy in the Pacific

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Queen Elizabeth II 70 year relationship with the Pacific began on the very first day she formally ascended to the throne. 

Tonga's Queen Sālote Tupou III attended the coronation in 1953, making headlines for getting wet while travelling in an open carriage during a downpour for the procession. 

Soon after the coronation, Queen Elizabeth visited the Pacific for the first time, making history as the first ruling British monarch to visit the region. 

She would return multiple times during her seven-decade reign. 

While Britain colonial rule over Pacific nations was sometimes bloody, Queen Elizabeth also witnessed the disintegration of her colonies with several Pacific nations gaining independence under her reign. 

Pacific historian Dr Kirstie Close says this complicates Queen's legacy in the region.

"She's been witnessed to decolonization of several Pacific states, but also still maintained connections with a lot of Pacific countries," Dr Close said.

"It's an interesting legacy that she has."

Three Pacific nations still count the British monarch as their head of state: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

According to University of Canterbury professor, Dr Sitiveni Rabuka, it is unlikely this will change.

"Unlike in the Caribbean, because of their history of slavery and very deep-seated resentment of colonialism, there's a push toward republicanism. But not so much in the Pacific," he said.

Queen Elizabeth's eldest son Charles is now King after 73 years as the heir apparent.

He will be known as King Charles the Third, and will become King of the UK and Commonwealth realms, including Australia and Canada. 

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Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96 after 70-year reign

Queen Elizabeth II, Solomon Islands head of state and the longest-reigning British monarch, has died at age 96 after reigning for 70 years.

She died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer.

Queen Elizabeth during her visit to the Solomon Islands in October 1982 . Photo Courtesy of Royal UK

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.

Her son King Charles III said the death of his beloved mother was a “moment of great sadness” for him and his family and that her loss would be “deeply felt” around the world.

He said: “We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother.

“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”

During the coming period, he said he and his family would be “comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held”.

The King and his wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, will return to London on Friday, Buckingham Palace said.

Senior royals had gathered at Balmoral after the Queen’s doctors became concerned about her health earlier in the day.

All the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after doctors placed the Queen under medical supervision.

Her grandson and now heir to the throne, Prince William, and his brother, Prince Harry, also gathered there.

Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was appointed by the Queen on Tuesday, said the monarch was the rock on which modern Britain was built, who had “provided us with the stability and strength that we needed”.

Speaking about the new King, she said: “We offer him our loyalty and devotion, just as his mother devoted so much, to so many, for so long.

“And with the passing of the second Elizabethan age, we usher in a new era in the magnificent history of our great country, exactly as Her Majesty would have wished, by saying the words ‘God save the King’.”

Queen Elizabeth II’s tenure as head of state spanned post-war austerity, the transition from empire to Commonwealth, the end of the Cold War and the UK’s entry into – and withdrawal from – the European Union.

Her reign spanned 15 prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and including Truss, born 101 years later in 1975.

She held weekly audiences with her prime minister throughout her reign.

At Buckingham Palace in London, crowds awaiting updates on the Queen’s condition began crying as they heard of her death.

The Union flag on top of the palace was lowered to half-mast at 18:30 BST and an official notice announcing the death was posted outside.

The Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, in Mayfair, London, on 21 April 1926.

Few could have foreseen she would become monarch but in December 1936 her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated from the throne to marry the twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson.

Elizabeth’s father became King George VI and, at age 10, Lilibet, as she was known in the family, became heir to the throne.

Within three years, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, spent much of wartime at Windsor Castle after their parents rejected suggestions they be evacuated to Canada.

After turning 18, Elizabeth spent five months with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and learned basic motor mechanic and driving skills. “I began to understand the esprit de corps that flourishes in the face of adversity,” she recalled later.

Through the war, she exchanged letters with her third cousin, Philip, Prince of Greece, who was serving in the Royal Navy. Their romance blossomed and the couple married at Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947, with the prince taking the title of Duke of Edinburgh.

Their first son, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by Princess Anne, in 1950, Prince Andrew, in 1960, and Prince Edward, in 1964. Between them, they gave their parents eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya in 1952, representing the ailing King, when Philip broke the news that her father had died. She immediately returned to London as the new Queen.

“It was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can,” she later recalled.

Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 02 June 1953, aged 27, in front of a then-record TV audience estimated at more than 20 million people.

Subsequent decades would see great change, with the end of the British Empire overseas and the swinging ’60s sweeping away social norms at home.

Elizabeth reformed the monarchy for this less deferential age, engaging with the public through walkabouts, royal visits and attendance at public events. Her commitment to the Commonwealth was a constant – she visited every Commonwealth country at least once.

But there were periods of private and public pain. In 1992, the Queen’s “annus horribilis”, fire devastated Windsor Castle – a private residence as well as working palace – and three of her children’s marriages broke down.

After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car accident in Paris in 1997, the Queen drew criticism for appearing reluctant to respond publicly.

There were questions about the monarchy’s relevance in modern society.

“No institution… should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t,” she acknowledged.

As a 21-year-old princess, Elizabeth had vowed to devote her life to service.

Reflecting on those words decades later, during her Silver Jubilee in 1977, she declared: “Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.”

That same commitment to serving was made 45 years later in a thank you letter to the nation on the weekend of her Platinum Jubilee in June.

The milestone was celebrated with a mix of state ceremonies and a colourful festival of all things British, as well as lively street parties.

Although the Queen’s health kept her from some events, she said: “My heart has been with you all.”

In a moment met with cheers from huge crowds in the Mall, she was joined by three generations of her family on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the finale of a pageant.

King Charles, aged 73, becomes head of state in 14 Commonwealth realms.

He and his wife, Camilla, are at Balmoral alongside his siblings, Princess Anne, and Princes Andrew and Edward.

They are accompanied by Edward’s wife, Sophie, as well as Princes William and Harry.

The Royal Family has now entered a period of mourning.

In the coming days, much of national life will be put on hold.

Official engagements will be cancelled and Union flags will be flown at half-mast on royal residences, government buildings, across the Armed Forces and on UK posts overseas.

Members of Parliament will pay tribute to the Queen and take an oath to King Charles.

There will be church bells tolling and gun salutes as local and national organisations and charities organise ways to pay their respects, with commemorative events and books of condolence.

A state funeral for the Queen is expected in the next two weeks.

-BBC via PACNEWS

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Reflections on Late Queens Elizabeth II life and her visit to Solomon Islands

A former Solomon Islands Governor General, Sir Nathaniel Waena and a former King George VI National Secondary School Student, Obed Tom recounts moments with Late Queen Elizabeth the Second.

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Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893-1978

Place: queen elizabeth national park.

The 15,000-acre Queen Elizabeth National Park was the idea of High Commissioner Sir Robert Stanley (q.v.). It was created outside of Honiara, included Mount Austin, and was under the charge of the District Commissioner Central. The park was established on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, under an Ordinance adapted from one in force in an African colony. It stated that fauna could not be hunted but made no mention of flora, and there were no rangers or any management plan. Local Guadalcanal people also disputed the government's right to use the land and this problem was exacerbated when people moved to create farming land close to the new capital. By the time money was eventually allocated for rangers, Malaitan squatters and 'weekend farmers' had cleared much of the rainforest from the slopes of Mount Austin. By the early 1970s it was clear that the government had little control over the area included in the National Park. In 1973 it was reduced to two thousand acres. (Tedder 2008, 177; Allan 1989, pt. 1, 55-56; NS 7 May 1973)

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Related People

• Stanley, Robert Christopher Stafford

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Published resources.

• Allan, Colin H., Solomons Safari, 1953-58 (Part I) , Nag's Head Press, Christchurch, 1989. Details
• Tedder, James L.O., Solomon Islands Years: A District Administrator in the Islands, 1952-1974 , Tuatu Studies, Stuarts Point, NSW, 2008. Details
• British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS) , 1955-1975. Details

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Queen Elizabeth II: Monarch made this controversial joke with Prince Philip while abroad

Queen elizabeth ii is married to prince philip who is well known for making controversial remarks. however, on one occasion the queen herself also made a risky joke while travelling to a far-flung country..

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the Solomon Island in 1982. The islands are a Pacific archipelago of 900 islands east of Papua New Guinea. The Solomon Islands receive just 2,000 visitors every year and consequently, the Royals received an “exuberant welcome” when they went to the archipelago, according to author Robert Hardman in his  2018 book Queen of the World. It was during her arrival at the islands that Queen Elizabeth made her surprising joke. Hardman called the monarch’s entrance “one of the most memorable arrivals in royal history.”

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This was far from the only time the Queen was heard making a quip - and on one occasion her joke came after a rather shocking incident .

It occurred during a visit to New Zealand in 1986 when locals were protesting Britain’s 146-year-old treaty with New Zealand’s Maori tribes. 

According to Hardman: “If there was anything to worry about, it was the situation in New Zealand, where the monarch was increasingly seen as fair game for the more extreme elements of the Maori protest movement.”

The visit to New Zealand lasted nine days, and for the Queen’s first public appearance she rode in an open car alongside the Duke of Edinburgh.

Two women who were dressed as crowd wardens at the parade proceeded to hurl eggs at the Queen as part of the protest.

“One egg hit the queen’s coat, and egg yolk trickled down her pink dress. Another egg splattered the car’s windshield,” reported the Associated Press in 1986.

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