{"id":202123,"date":"2026-04-18T23:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202123\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T23:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:02:10","slug":"queen-elizabeth-carved-her-own-role-in-a-world-of-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202123\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth carved her own role in a world of men"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queen has hailed Elizabeth II\u2019s \u201coverriding sense of duty\u201d and ability to \u201ccarve her own role\u201d in a man\u2019s world, as the royal family prepares to mark the centenary of her birth.<\/p>\n

In a new BBC documentary exploring her life and legacy before what would have been her 100th birthday on Tuesday, Camilla paid tribute to Elizabeth\u2019s dedication to her role as monarch for more than 70 years. \u201cI think duty has overridden everything,\u201d she said of the late Queen, who died in September 2022 aged 96. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen anybody have a sense of duty like she had.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Camilla, 78, also praised Elizabeth\u2019s poise at becoming Queen aged 25 when George VI died unexpectedly on February 6, 1952, while Elizabeth and the future Prince Philip were on a tour in Kenya. On her return Elizabeth was greeted by Winston Churchill and members of his government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have been so difficult, being surrounded by much older men. There weren\u2019t women prime ministers or women presidents. She was the only one, so I think she carved her own role,\u201d Camilla said.<\/p>\n

\"QueenQueen Elizabeth opens the new Victoria Line on the London Underground, March 1969EVENING STANDARD\/HULTON ARCHIVE\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\"PrincessServing in the Auxilliary Territorial Service during the Second World WarBBC<\/p>\n

Recalling the Platinum Jubilee birthday parade in June 2022, three months before she died, Camilla said: \u201cI remember there were thousands and thousands of people lining streets, lining The Mall. We were all looking for something to cheer us all up \u2026 So it was an incredible jubilee. She was very much centre stage. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. Everybody was in a good mood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary,\u00a0Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century, will be on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday. Exploring how Britain evolved during Elizabeth\u2019s record-breaking reign, it includes contributions from friends, family, world leaders and historians including Barack Obama, Sir Tony Blair, Sir David Attenborough, her eldest grandson Peter Phillips, Sir Tom Jones and Dame Helen Mirren, who played Elizabeth in the 2006 film\u00a0The Queen.<\/p>\n

Watch Attenborough\u2019s reflections in the documentary:<\/p>\n

Mirren said: \u201cShe\u2019d become such an intrinsic part of the tapestry of our life, it was as if you were going to pull a thread and the whole thing was going to fall apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair closely advised Elizabeth after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the royal family faced a wave of public criticism for not immediately returning to London, choosing instead to stay in Scotland for several days with the young Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12. <\/p>\n

Speaking of Elizabeth\u2019s return to London and live address to the nation from Buckingham Palace on the eve of Diana\u2019s funeral, which calmed the public mood. Blair said: \u201cShe had a real sense of what her role should be and what it represented particularly, as the country went through the most difficult time. And her genius was in a way to steer the monarchy through that whilst not really changing much herself \u2026 She was not \u2018a\u2019 Queen, but \u2018the\u2019 Queen. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll see her like again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The programme also explores the late Queen\u2019s leadership in times of national crisis, including the Covid pandemic during which Philip died of old age in April 2021, aged 99. Strict national Covid restrictions were in place for his funeral<\/a> on April 17 at St George\u2019s Chapel, Windsor, which had only 30 guests.<\/p>\n

Downing Street had offered to waive some restrictions for the royal family, including the social distancing and \u201cfamily bubble\u201d that meant that only those living in the same households could sit together. But the Queen refused and followed the guidelines observed by the public. It led to one of the defining images of her reign, head bowed, wearing a black mask, sitting alone as she mourned her husband of 73 years.<\/p>\n

\"QueenJONATHAN BRADY<\/p>\n

Peter Phillips, who walked in the funeral procession between William and Harry before attending the service, said: \u201cAll you wanted to do was to go and give her a hug. You couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obama and his wife, Michelle, forged a close bond with Elizabeth following their state visit to the UK in 2011. \u201cWhat struck me in every conversation that I had with her was the weight of her experience,\u201d Obama said. \u201cShe did understand the sweep of history. That gave her a respect on the world stage. The combination of the sense of duty with a very human quality of kindness and consideration, and sense of humour. I think that\u2019s what made her so beloved, not just in Great Britain, but around the world. By virtue of her having known every world figure through the entire 20th century, she\u2019s a link to history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"QueenAt the state banquet with President Obama in May 2011ANWAR HUSSEIN\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Friends of the late Queen also reflected on the impact of becoming heir to the throne aged ten in 1936, when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. Lady Anne Glenconner, a lifelong friend and one of Elizabeth\u2019s six maids of honour at her coronation in 1953, described it as \u201ca turning point in her life,\u201d after which she adopted the mantra of \u201cyou don\u2019t give up\u201d. Attenborough, another close friend, who marks his own centenary next month, said of Elizabeth\u2019s role as monarch: \u201cIt was in the manner of her bones. She was regal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week the royal family will undertake engagements marking the centenary. On Monday the King and Queen will visit a new exhibition at the King\u2019s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, showcasing Elizabeth\u2019s fashions. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday Charles and Camilla will be joined by members of the royal family at the British Museum to view the final design for the planned Queen Elizabeth Memorial<\/a> at St James\u2019s Park, the Princess Royal will open the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in Regent\u2019s Park, and the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to join the King and Queen for a Buckingham Palace tea party. Guests from several of Elizabeth\u2019s patronages will attend, including figures from Cancer Research UK, the Jockey Club, the Royal Kennel Club and the Army Benevolent Fund.<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will mark the centenary privately.<\/p>\n

The King has become royal patron of the Queen Elizabeth Trust, a charity launched for the centenary that will focus on regenerating community spaces that bring people together. The government has provided \u00a340 million of seed funding for the project, which was inspired by Queen Elizabeth\u2019s belief that \u201ceveryone is our neighbour\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord Janvrin, Elizabeth\u2019s former private secretary, who chairs the Queen Elizabeth memorial committee, said: \u201cI hope this new charity will encourage people to remember the life and service of the late Queen by recognising the importance she attached to strengthening that sense of engagement and belonging amongst local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to The Royals podcast:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queen has hailed Elizabeth II\u2019s \u201coverriding sense of duty\u201d and ability to \u201ccarve her own role\u201d in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-202123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}