Queen Elizabeth II Biography (1926–)

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain was crowned in 1953. Her 60 years on the throne was celebrated in June 2012, with the Diamond Jubilee. She is the longest-serving monarch in British history.

Synopsis

Queen Elizabeth II was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926, in London, to Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, became queen on February 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953. As the longest-serving monarch in British history, she has tried to make her reign more modern and sensitive to the public.

Early Life

At the time of her birth, no one thought Elizabeth would someday become queen of Great Britain. Her father, Prince Albert, was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Elizabeth got to enjoy the first decade of her life with all the privileges of being a royal without the pressures of being the heir apparent.
Her father and mother, also known as the Duke and Duchess of York, divided their time between a home in London and Royal Lodge, the family's home on the grounds of Windsor Great Park. Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret were educated at home by tutors. Their studies included French, mathematics, history and geography. They also took dancing, singing and art lessons.
In 1936, the course of Elizabeth's life changed with the death of her grandfather, King George V. Her uncle became King Edward VIII, but he was in love with American divorcee Wallis Simpson and had to choose between the crown and his heart. In the end, Edward chose Simpson and Elizabeth's father, Prince Albert, became King George VI.
With the outbreak of World War II, Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, largely stayed out of London, spending much of their time at Winsor Castle. From there, she made one of her famous radio broadcasts reassuring the children of Britain who had been evacuated from their homes and families. The 14-year-old princess, showing her calm and firm personality, told them that "in the end, all will be well for God will care for us and give us victory and peace."
Elizabeth soon started taking on other public duties. Appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards by her father, Elizabeth made her first public appearance inspecting the troops in 1942. She also began to accompany her parents on official visits within Great Britain.
In 1945, Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service to help in the war effort. She trained side-by-side with other British women to be an expert driver and mechanic. While her volunteer work only lasted a few months, it offered Elizabeth a glimpse into a different, non-royal world.    

Marriage and Accession

Elizabeth first met Philip Mountbatten, son of Prince Andrew of Greece, when she was only 13 and was smitten with him from the start. Distant cousins, the pair kept in touch over the years and eventually fell in love. They made an unusual pair. Elizabeth was quiet and reserved while Philip was boisterous and outspoken. Her father, King George VI, was hesitant about the match because, while Mountbatten had ties to both the Danish and Greek royal families, he didn't possess great wealth and was a bit rough in his personality.
At the time of their marriage in 1947, Great Britain was still recovering from the ravages of World War II. Elizabeth is said to have collected clothing coupons to get fabric for her gown. The ceremony was held at London's Westminster Abbey on November 20. The couple wasted no time in producing an heir. Son Charles was born the following year and daughter Anne arrived in 1950.
On February 6, 1952, King George VI died, and Elizabeth assumed the responsibilities of the ruling monarch. She and Prince Philip had been in Kenya at the time of her father's death. Her official coronation took place in June, 1953, in Westminster Abbey. And for the first time, the ceremony was broadcast on television allowing people from across the globe witness the pomp and spectacle of the event.
In her new role, Queen Elizabeth II had new political duties. She held weekly meetings with the country's prime minister, starting with Winston Churchill and met with every PM after him.
Queen Elizabeth's long and mainly peaceful reign has been marked by vast changes in her people's lives, in her country's power, how Britain is viewed abroad, and how the monarchy is regarded and portrayed. As head of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II traveled extensively. She also made visits to other countries as a representative of Britain, including a groundbreaking trip to Germany in 1965. Elizabeth became the first monarch to tour there since World War I. As a constitutional monarch, Elizabeth does not weigh in on political matters, nor does she reveal her political views. However, she confers regularly with her Prime Ministers, and is known to have good working relationships with many including Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.
When Elizabeth became queen, post-war Britain still had a substantial empire, dominions, and dependencies. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, many of these possessions achieved independence and the British Empire evolved into the Commonwealth of Nations. During the 1970s and 1980s, as head of state, Queen Elizabeth traveled extensively to represent the United Kingdom at significant events. She attended the Commonwealth Conference in Ottawa, Canada and traveled to the United States for the 200 anniversary celebration of America’s independence from Great Britain. In 1976, she was in Montreal, Canada, to open the Summer Olympics. In 1979, she traveled to Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which garnered international attention and widespread respect    

A Royal Mother

Elizabeth had two more children—sons Andrew and Edward—in the early 1960s. She worked tirelessly to protect the image of the monarchy and to prepare for its future. In 1969, she officially made Prince Charles her successor by granting him the title of Prince of Wales. Approximately 200 million people tuned in to see the ceremony on television.
To continue the rule of the Windsor family, Elizabeth pressured Prince Charles to marry. In 1981, he finally decided to marry 19-year-old Diana Spencer. The wedding drew enormous crowds in the streets of London and millions watched the proceedings on television. Public opinion of the monarchy was especially strong at that time.
The following year, Elizabeth worried about her second son Andrew. Prince Andrew served as a helicopter pilot in the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War of 1982. Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falklands Islands, a clash that lasted for several weeks. While more than 250 British soldiers died in the conflict, Prince Andrew returned home safe and well much to his mother's relief. 

Threats and Scandals

Elizabeth, as queen, has seen the monarchy come under attack during her lifetime. The once-revered institution has weathered a number of storms, including death threats against the royal family. In 1979, Elizabeth suffered a great personal loss when Lord Mountbatten, her husband's uncle, died in a terrorist bombing. Mountbatten and several members of his family were aboard his boat on August 29, off the west coast of Ireland, when the vessel exploded. He and three others, including one of his grandsons, were killed. The IRA (Irish Republican Army), which opposed British rule in Northern Ireland, took responsibility for the attack.
In June 1981, Elizabeth herself had a dangerous encounter. She was riding in the Trooping the Colour, a special military parade to celebrate her official birthday, when a man in the crowd pointed a gun at her. He fired, but, fortunately, the gun was loaded with blanks. Other than receiving a good scare, the queen was not hurt in the incident. She had an even closer call the following year when an intruder broke into Buckingham Palace and confronted Elizabeth in her bedroom. When the press got wind of the fact that Prince Philip was nowhere to be seen during this incident, they speculated about the state of the royal marriage.
The love lives of her children have caused Elizabeth much heartache as well. The rocky marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana made headlines for years before the couple announced plans to divorce in 1992. Prince Andrew's union with Sarah Ferguson ended up in the tabloids as well, with photos of Sarah with another splashed across the front papers. Her own husband has caused numerous public relations headaches with his seemingly inconsiderate off-the-cuff comments and rumors of possible infidelities.
In 1997, Elizabeth went under intense media scrutiny herself in the wake of Princess Diana's death. Her incredibly popular ex-daughter-in-law, sometimes nicknamed the People's Princess, died in a car crash in Paris on August 31. The queen was at her estate Balmoral with Prince Charles and his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, at the time. For days, Elizabeth remained silent while the country mourned Diana's passing and she was sharply criticized for her lack of response. Stories circulated that the queen did not want to give Diana a Royal funeral, which only fueled public sentiment against her. Nearly a week after Diana's death, Elizabeth returned to London and issued a statement on the late princess. 

Later Years

After the start of the 21st century, Elizabeth experienced two great losses. She said good-bye to both her sister Margaret and her mother in 2002. Margaret died that February after suffering a stroke. Only a few weeks later, Elizabeth's mother, known as the Queen Mother, died at Royal Lodge on March 30 at the age of 101.
Known to be a stickler for ceremony and tradition, Elizabeth has shown signs of softening her stance. She had objected to the relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, especially because the pair had been involved while the prince was married. When the pair married in 2005, Elizabeth and Prince Philip had a reception in their honor at Windsor Castle.
Elizabeth has also emerged as a devoted grandmother to Prince William and Prince Harry. Prince William has said that she offered invaluable support and guidance as he and Catherine Middleton planned their 2011 wedding. That same year, Elizabeth showed that the crown still had symbolic and diplomatic power when she became the first monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since it gained independence in the 1920s.
Elizabeth has modernized the monarchy as well. She had dropped some of its formalities and made some of sites and treasures more accessible to the public. As Britain and other nations have struggled financially in recent years, she has welcomed the elimination of the Civil List, which was a public funding system of the monarchy that dates back roughly 250 years. The royal family continues to receive some government support, but the queen has had to cut back on spending.
Despite the occasional call to step aside for Prince Charles, Elizabeth has remained steadfastly on the throne. Some of her duties have been passed on to her eldest son, but she still maintains a busy schedule of her own. Elizabeth handles roughly 430 engagement each year and supports more than 600 charitable organizations and programs.
Now in her 80s, she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2013. The celebration marked her 60 years as queen. As part of the jubilee festivities, a special service was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2nd, Elizabeth was surrounded by family at this historic event, including her husband Prince Philip, son Prince Charles and her grandsons Prince Harry and Prince William. British Prime Minister David Cameron was also on hand. On September 9, 2015, she surpassed her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria as Britain's longest ruling monarch, who reigned for 63 years.
In 2013, Elizabeth celebrated another happy event. Her grandson, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, welcomed their first child, a son named George Alexander Louis—known officially as "His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge"—on July 22, 2013. Elizabeth visited her new great-grandson after William and Kate returned home to Kensington Palace from the hospital.
On May 2, 2015, Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed their second child, a daughter and the Queen's fifth great-grandchild.

Personal Life

Not one for the spotlight, Elizabeth likes to spend her free time on quiet pastimes. She likes to read mysteries, work on crossword puzzles and even to watch wrestling on television.
For much of her life, Elizabeth has surrounded herself with dogs. She especially known for her love of corgis. Also a horse enthusiast, Elizabeth breeds thoroughbreds and attends several racing events each year.

 http://www.biography.com/people/queen-elizabeth-ii-9286165#video-gallery

Germany has been leading the way for taking in asylum seekers Angela Merkel

Refugee crisis: The map that shows why some European countries love asylum seekers

Population increases and decreases in different parts of the continent is one factor to explain countries' dramatically different responses to the crisis

Wednesday 09 September 2015

As Europe remains divided over how to distribute hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving this year, an analysis of population growth and decline has suggested one possible reason for countries’ drastically different positions.

Germany has been leading the way for taking in asylum seekers fleeing conflict and persecution and expects to welcome 800,000 this year alone.

While Angela Merkel has spoken frequently about the humanitarian imperative to help refugees, calling on all European countries to accept binding quotas, her country also has an economic motive for housing the continent’s new arrivals. Population decline can be seen in the blue areas, with rising numbers shown by red.
For a larger version of the map, click here
According to the German government’s Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), the population fell by 1.6 per cent between 2001 and 2011 and that trend was set to continue without immigration.
A map showing areas where numbers are growing and declining across the country reveals a stark divide between east and west, cities and the countryside, with numbers falling fast in the rural east while spiking in Berlin and metropolitan western areas.

Read more: Petitions call on PM to do more for refugees
David Cameron announces Britain will take in more refugees
How many asylum seekers are really coming to the UK?

Germany’s population is also ageing. The Federal Statistical Office predicts that in 2060, only half of the population will be of working age (20-64) and one in eight people will be aged 80 or over.
Over the past two decades, the average age has increased by eight years to 45. In UK, which is also ageing, that number is 40. Refugees arrive at the central railway station in Munich, being welcomed by local residents
“We are a country of immigration. We need people. We need young people. We need immigrants,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told visitors to a recent government open day event. “All of you know that, because we have too few children.”
In Sweden, which is renowned for its open policies towards refugees and is one of the top destinations for those arriving in Europe, swathes of the country are also seeing a declining population but concerns over unemployment are rising.
The country’s unemployment rate is currently 8.5 per cent, having not gone into double digits for 15 years, but the differences between Swedish-born and foreign-born residents are stark.
Statistics show that 84 per cent of working age Swedes are employed, compared with only 57 per cent of foreign-born people in the same age group.

In graphics: Refugees in the EU

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Some analysts are concerned that there are not sufficient jobs for refugees arriving with low levels of education and training in Sweden.
“We have a very modern, knowledge economy,” Tino Sanandaji, an economist at the Stockholm-based Research Institute of Industrial Economics, told Al Jazeera English. “There just aren't many jobs anymore for the very low-skilled.”
The British Government’s reluctance to commit to refugee quotas, despite David Cameron’s vow to accept “thousands more" asylum seekers, can also be seen as partly due to demographics.
The population increased by 7 per cent in the decade from 2001 to 2011, with the rise concentrated in urban areas but spread evenly through most of the UK. The perception of refugees in the UK was influenced by the 'Calais crisis' over the summer
Although Britain is ageing, the fertility rate is hovering at a steady 1.8 children per woman, and as economic growth continues there appears to be little need for migrant labour from outside the EU.
The European Commission already forecasts that by 2060, the proportion of the British population represented by migrants arriving after 2013 will be 14 per cent, compared to 9 per cent in Germany.
However, the demographics argument does not extend to much of eastern Europe, where there is little support for welcoming refugees even in counties like Latvia and Lithuania, which saw their populations slump by 10 and 12.5 per cent respectively from 2001 to 2011.
In Hungary, the government is vocally opposed to immigration despite much of the country seeing its numbers decline.
Remarks made by politicians in Budapest suggest the opposition may come from an ideological, rather than pragmatic, stance. Hungary is building an 100 mile-long fence along its border with Serbia in an effort to keep refugees out
In a recent opinion piece for Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the Prime Minister claimed his country was being “overrun” with refugees, most of which, he noted, were Muslims.
“That is an important question, because Europe and European culture have Christian roots. Or is it not already and in itself alarming that Europe's Christian culture is barely in a position to uphold Europe's own Christian values?” Viktor Orban asked.
But analysis of statistics from 2010 by Pew Research showed that under 0.1 per cent of Hungary’s population was Muslim, compared to 7.5 per cent in France, 5.8 per cent in Germany and 4.8 per cent in the UK.
Mr Orban’s announcement came after a prominent member of his ruling centre-right Fidesz party claimed that the “the very existence of Christian Europe” was under threat.
Antal Rogan, the parliamentary group leader, said: “Would we like our grandchildren to grow up in a United European Caliphate? My answer to that is no.”

 













 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-the-map-that-shows-why-some-european-countries-love-asylum-seekers-10492642.html

Royal Moroccan Army in Kosovo

.. Armenia Justice Minister ... .. وزيرة العدل الأرمينية أربين هوفينسيان،

 

Five Chinese Navy Ships Are Operating in Bering Sea off Alaska

Chinese naval presence off Alaskan coast appears to be a first


Five Chinese navy ships are currently operating in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, Pentagon officials said Wednesday, marking the first time the U.S. military has seen them in the area.
The officials have been tracking the movements in recent days of three Chinese combat ships, a replenishment vessel and an amphibious landing ship after observing them moving toward the Aleutian Islands, which are split between U.S. and Russian control.
“This would be a first in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands,” one defense official said of the Chinese ships, which have been operating in international waters. “I don’t think we’d characterize anything they’re doing as threatening,” the official said.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington couldn’t immediately be reached to comment.
Chinese officials have complained in the past that the U.S. is meddling in their affairs by flying military jets near a chain of islands known as the Spratlys in the South China Sea.