© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

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Relations with world leaders

Elizabeth has developed friendships with many foreign leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson and George H. W. Bush, whose son, George W. Bush, was the first American president in more than 80 years to stay at Buckingham Palace. On occasion such contacts have proved highly beneficial for the United Kingdom. For example, John Major as British Prime Minister once had difficulty working with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. The Queen informed Major that he and the leader shared a mutual sporting interest (Howard is, like Major, a cricket fan). Major then used that information to establish a personal relationship, which ultimately benefited both countries. Similarly she took the initiative when Irish President Mary Robinson began visiting Great Britain, by suggesting that she invite Robinson to visit her at the Palace. The Irish Government enthusiastically supported the idea. The result was the first ever visit by an Irish President to meet the British monarch.

Elizabeth's reign has also seen an increase in republican movements in Commonwealth realms. The percentage support for republicanism in the United Kingdom, however, has remained relatively static, with an average of between 15% and 20% according to long-term tracker polls.

Religious role

The Queen is the Sovereign "by Grace of God" and is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. As with her predecessors, the coronation itself took place within the context of a church service (at Westminster Abbey) imbued with theological as well as constitutional meaning. The Queen retains the ancient title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) — a title first granted in 1521 by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII prior to the Reformation. The Church of England remains the established church in England; archbishops and bishops are formally appointed by the Crown. The Queen takes a keen personal interest in the Church, but in practice delegates authority in the Church of England to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Queen regularly worships at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle or at St Mary Magdalene Church when staying at Sandringham House, Norfolk. Certain churches have royal patronage and are outside the normal diocesan administrative structures; these are known as Royal Peculiars.

The role of the Sovereign differs considerably in the other three countries of the United Kingdom. In Scotland the Church of Scotland (with a Presbyterian system of church government) is recognised in law as the "national church" in which the Queen is an ordinary member. The Royal Family regularly attend services at Crathie Kirk when holidaying at Balmoral Castle and attend at the Kirk of the Canongate when in residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Queen has attended the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on several occasions, most recently in 1977 and 2002, although in most years she appoints a Lord High Commissioner to represent her. Unusually for the Church of Scotland, Glasgow Cathedral and Dunblane Cathedral are both owned by the Crown.

In Wales, Northern Ireland and the other Realms, there is no official religion established by law. The Church in Wales and the Church of Ireland have both been disestablished.

The Queen made particular reference to her Christian convictions in her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2000, in which she spoke about the theological significance of the Millennium as the marking the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. "To many of us our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example."

The United Kingdom has become an increasingly multiethnic society with considerable diversity in religious practice. The Queen often meets with leaders from a wide range of religions. She is Patron of the Council of Christians & Jews (CCJ) in the UK

Ancestry

Queen Elizabeth is the male-line great-granddaughter of Edward VII, who inherited the crown from his mother, Victoria. His father, Victoria's consort, was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; hence Queen Elizabeth is a patrilineal descendant of the German princely house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha). Other notable members of the princely house are Albert II of Belgium and Simeon II of Bulgaria. Through Victoria (as well as several other of her great-great-grandparents), she is descended from many English monarchs extending back to the House of Wessex in the 7th century, and from the Scottish royal house, the House of Stuart, which can be traced back to the 9th century. As a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she is related to the heads of most other ruling European royal houses and the former Hohenzollern royal houses of Germany and Romania. Through her great-grandmother Queen Alexandra she is descended from the Danish royal house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gl¸cksburg, a line of the North German house of Oldenburg, one of the oldest in Europe. Other members are the Duke of Edinburgh, Margrethe II of Denmark, Harald V of Norway, Queen Sofia of Spain, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Constantine II of Greece, who are also all descended from Queen Victoria. She is also a cousin of Albert II of Belgium. She is related to all ruling hereditary monarchs of Europe.

Titles

In the United Kingdom, her official title is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. In common practice Queen Elizabeth II is referred to simply as "The Queen", "Her Majesty". When in conversation with The Queen, one initially uses "Your Majesty", and subsequently "Ma'am".

At the moment of her succession, Elizabeth II also became the Queen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ceylon and the Union of South Africa, in addition to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In the years that followed, many British colonies and territories gained independence; some opted to join the symmetrical relationship of nations under the Crown, known as the Commonwealth Realms, and recognise Elizabeth II distinctly as Sovereign of the newly independent nation. Traditionally, Elizabeth II's titles as Queen Regnant are listed by the order of accession as follows: Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis (all of which listed after the existing four Realms).

However in Scotland, the title Elizabeth II caused some controversy, where there has never been an Elizabeth I. In a rare act of sabotage in Scotland, new Royal Mail post boxes bearing the initials E. II R. were blown up. As a result, post boxes in Scotland now bear only a crown and no royal initials. A legal case, MacCormick v. Lord Advocate (1953 SC 396), was taken to contest the right of the Queen to style herself Elizabeth II within Scotland, arguing that to do so would be a breach of the Act of Union (1707). The case was lost on the grounds that the pursuers had no title to sue the Crown, and also that the numbering of monarchs was part of the royal prerogative and not governed by the Act of

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