Queen Elizabeth II

Who is she: The Queen of England perches at the top of the British Commonwealth, which consists of the UK and 15 other entities. Queen Elizabeth II is the child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Born in 1926, she became queen at 25.

As queen, official rhetoric explains that she does many things on a regular basis including presiding at various public ceremonies, hosting receptions and visits at home and abroad. She also reads letters from the public, has meetings with national politicians, greets ambassadors and plans her schedule with personal staff. The queen stays in London often but also lives at castles in Balmoral or Sandringham. Queen Elizabeth II is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with four children and eight grandchildren. She recently celebrated her 63rd wedding anniversary. Prince Philip is the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Queen Elizabeth II still travels and performs official duties. There are rumors that the Queen will step down to allow Prince Charles to become King. The idea is that he, too, will step down to make way for the younger and much more popular Prince William.

This illustrates the role of the monarchy in the 21st Century. It is more than ever a political dynasty. It also performs the function of legitimizing the role of the larger power-elite located in the City of London. The queen and monarchy are part of a larger English tradition, and insulate these powerful banking families from public criticism.

The queen and her family refer to the larger royal element in Britain as The Firm. It is indeed a huge business and there are those who say that the "royals" themselves intermarried with Venetian banking families that were kicked out of Venice a millennium ago. Thus the British royals stand at the nexus between modern central banking prerogatives and the ancient ones of royal custom.

The ability to print money from nothing is an awesome power and this is the power that Queen Elizabeth II represents with all of her privilege and official duties. She is a low-key person who represents an ancient monarchy. But in fact, she is the living symbol of the current system in all its incompetence, corruption and failure. Queen Elizabeth II has far more power than is apparent. Billions in the world live on a dollar a day while the system itself grinds on creating more wars, more starvation, more deprivation. The Queen is its public face.

Background: Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on the 21st of April 1926. Princess Elizabeth was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her younger sister. She studied constitutional history and law and was taught by her father and Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton. She was also instructed in religion by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Princess Elizabeth learned how to ride and swim and concentrated on art and music as a child. Princess Elizabeth also learned French from a number of French and Belgian governesses. It is a skill she has used while visiting numerous countries throughout the world.

Her oldest son, Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, was born in 1948. His sister, Princess Anne, was born two years later. Queen Elizabeth II is said to be very family oriented and Christmas is spent together at Sandringham in Norfolk. The Queen celebrated her 80th birthday with a cruise and enjoys traveling, and has been around the world on official duties having visited Malta four times while Prince Philip was stationed there. Recently Queen Elizabeth II visited Ireland, setting off a series of protests.

The Golden Jubilee of 2002 was her 50th anniversary as Queen and she is one of a very few to have occupied the throne so long. Queen Elizabeth II comes from a long-lived family. Her mother died aged 101. Despite the death of her mother and sister, the Queen did not stop traveling. Shortly after her mother's death, she visited Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

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