Seventy years after she inherited the throne, Queen Elizabeth II’s passing has left millions in mourning
Photos: AP Images
With reporting by Y. Davis
Afew days after King George VI’s sudden passing in 1952, a young Queen Elizabeth met her prime minister, Winston Churchill, for the first time since inheriting the throne.
By then well into his eighth decade, Churchill had been returned to power the year before, on a wave of nostalgia for his wartime leadership.
The meeting between the old bulldog and the 25-year-old mother of two was a collision of worlds. On the one hand, a crusty old warrior, every inch the Victorian imperialist; on the other the fragile, inexperienced leader of a country groaning under the weight of its own decline.
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