If you have just stumbled upon my PLP blog for the first time I would like to extend a polite hello. My one piece of advice would be get out while you still can. If you are somebody who is used to our blogs – and has been travelling around to see other people’s – then you’ll probably understand what this post is about by the simple phrase “we didn’t start the fire“. Yes this is my take on the famous Billy Joel song teaching young people about 20th-century history. It involves nods to pop culture, political conflicts, idolizes stars, and everything else you could probably think of from that era. Don’t believe me? Just take a listen for yourself.
Now the point of this project wasn’t just a rock out to an awesome song. Our task was to select a lyric or sentence from the song and explore the topic deeper. The topic or person I decided to research was definitely in the mist of the fire. She certainly didn’t start it, but she did keep Britain above its ashes. She is Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth was born on 21 April, 1926. The ruling king at the time of her birth was Elisabeth’s grandfather, King George V. When Elisabeth was born she was never expected to be queen. She was third in line for the throne behind her father the Duke of York and her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales. The expected succession was that Edward was to take the throne. He would hopefully have children of his own who would then be the rightful heirs. However, when King George V died things did not go as expected. Edward fell in love with and decided to marry a divorced socialite named Wallis Simpson. This caused a scandal in 1936 Britain as Royals were not allowed to be married to a divorcee. This episode ended in Edward’s abdication, which left the position to the the Duke of York, who then went on to become King George VI. This meant that Elizabeth became the heir presumptive, as she had status over her younger sister, Margaret.
When WW2 broke out it was suggested by senior politicians that the princesses be moved to Canada; however, Elizabeth’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, protested. The Queen stated that “the children won’t go without me. I won’t leave without the King. And the King will never leave.” As a middle ground the two sisters were moved to Scotland so they could be protected from the bombings. They didn’t just abandon everyone else though. In fact this was when Elizabeth made her first speech. It was on BBC’s children’s hour and it was a message to all the children who evacuated Britain at the time.
Later in the war when Elizabeth was 18 she became an ambulance driver. She actually got very good at this, earning the rank of honorary junior commander and becoming an expert driver and mechanic. But her military and Royal status didn’t stop her from celebrating a little on V day. In fact, her and her sister snuck out with their father’s permission to party among the citizens in a “tide of happiness and relief.”
But this is the backstory and some life facts. When did the real stuff start happening? Well, when her father died in February 1952 Elizabeth had a massive roll to fill. She didn’t know it yet, but during her reign she would have to deal with obstacles such as a rising communist threat, colonial independence, Britain’s dwindling world power, a Nazi uncle, and a quite scandalous photo of her sister. And all that was just in the first few years.
Despite everything that has been thrown at her, Queen Elizabeth is one of the most loved, and the longest reigning monarch, in British history. She has remained Britain’s ruler through 13 British prime ministers and 12 Canadian prime ministers. At the time of me posting this blog, Queen Elisabeth reigned over Great Britain and her colonies for 66 years. Some people might feel that “the Queen does nothing“, but in her prime she was a leading woman who had to deal with a tremendous number of issues. She has had a powerful political voice ever since she was 13 on BBC’s children’s hour, and she continues to have that voice at 92. Her composure during difficult and turbulent times helped her to become an icon when it comes to fashion, politics, and leadership.
As the song goes (with a little bit of variation) “She didn’t start the fire, It was always burning since the world’s been turning, she didn’t start the fire, No she didn’t light it, but she tried to fight it.”
For the piece of media around Queen Elizabeth II I decided to take her Christmas address from 1957 and modify it to show the most important parts of the speech and included what she was referring to.