How Queen Elizabeth II almost never became queen of England

Arc I

The world before her was incredibly misogynistic, traditional and conservative. The first of the first Elizabeth was incredibly chaotic and even violent. Her father, Henry VIII was the direct result of the infamous War of Roses, between two cousins: the Yorks and the Lancasters.

To understand the full extent of this story, this writer advises readers to read A Man For All Seasons, and watch the TV Shows; The White Queen and The White Princess. Both shows were crafted off Phillipa Gregory books.

See, Queen Elizabeth I’s grandfather was Henry VII, who married Elizabeth of York, to unite the houses of York and Lancaster, which ended the war. Nonetheless, the war had caused a disaster, rumoured family-on-family crime by Richard III, who allegedly killed two of his children, nephews, and even rumours of incest.

Henry VI’s first child was Arthur, who died young, and left Catherine of Aragorn, his betrothed, to marry Arthur’s younger brother, Henry, who later became King Henry VIII. Henry’s search for a boy was so rife that he defied the Pope, and made England leave the Catholic Church, just so he could divorce Catherine, and marry his concubine, Anne Boleyn.

But as fate would have it, Anne also gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth. He then proceeded to marry Jane Seymour, who gave birth to Edward VI, who passed over his older sisters and was only king for six years. Once again, as faith would have it, his death then led to England’s first queen, his sister, Mary I or Bloody Mary - daughter of Catherine of Aragorn. She is England’s second longest-serving monarch.

After she died, her sister Elizabeth I - daughter of Anne Boleyn - became England’s queen. She presided over a prosperous era for England, and was famous for sinking the Spanish Armada, as well as her reluctant execution of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who challenged the legitimacy of her birth.

The circumstances of Elizabeth made her reluctant to marry, and she died without an issue. Nonetheless, that era led to the trend of having women rule England. But her reign also effectively ended the Tudor dynasty.

Arc II

King Edward VIII was the oldest son of King George V. Although George V was reportedly reluctant about the possibility of his oldest son, Edward, becoming the king of England.

But he had little choice after his death - Edward became Edward VIII. Less than a year into his reign, on 11 December 1936, Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry American socialite, Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and was in the process of divorcing her second.

Edward had been reportedly advised by British prime minister Stanley Baldwin, that he could not remain king of England while being married to a two-time divorcee.

This led his younger brother, Albert - or Bertie - a stammerer, to reluctantly accept the throne.

According to Wheeler-Bennett, “The day before the abdication, Albert went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary, "When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child."”

Albert was Queen Elizabeth II’s father, and that was how she became the heir to the throne. In 1952, she became the Queen of England after her father's death.

Some of these details were dramatized in the movie, The King's Speech, for which Colin Firth won an Oscar.