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Queen Elizabeth II visit to Banbury after 49 years on 27th November 2008...
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Queen Elizabeth II visit to Banbury after 49 years on 27th November 2008, with Prince Philip. (Elizabeth II, (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of 16 independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, and carries out duties in and on behalf of the other states of which she is monarch, Elizabeth is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, her oldest realm; part of her lineage traces through the royal houses of England, Wessex, and Scotland for over 1500 years. She ascended the thrones of seven countries in February 1952, on the death of her father King George VI. In addition to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known informally and unofficially as Commonwealth realms; their combined population, including dependencies, is over 129 million, and their total land area makes Elizabeth one of only a few monarchs to reign over parts of every continent on earth. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice (and in accordance with convention), she rarely intervenes in political matters.
Elizabeth II also holds a variety of other positions, among them Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. Her long reign has seen sweeping changes in her realms and the world at large, perhaps most notably the dissolution of the British Empire (a process that began in the last years of her father's reign) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations.
Since 1947, Elizabeth has been married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren.
The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Philippos of Greece and Denmark; born 10 June 1921is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II since 20 November 1947, and her consort since 6 February 1952. He was originally a royal prince of Greece and Denmark, and thus a member of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, but renounced these titles shortly before his marriage, to be known as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, his adopted surname an anglicised version of his mother's German family name. On the day before Philip was married, he was granted the style of His Royal Highness by King George VI, and, the next day, was made Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. Queen Elizabeth made Philip a Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957.
As consort to the widely travelled Queen and Head of the Commonwealth, Philip has frequently been in the public eye, and is an established public figure in the United Kingdom and in the Commonwealth realms. Certain comments in the public sphere have gained the Prince a reputation for making controversial remarks, of which, some people, as reported by the Associated Press, may find "...inappropriate, offensive or racist...".[2] In addition to his royal duties, the Duke of Edinburgh is also the patron of many organisations, including The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the University of Cambridge. In particular, he has devoted himself, since visiting the Southern Antarctic Islands in 1956, to raising public awareness of the relationship between humanity and the environment, and has published and spoken widely for half a century on this subject.
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