It is generally known that Queen Elizabeth II’s role in the country is the one of a figurehead, as she does not hold any true governmental powers like her predecessors, the royals of the past. However, Her Majesty The Queen still leads quite a busy life. She is still expected to carry out countless royal duties throughout the rest of her reign, and she works to maintain a good image of the United Kingdom, and the whole of British royal family.
Back in 2017, her husband Prince Philip officially stopped doing any and all royal duties, due to his old age. Therefore, as Queen Elizabeth turns 93 this year, many people are left wondering if she will follow in her husband’s footsteps and stop fulfilling her duties as well. Read on to learn more about this topic.
What kind of work does Queen Elizabeth do?
Source: history.com
Ever since Queen Elizabeth inherited the throne at a tender young age during the 1950s, she has taken on lots of important duties for her dear country. Her job as the Queen of England includes meeting with Parliament and its members, representing the country on important events and gatherings overseas, and having luncheons and brunches with diplomats and politicians all over the world. Throughout her reign, which at more than 63 years is the longest ever by a British monarch, Queen Elizabeth has met 12 USA presidents, witnessed 13 different British prime ministers, and traveled to more than 100 countries for various reasons.
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In addition, she patrons hundreds of different charity organizations and is also the monarch with the most time spent on important charity work. She regularly visits charities and hosts parties to raise money for humane causes. Other than charity organizations, she also supports hospitals, schools, and sports associations, and understands the value of the continuous development of these fields.
While most people her age are well into their retirement, she has not stopped working for more than six decades. Actually, Queen Elizabeth had already said that she does not plan to retire just because she reached an old age. On her 21st birthday all the way back in 1947, while she was still a princess, she said that she wishes to serve her country for the remainder of her life.
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“My whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family,” she said proudly all those years ago.
Maybe it is this dedication why royals do not want to become monarchs. However, she has kept her promise time and time again, to the point where in 2015, it was reported that the queen did more work than Prince William and Prince Harry combined!
Is she actually cutting back on her royal duties these days?
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Sadly, despite her strong will and eagerness to continue being queen and serving the country, it really does seem like Queen Elizabeth has been taking a step back in the last few years.
In the year 2014, she started to transition the throne to Prince Charles. Some fans believe that an abdication would cause disturbances in the family, so the Queen started “job-sharing,” where she hands over some of the duties to the next in line to the throne. Therefore, Prince Charles has taken on more work since then, and represents the monarchy through meetings with various political figures of the world.
In addition to this, the queen also does not fly in airplanes anymore. She made this choice herself, and it was not something she was forced to do. This means that other members of the family, including Prince Charles, his sons Prince Harry and Prince William, as well as their respective wives, now go overseas instead of place the Queen more frequently.
Source: Getty Images
The queen also passed over some of her charity responsibilities, too. Before she turned 90 years old, she gave away 25 of these roles to Prince William, Prince Harry, and Kate Middleton combined. When Meghan Markle joined the family last year, she also received some charity work from her.
Given this pattern during the last several years, as time goes on, Queen Elizabeth will pass on more and more of her important duties to the next generation of royals. This will prepare them to eventually take over the throne once their time comes.
Source: cheatsheet.com
