Elizabeth II

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    Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor (Elizabeth II to you, Brenda to readers of Private Eye, Mrs Windsor in Stroke Country, Lilibet as a child, Gertie to her friends, and Cabbage to her husband), until her death Her Royal Majesty, Queen of the United Kingdom.

    She was also Queen of fifteen other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica. She was born in 1926 and acceded to the throne on February 6, 1952 on the death of her father, George VI. That's right, she spent 70 years on the throne. Two of her three most recent Prime Ministers weren't even born when she became Queen. On September 10, 2015, she became the longest-reigning monarch in the history of the United Kingdom or its predecessor states. She passed away on September 8, 2022.

    Since the Queen was the best-known monarch in the world, she turned up quite a lot in fiction, usually as an Anonymous Ringer or Invisible President, in part due to her function as a constitutional monarch. The Royal Family also have developed a strong commitment to being Royals Who Actually Do Something, with the men usually joining the military (and then, usually, some sort of private-sector job) and the women finding some sort of cause or employment. Despite a wobble in the early nineties, Elizabeth II is incredibly popular in the UK.

    She was apparently a big Doctor Who fan (hence why Michael Grade, who screwed it over in the 80s, is the only BBC controller not to have been knighted). Quite techno-savvy; she was the one who insisted on televising her coronation. President Obama's gift of an iPod to her was not a gaffe, as commonly believed: she did, in fact, already have one, but had mentioned it was a generation or two out of date and she would really like a new one. Plus, the royal family now has a YouTube account. This was also Her Majesty's idea.

    See also: British Royal Family (for the current members), The House of Windsor (for the other more historical members)

    Elizabeth II provides examples of the following tropes:
    • Canine Companion: Her famous brood of Welsh Corgis, who have their own Wikipedia page. She stopped breeding them at some time in the 2010s "so as not to leave any behind when she died", and her last Corgi passed away in April 2018.
    • Cool Old Lady
    • Deadpan Snarker : Known for her subversive humour, for all her decorum being put in a silly or embarrassing situation will bring out the snark.
    • Diary: She's known to write in hers every single day. The realization that it would be decades after her passing for her diaries to be released was heartbreaking to many devotees of the Royal Family.
    • Happily Married: Prince Philip may have a raging case of foot-in-mouth disease, but she seems to love him.
    • Iron Lady
    • Mama Bear
    • Never Mess with Granny
    • Nice Hat: Known for her fondness for decorative hats. Her outfits are often coloured to match whatever hat she happens to be wearing.
    • Plucky Girl
    • Royals Who Actually Do Something: For one thing, she served in the British Army in World War II, making her the last living sovereign who is a veteran of that war.
    • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Her preferred manner of speaking, particularly on Christmas Day.
    • Stalker with a Crush: Had one of these once named Michael Fagan. He even broke into her room! Strangely all information on him seems to have vanished from the internet.
    Appearances of The Queen in fiction:

    Film

    • Johnny English.
    • The Queen, naturally, portrayed by Helen Mirren.
    • 2012 features a cameo of Her Majesty boarding one of the arks with one of her corgis.
    • Hellsing: She appears at the meeting of the Roundtable conference. She is the one that gives Integra and Alucard the order to wipe out Millenium.
    • Appears in Austin Powers in Goldmember, played by Jeanette Charles.
    • She appears as a child in The King's Speech, which is about her father. She saw the film and found it moving.
    • The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is about a plot to assassinate the Queen. She's played by Jeanette Charles.
    • An automobile version of the Queen of England makes an appearance during the last third of Cars 2, which takes place in London.
    • In Happy and Glorious, made especially for the 2012 London Olympics, she appeared As Herself opposite James Bond (Daniel Craig).

    Literature

    • World War Z, she gets mentioned in passing: its both a Tear Jerker and a Crowning Moment of Awesome And no, she doesn't die. At least, not from the zombies. It's extremely unclear.
      • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming too. This British trooper can attest that it's a good example of why Her Majesty is so popular. After all it's basically what George VI and his family did during WWII.
    • Two Weeks With the Queen by Morris Gleitzman. Colin never actually meets her Majesty face-to-face, but he talks about her at length, attempts to break into Buckingham Palace to meet her, and he watches a TV broadcast of her on Christmas Day.
    • Roald Dahl's The BFG. She's only ever referred to as The Queen or Her Majesty, but the illustrations unmistakably depict "Her Majesty" with Elizabeth's face.
    • The Windsors provide a rallying point for a chaotic UK after the Change renders modern technology and guns inoperable, in S.M. Stirling's Emberverse. Elizabeth II is described as dying of "heartbreak and overwork" a year after the Change, and is succeeded by Charles, who is eventually driven mad from the stress. His successor, William, is referred to as "the Great."
    • In the final book of Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy, it is the young Queen Elizabeth II was is finally able to break the back of the fascist regime controlling the country and save the day.

    Live-Action TV

    • Doctor Who. Twice, both times played by an actress: Silver Nemesis and "Voyage of the Damned". She appeared as herself via archival footage of her coronation, in "The Idiot's Lantern".
      • She's also a massive fan of the show - Michael Grade, who screwed with it, is the only BBC controller not to be knighted.
    • The Kids in The Hall (remember, she's the Queen of Canada too) as memorably impersonated by Scott Thompson.
    • The Royal Canadian Air Farce often had Luba Goy impersonate Her Majesty, beginning every speech with a high-pitched "hem-hem-hem".
    • She is impersonated in the Mr. Bean episode "Meeting Royalty". Preparing for a bow, Bean accidentally headbutts her.
    • In one Monty Python's Flying Circus episode (called Royal Episode 13 or: The Queen Will Be Watching), it's announced at the beginning that Her Majesty will be watching part of the show. She tunes in in the middle of a sketch, but to everyone's disappointment, she switches over after a few seconds.

    Western Animation

    • She appears in The Simpsons episode "The Regina Monologues", where the family visits the UK. Homer crashes into her carriage as she was out to go buy some light bulbs for the palace.
      • She also briefly appears in the episode "To Surveil with Love", voiced by Eddie Izzard.
      • She also makes very brief appearances in the episodes "Mom and Pop Art", and "Behind the Laughter".
    • She also appears in an episode of Animaniacs, 'Windsor Hassle', (voiced by Tress MacNeille) as well as versions of the rest of the family. Set after the 1992 fire in Windsor Castle, she's trying to get the banquet hall finished. She ends up left with the Warners.


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