Before her, the last surviving head of state who served in WW2 was George HW Bush (1924-2018). He served as a carrier pilot in the US Navy and saw active service, being shot down off the Bonin Islands off Japan.
He was the only survivor of a mission in which several of his comrades died in gruesome circumstances:
Britain is celebrating the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II ascending the throne (on February 6, 1952).
And the first Test won by India also started on the same day. As you can see from the scorecard, the scheduled second day (Feb 7) was made the rest day following the death of King George VI.
Note the contributions of Umrigar (130*) and Mankad (12-108). India’s first Test victory was by an innings. If you look at the English scorecard, it can be inferred that many of the team were in the Test side only because their leading players of that time did not want to tour India.
June 10 would have been Prince Philip’s 100th birthday. He fell two months short, somewhat like Bradman with his 99.94.
Queen Elizabeth II is now past her 95th birthday and is the longest-lived British monarch. It should be remembered that her mother (known in later years as Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) missed reaching 102 by a few months. As she lived from 1900 to 2002, she saw the entire 20th century.
After some years we can expect to hear this after a long gap:
As is well known the line of succession is Prince Charles followed by Prince William. But it does not follow that they would be known as Charles III or William V.
(Footnote: a line of succession running into several hundreds is on record. Prince Philip was about #220 on this list, by virtue of being a descendant of Queen Victoria)
Like the Pope, the monarch has some freedom in choosing his/her name. The tradition seems to be to choose from the set of given names.
Thus, the current heir apparent to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales, whose full name is Charles Philip Arthur George, may elect not to be known as “King Charles III” out of concern about comparisons with Charles II of England (who was known for his Catholic sympathies), Charles I of England (who was executed after the English Civil War) and the Jacobite “Young Pretender” Charles Edward Stuart (who claimed the title “Charles III”).
So he may choose to be Philip 1 or Arthur 1 or George VII. The earlier King Arthur is too far back to count. Perhaps he did not even exist.
Similarly, Prince William’s full name is William Arthur Philip Louis and he could choose any of these. Arthur, Philip and Louis would all be numbered 1, though William would be 5 (Queen Victoria’s predecessor was #4).
There has been talk that Prince Charles (b.1948) may choose not to become monarch, thus clearing the way for Prince William (b.1982). (And of course his mother may outlive him, as in the case of his grandfather George VI)
It would be nice to see a headline “King Charles III meets King Kim III in Pyongyang”. Though it may well be Queen Kim I:
Many people in India and elsewhere will be celebrating the birthday of someone born in Austria on Apr 20, 1889. Instead, we now look at April 21.
April 21 is “Civil Service Day” in India.
Births:
1864: Max Weber, sociologist
1882: Percy Bridgman, physicist
1915: Anthony Quinn, actor
1922: Alistair Maclean, writer.
1926: Queen Elizabeth II
1945: S. Venkataraghavan, cricketer
Deaths:
1910: Mark Twain, writer
1946: John Maynard Keynes, economist
1971: Francois Duvalier, dictator of Haiti
2013: Shakuntala Devi, show business
2015: J. B. Patnaik, politician
Note: There was some speculation as to whether Queen Elizabeth would abdicate on her birthday following the death of Prince Philip. April 21 is her actual birthday, while it is an official celebration in June to make it a more convenient public holiday.
On February 6, 1952 King George VI died in London. His daughter Elizabeth, who was than on an official visit to Kenya ascended the throne (though the coronation took place over a year later). 69 years later, she is still going strong….
In 2021, Queen Elizabeth will turn 95, Prince Philip will turn 100 and their marriage will complete 74 years. They were married a few months after India’s independence.
Closer home, Feb 6, 1952 was the first day of the 5th Test between India and England at Madras. England led 1-0 at that point.
In those days there used to be a rest day after 3 days of play. However Feb 7 was made the rest day instead because of the King’s demise. The English players wore black armbands.
On Feb 10th (the 4th day of play) India won by an innings and 8 runs. This was India’s first Test victory and they drew the series 1-1. This was the only Test when England was captained by DB Carr, while Vijay Hazare was India’s captain.
If you live (or reign) long enough, you get to set many records.
Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926 and became monarch in 1952. She died in 2022.
Her reign has seen many US Presidents:
Truman (-1953)
Eisenhower (1953-61)
Kennedy (1961-63).
LB Johnson (1963-69)
Nixon (1969-74)
Ford (1974-77)
Carter (1977-81)
Reagan (1981-89)_
Bush Sr (1989-93)
Clinton (1993-2001)
Bush Jr (2001-09)
Obama (2009-17)
Trump (2017-2021)
Biden (2021- )
Or, every Indian PM from Nehru onward. And every Indian president since Prasad.
She also outlived Emperor Hirohito who ruled since 1926 (when she was born!) up to 1989. Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe made determined efforts to outlast her, but did not succeed.
And a long list of 16 UK Prime Ministers (including Harold Wilson in two stretches):
Churchill (-1955)
Eden (1955-57)
Macmillan (1957-63)
Douglas-Home (1963-64); (arguably the most obscure of these PMs, but often figures in trivia quizzes as he is the only British PM to play first-class cricket. A puny record compared to that of Imran Khan, but he achieved more than Nawaz Sharif in his 1-match career).
Wilson (1964-70)
Heath (1970-74)
Wilson (1974-76)
Callaghan (1976-79)
Thatcher (1979-90)
Major (1990-97)
Blair (1997-2007)
Brown (2007-10)
Cameron (2010-16)
May (2016-19)
Johnson (2019-22)
Truss (2022- )
Did you want to bet that the Queen would still be around after Trump and Johnson depart? Yes, though she lived just long enough to hear of Johnson’s successor.
abn397 