But the austerity and restraint of the 1940s was giving way to a more prosperous 1950s. It is perhaps no wonder, then, that the Queen\u2019s succession was hailed as the \u201cnew Elizabethan age\u201d. Society was changing, and here was a young, beautiful queen to sit at its helm.<\/p>\n
Seventy years later, Britain looks very different. Elizabeth II ruled over perhaps the most rapid technological expansion and sociopolitical change of any monarch in recent history. Looking back on Elizabeth II\u2019s life raises key questions about not just how the monarchy has changed, but also how Britain itself has transformed throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century.<\/p>\n
Global Britain<\/p>\n
If Elizabeth I\u2019s reign was a period of colonial expansion, conquest and domination, then the \u201cnew Elizabethan age\u201d was marked by decolonisation and the loss of Empire.<\/p>\n
When Elizabeth II succeeded the throne, the last vestiges of the British Empire were still intact. India had been granted independence in 1947, and other countries soon followed throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Although it existed from 1926, the current Commonwealth was constituted in the\u00a0London Declaration 1949, making member states \u201cfree and equal\u201d. The Commonwealth has a veneer of colonial power given that it\u00a0shares a history\u00a0with Empire, and continues to invest the British monarch with symbolic power.<\/p>\n
The Commonwealth featured heavily in the 1953 coronation ceremony, from television programmes showing Commonwealth celebrations, to the Queen\u2019s coronation\u00a0dress\u00a0decorated with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries. She continued to\u00a0celebrate\u00a0the Commonwealth throughout her reign.<\/p>\n