queen elizabeth ii visit to china

This Day in History: Queen Elizabeth II Visits China

October 12-18, 1986 saw Queen Elizabeth II become the first British monarch to visit China. One of the most important tours she had ever undertaken, it was seen as a critical piece of diplomacy, coming soon after testing negotiations between the UK and PRC over the return of Hong Kong .

The 99-year lease of Hong Kong was agreed in 1898 following the signature of the Convention of Peking. In December 1984, Prime Ministers Zhao Ziyang and (a rather reluctant) Margaret Thatcher had signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, under which the Chinese would resume sovereignty over the territory from July 1, 1997.

During her visit, Elizabeth was given access to the newly excavated army of terracotta warriors in Xi’an – being allowed to enter the pit and walk among them – and visited the Great Wall in Beijing. The tour also took in Kunming, Guangzhou and Shanghai, where the Queen invited the upper echelons of the Chinese government to a banquet on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.

At an earlier meeting with Deng Xiaoping, Elizabeth had not batted an eyelid when the aging Communist leader had spat into a spittoon that was placed by his seat. Her husband Prince Philip did not show such tact, letting out a guffaw.

It was one of a number of characteristically embarrassing gaffes from the Prince; he also said that he found Beijing “ghastly” and remarked to a British student that, “If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.” All of which inspired British tabloid The Sun to dub him “The Great Wally of China.”

To watch a short video of the visit, click here  (VPN on) .

For more This Day in History stories,  click here .

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Chinese president hosted by Queen at Buckingham Palace state banquet – as it happened

Xi Jinping’s first day of engagements on his four-day visit to the UK aimed at cementing economic ties

• 20 Oct 2015 Mid-afternoon summary
• 20 Oct 2015 Xi Jinping addresses the Palace of Westminster
• 20 Oct 2015 Lunchtime round-up
• 20 Oct 2015 Xi Jinping arrives at Buckingham Palace
• 20 Oct 2015 Xi Jinping arrives at Horse Guards Parade
• 20 Oct 2015 Queen and David Cameron arriving at Horseguards Parade for welcome ceremony - live stream
• 20 Oct 2015 Britain will regret closer China ties - expert
• 20 Oct 2015 Hammond: Britain has 'eyes wide open'
• 20 Oct 2015 Pro-China groups gather on the Mall to drown out protesters
• 20 Oct 2015 China's Xi Jinping UK visit - day 1

The banquet at Buckingham Palace is reaching the end of its musical programme by now to the strains of ‘Nobody Does it Better’ ( not this version ).

Bond fans will of course recognise it as the theme tune from The Spy Who Loved Me, which is about the disappearance of two nuclear missile submarines.

The programme finishes with pipe music from 4th battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Army School of Bagpipe Music.

We’re going to wrap up this blog now, but will leave you with this representation of the Xi visit, courtesy of Steve Bell :

Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s sneaker-clad former chief strategist, has been telling the BBC that the UK shouldn’t be “sucking up to China”- rather it should be pushing for sanctions against Beijing.

He told BBC’s Newsnight: “I think this is one of the worst national humiliations since we went cap in hand to the IMF’s in the seventies”.

It’s a point which Hilton has pressed home in Guardian (you can read him in full here ).

As well as China’s human rights record at home, Hilton cites China’s “relentless cyber attacks,” adding: “The truth is that China is a rogue state, just like Iran, and I don’t understand why we are sucking up to them.”

“Why are we not rolling out the carpet to a country like India?”

Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive at WPP, is also a guest on the programme and disagrees:

“To suggest that we are not going to roll out the red carpet for Prime Minister Modi [of India] is false. The answer is to do both.”

“You ignore China at your peril. Our experience has been that the Chinese do listen and learn and we underestimate their capacity to listen and learn.”

The Guardian puts an image of Xi meeting the Queen on the front page, above a report on how David Cameron has been urged to challenge the Chinese president over job losses in the British steel industry following the announcement of 1,200 redundancies by the UK’s largest steelmaker

GUARDIAN: Tory rebellion grows on tax credits #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/cdyf1cyj5n — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 20, 2015

Xi’s visit is getting front page treatment in Wednesday’s British newspapers, with the Financial Times leading on a report that the UK is hoping to unlock £30bn worth of Chinese investment, although there are questions over issues such as the absence of discussion about human rights in China .

FINANCIAL TIMES: Xi greeted with visa pledge as UK seeks to cash in on courtship #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/A5eYdk5ENY — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 20, 2015

The Guardian’s John Crace has filed a sketch on the rather “loveless marriage” earlier today as the prime minister played chief usher to Xi during the Chinese president’s Westminster address.

Here’s a snatch from the piece, which you can read in full here :

Xi Jinping had arrived mob-handed with coach loads of advisers and security detail and, after a brief panic when it was realised there weren’t nearly enough seats for them all, the Chinese president walked in escorted on one side by the speaker of the Commons and on the other by Baroness D’Souza, the speaker of the Lords. It’s possible that [the Speaker] John Bercow had read somewhere that the Chinese don’t respect people who brown nose too obviously, but he was certainly keen to carry on where he had left off in the Commons. “Your visit is the latest in a recent line of Asian leaders that began with Aung San Suu Kyi, that champion of human rights in Burma,” he said. A look of panic crossed Dave’s face as he imagined billions of pounds worth of trade deals being cancelled by the end of the day, but President Xi didn’t let slip a flicker.

Among those not present at the banquet is Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minisister of Scotland.

There’s a story in The National reporting that she had been invited to the banquet but has declined due to “existing commitments”.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said:

Scotland values its strong relationship with China – the First Minister had a successful visit to China in July and External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop recently attended the UK China High Level People to People Dialogue in September where the Chinese side was led by Vice-Premier Madam Liu Yandong.

She’s missing out on the pudding which guests are likely to be reaching by now (I can inform you that it’s a delice of dark chocolate mango and lime, not a patch on the ham and cheese sandwich which I’m about to grab).

Human rights, Tibet or any of those other hot button issues (unsurprisingly) didn’t get a look-in earlier when the Queen and President Xi were addressing the banquet.

But they’re very much on the minds of demonstrators outside Buckingham Palace. Some footage:

There’s a lot of comment on social media about the appearance of Jeremy Corbyn in white tie for the meal, confounding speculation that the confirmed republican might ignore the recommended dress code.

The Labour leader, who attended the banquet alone, is sitting at the same table as Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

It had been suggested that he could seek to use the formal function to raise contentious issues with Xi Jinping if no private meeting could be arranged.

The pair did meet before the banquet in the 1844 Room, where they shook hands cordially, with Mr Corbyn placing his other hand on top and telling Mr Xi: “It’s very nice to meet you. I look forward to our meeting.”

We’ve got a report on their exchanges here . Meanwhile, on the matter of that white tie:

I'm pro-white tie, on the whole, but some of this Corbyn mockery has a slight whiff of public school hearties bullying the scholarship boy. — Niall Gooch (@niall_gooch) October 20, 2015

Imagine the Moss Bross telephonist, "You want a White Tie set, fine, can I take your name?" "ahem, Jeremy Corbyn" "It's a prank call sir" — Gawain Towler (@GawainTowler) October 20, 2015

Jeremy Corbyn voted against tax credit cuts then got himself into white tie in time to join the Queen at a state banquet. Impressive. — Susan (@marthasydenham) October 20, 2015

I can confirm Jeremy Corbyn is at the state banquet AND is wearing white tie and tails (albeit somewhat ill-fitting). But well done him! — PJM QC (@pjm1kbw) October 20, 2015

Away from the banquet, Cameron has been urged to challenge the Chinese president over job losses in the British steel industry following the announcement of 1,200 redundancies by the UK’s largest steelmaker.

We have a report here on announcement by Tata Steel, which said 900 jobs would be lost at Scunthorpe and 270 at two sites in Scotland as it blamed cheap Chinese imports, the strong pound and high electricity costs for its decision to stop production of steel plate.

The announcement came one day after 1,700 jobs were put at risk when steel products firm Caparo Industries entered administration, in the same month that 2,200 jobs were lost when the owner of the Redcar plant on Teeside went into liquidation. Workers at the Dalzell site in Motherwell, one of the affected Tata mills, said managers had referred to competition from cheap Chinese steel when they briefed staff on Tuesday. “They as good as said it was the end of the steel industry in Scotland this morning. The way they spoke about the Chinese imports, that’s how it was explained to us,” said Andrew Crawford, who has worked at Dalzell for nearly three decades.

Is this strictly in line with protocol? Chris Ship of ITV has picked up on the intriguing method used by the Prime Minister to greet his foreign minister, Hugo Swire, at the banquet earlier:

Interesting way David Cameron greeted his foreign minister @HugoSwire tonight at Buckingham Palace pic.twitter.com/K1oDZtNud1 — Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) October 20, 2015

Back inside the banquet, Xi and the guests are being treated to a somewhat eclectic music programme, courtesy of the Countess of Wessex’s String Orchestra.

Here’s what they sound like at other times:

The music programme ranges from Robert Farnon’s The Westminster Waltz, through to Irish and Chinese folk songs and the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby.

The focus of much of those protests, China’s human rights record, was raised earlier this evening by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, when he met with Xi.

The Guardian’s Rowena Mason has filed a piece on the meeting , which Labour described as “cordial and constructive”.

A statement from Labour following Corbyn’s meeting stressed the good nature of the exchange, and praised “the remarkable Chinese achievements in poverty-reduction, lifting over 600 million people out of poverty”. Discussion between Corbyn and Xi also ranged over historic links between the UK, Labour and China, the sacrifice of the Chinese people in the struggle against fascism during the second world war, and Xi’s New Silk Road strategy. They then spoke about working together to address major threats to world security such as climate change, persistent economic inequality and international terrorism, as well as opportunities to upgrade cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and the UK.

The protests are meanwhile continuing outside. Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, tweets:

At Bukingham palace right before the State banquet offered bybthe queen to Xi Jinping #ohmyqueen #Tibet pic.twitter.com/ZAKN0BOkPP — Matteo Mecacci (@MatteoMecacci) October 20, 2015

Enda Brady of Sky News is also there:

The scene outside Buckingham Palace tonight as a state banquet takes place to welcome China's president pic.twitter.com/J7w0d0WxBe — enda brady (@SkyEnda) October 20, 2015

So what to make of those carefully scripted words? Some early reaction from the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Julian Borger , who noted that Xi held up George Hogg as a British hero who helped China under Japanese occupation.

George Hogg was an AP journo from Harpenden, who was appalled at Japanese atrocities. Helped smuggle orphans to avoid conscription.. — Julian Borger (@julianborger) October 20, 2015

Xi says Hogg died taking students to safety. His webpage says he stubbed his toe playing basketball and got infected https://t.co/7lYbWQEbVL — Julian Borger (@julianborger) October 20, 2015

Speeches out of the way, they can now start tucking in to that Balmoral Venison, and more:

Only the best for Comrade Xi .. What the Chinese Prezza, the Queen, Cameron & co are dining on at Buckingham Palace pic.twitter.com/Lk4Gxhycg0 — Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) October 20, 2015

Xi finishes with a toast:

To the prosperity of the UK and the happiness of its people. To the everlasting thendship between China and the UK and their peopless To the health of Your Majesty the Queen and Your Royal Highness Prince Philip, to the health of the members of the Royal Family and to the health of all the friends present.

Delving back into history, he adds:

The founding of New China in 1949 opened a new chapter in China-UK relationship. Britain was the first major Western country to recognize the People’s Republic of China. In October 1986, Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness paid a successful state visit to China, marking a highlight in China-UK relationship. In 1997, our two countries resolved the question of Hong Kong’s return to China in a creative way, turning a new page in bilateral relations.

Xi is on his feet now and is recalling the Second World War, telling those at the banquet that China will never forget the support it received from the UK at that time.

As a Chinese saying goes, “Nothing, not even mountains and oceans, can separate people with shared goals and vision.” This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. As allies during the Second World War, China and Britain fought side by side to uphold justice, and made significant contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the establishment of the post-war international order anchored on the United Nations.

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British Monarch Eagerly Awaited : Queen’s Visit to China: A Dramatic Turn in History

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England consists merely of three islands, simply a handful of stones in the Western Ocean. Her area is estimated to be about the same as Taiwan and Hainan island. . . . Even if the soil is all fertile, how much can be produced locally? --From a 19th-Century Chinese geography text

In 1596, Queen Elizabeth I dispatched a letter to China, addressed to the Ming Dynasty Emperor Shen Zong that sought to establish trade between her kingdom and the fabled Empire of Cathay. The letter was apparently lost in a shipwreck, and she received no reply.

Nearly two centuries later, in 1793, an emissary of King George III traveled to Peking bearing gifts in an effort aimed at lifting China’s barriers to trade with the West. The Chinese Emperor Qianlong loftily declined.

“We have never valued ingenious articles,” the emperor said, “nor do we have the slightest need of your country’s manufactures.”

But the British were not to be denied. In the 19th Century, at the height of their power, they peddled opium to China to pay for the tea and silk they bought; they fought two wars with China over opium; they burned and sacked the Imperial Summer Palace at Peking, and they took over the strategic island of Hong Kong and the adjacent mainland territory.

Now, this tawdry history is about to be put to rest. On Sunday, in what must be one of the most symbolic turnabouts in 20th-Century history, Queen Elizabeth II will begin the first visit ever by a British monarch to China--and China’s Communist regime will give her an extravagant welcome.

China has come down with a decidedly unrevolutionary case of royal fever. For the moment at least, the cadres of Peking and Shanghai seem to be as respectful of the queen as the most awe-struck families of Yorkshire.

At weekly Foreign Ministry briefings, press spokesman Ma Yuzhen--a dedicated reflector of official views who, a decade ago, sobbed uncontrollably at the death of Mao Tse-tung--volunteers regular updates on the upcoming travel plans of “Her Majesty.”

In Shanghai, China’s largest clock, atop the city’s Customs Building, has just been repaired so that it once again chimes the hour in the manner of “Big Ben” in London.

When it was built in 1927, the Shanghai clock had chimed as Big Ben did, but during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, it was damaged and was replaced by 40 loudspeakers that sounded the refrain of “The East is Red.” A recent article by the New China News Agency quoted a Chinese technician as saying the repairs were done to “make Queen Elizabeth feel at home when she visits Shanghai.”

In Peking, workmen have just put the finishing touches on a completely reconstructed 75,000-square-foot villa on the grounds of the Diaoyutai State Guest House, where official visitors are lodged. The queen will have a pool, a billiard room and a gym at her disposal.

In the southwestern city of Kunming, recent visitors say, the old residence of a former warlord has been redone for the queen. In Xian, China’s one-time capital, roads have been repaved so that Her Majesty will have a smooth ride on her visit to see the famed terra cotta warriors. And, in Shanghai, the potholes in the road from the airport to downtown have at last been filled in.

Chinese newspapers and magazines and bookstores are filled with newly written materials explaining the life and background of the yinguo nuwang , or the British queen.

“The queen is very famous among the common English people,” the newspaper China Youth News said Saturday. “Elizabeth is always simply dressed and unassuming. . . . She is the richest person in the country, but she is very thrifty and lives simply.”

Last week, a picture of the queen, wearing a diamond crown, appeared on the cover of the magazine World Affairs Pictorial, and this week newsweeklies are carrying extensive pictures and reports on the queen and royal family.

Until two years ago, none of this would have been possible. China remained bitter that Britain, by virtue of the “unequal treaties” of the 19th Century, was continuing to occupy what it considered to be Chinese territory in Hong Kong, and it often tailored its rhetoric accordingly.

An English-language textbook published by Peking University in 1979 referred to the British monarch as a “relic.”

“You may be surprised that the bourgeoisie still tolerates a monarch at the head of state,” the textbook said. “In fact, the monarch, who is presently a queen, is quite handy for the bourgeoisie to use on state occasions such as the opening of Parliament every autumn. . . . The pomp and ceremony attached to these occasions lend a majestic impression to the deeply immoral dealings of capitalism.”

But, in 1984, Britain agreed to the deal under which Hong Kong will be returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, in exchange for China’s pledge not to interfere with Hong Kong’s capitalist system for 50 years after the turnover.

Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping extended the invitation for the queen to visit in the summer of 1984, just as the detailed negotiations over Hong Kong were being concluded and after the British had already announced publicly that they would return the colony to China.

With the exception of Yugoslavia, the queen has never traveled to a Communist country. But her husband, Prince Philip, who will accompany her, has visited the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Welcoming Ceremony

The people of Peking will get a chance to see the royal party Monday at a public welcoming ceremony in Tian An Men Square. In Shanghai, she is to take a walking tour.

Accompanying the queen and the prince will be the largest traveling entourage ever to accompany a royal visit. The visiting press corps will number more than 200, including 40 from the British Broadcasting Corp., which has arranged to broadcast news of the queen’s visit to the Great Wall live by satellite to television audiences back home.

From the British perspective, the practical motivation underlying all these efforts is the same one that drove the first Elizabeth to write her letter nearly four centuries ago: the desire for trade with the Middle Kingdom.

Just before the queen arrives in Shanghai to give a state banquet aboard the royal yacht Brittania, for example, the ship will be used for a “seminar” at which 120 British businessmen will make their pitch to their Chinese counterparts.

In recent years, Britain’s trade with China has lagged behind that of other major nations--and behind earlier British expectations.

Eight years ago, British and Chinese leaders agreed in principle to boost bilateral trade from the level of $400 million a year to $10 billion by 1985. In fact, according to Chinese statistics, trade with Britain last year amounted to only $1.4 billion.

This was not only far below China’s trade with Japan ($17 billion) and with the United States ($6.4 billion), but only half as much as China’s trade with West Germany ($2.8 billion), and less even than that with the Soviet Union ($1.9 billion).

From the Chinese perspective, the queen’s trip will be a journey of expiation and a commemoration of the Hong Kong agreement. It will also serve as a vivid symbol of the fact that China is being accepted, recognized and courted by the Western powers that only a century ago were exploiting her weakness.

“At last, a British monarch comes to pay tribute to the Middle Kingdom,” one British official said. “I really think that has a lot to do with all the excitement.”

The Chinese fascination with the British queen is also a reflection of the fact that, despite the many differences between their countries, China and Britain share some common interests. By American standards, both cultures place a premium on hierarchy and decorum.

In 1844, in a memo to the Chinese Emperor Tao Kuang on methods for “handling the barbarians,” an imperial adviser, in a reference to Queen Victoria, explained with some surprise that “the English barbarians are ruled by a female.”

But the adviser, Chiying, seemed even more amazed by the United States. “The ruler of the American barbarians is established by the campaigning of his countrymen, and is changed once in four years,” he wrote. “After he leaves the position, he is of equal rank with the common people.”

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Royal moments: British Queen's visit to China in 1986

(chinadaily.com.cn) updated: 2015-03-02 10:32 comments.

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Queen Elizabeth II in Shanghai

September 9, 2022 – As the world bids a sad farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s much beloved and longest-serving monarch, we take a look back on her historic trip to Shanghai, in October 1986.

The Queen visited Shanghai on October 15, 1986 — the first and only British monarch to set foot on the Chinese mainland. It was a visit a long time in coming: Her ancestor, Queen Elizabeth I , had tried to get the ball rolling in 1602 with a letter to Ming Emperor  Shen Zong  神宗 with the idea that their two great nations establish trade. She was met with deafening silence from Cathay – apparently the ship carrying the missive had gone down – and she turned to other pursuits.

Things went better this time around: at a banquet at the Great Hall of the People, the Queen noted that communication had improved considerably in the intervening centuries and she was pleased to receive the invitation to visit. She was greeted at Hongqiao Airport by then-Shanghai Party Secretary Jiang Zemin, and feted by a sea of schoolchildren (news reports claimed 1,500-2,000 children were in attendance).

Mr. Jiang hosted lunch at the Xijiao State Guesthouse before the Queen visited the British Consulate, then on Yongfu Lu. (Today, the former Consulate is Yongfoo Elite, 200 Yongfu Road). Jiang showed Her Majesty around Yu Yuan, and took her across the nine-turnings bridge to have tea at the Huxinting teahouse.

That evening, The Queen and Prince Phillip hosted dinner aboard the royal yacht Britannia, which was moored in the Huangpu River. The guest of honor was Chinese President Li Xiannian (1909-1992), one of the so-called “Eight Immortals” (elder statesmen) of the Chinese Communist Party.

The next morning, the Queen flew to Xi’an, and the Britannia set sail for the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, where her historic China trip would conclude.

For more royals in Shanghai, read our blog post, British Royals in Shanghai.

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Queen Elizabeth II: 15 Key Moments in Her Reign

By: Sarah Pruitt

Updated: July 25, 2023 | Original: November 12, 2020

Queen Elizabeth II , who ruled the United Kingdom for seven decades, was such a longstanding institution that it’s easy to forget she wasn’t supposed to have become queen at all.

Born in 1926, Elizabeth was the daughter of King George V ’s second son, and had little expectation of succeeding to the throne until her uncle, King Edward VIII , abdicated in 1936 to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. After the death of her father , King George VI , 25-year-old Elizabeth was called upon to assume the throne, beginning a momentous reign. In February 2022, the United Kingdom staged a series of celebrations for the queen's Platinum Jubilee —marking 70 years of her service to the British Commonwealth.  

Queen Elizabeth II, who died at age 96, proved consistent and enduring. In April 2021, she lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Phillip , when he died at age 99. In February 2022, the Queen contracted the coronavirus, which she later said left her "very tired and exhausted." She installed her 15th prime minister. Liz Truss, just two days before her death.

1. Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation - June 2, 1953

Held at Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth’s coronation ceremony was the first to be broadcast live on television. Some 27 million people in the United Kingdom (out of a total population of 36 million) watched the ceremony , and 11 million more listened on the radio. Afterward, some 3 million people lined the route as the queen and her entourage made their slow procession back to Buckingham Palace.

2. First State Visit to West Germany - 1965

In the midst of a decade marked by social and political changes , the queen kept to a busy schedule of diplomatic duties, including a 10-day visit to the Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany) that was the first official visit there by a British royal since 1913. Her visit marked the 20-year anniversary of the end of World War II , helping to symbolize the reconciliation between the two countries and recognize Germany’s re-emergence as a power in Europe and on the world stage.

3. Mining Disaster in Wales - 1966

On October 21, 1966, an avalanche of mud, water and debris from a coal mine buried an elementary school in the South Wales village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults. Though Prince Philip arrived in Aberfan a day after the disaster, the queen herself delayed her visit for over a week, fearing her presence would distract from rescue and recovery efforts. Some of those close to Elizabeth—including her former private secretary, Lord Charteris—have said she regretted the decision not to visit Aberfan sooner .

4. First 'Walkabout' - 1970

During a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand with Philip and Princess Anne in 1970, Elizabeth bucked centuries of royal tradition when she took a casual stroll to greet crowds of people in person, rather than wave to them from a protected distance. Now a regular practice for British royals both abroad and at home, the first “walkabout” in Sydney was proposed by Sir William Heseltine, an Australian who served as the queen’s private secretary and was the driving force behind a 1969 TV documentary featuring the royal family, which attracted a global audience of some 40 million people.

5. Silver Jubilee - 1977

On June 7, Elizabeth and Philip rode in the Gold State Coach from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul’s Cathedral to officially celebrate her 25th year on the throne. Wearing a bright pink outfit, including a hat decked out with 25 fabric bells, the queen repeated her long-ago pledge to devote her life to service, saying that "Although that vow was made in my salad days when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.”

6. Prince Charles' Wedding to Lady Diana Spencer - 1981

On July 29, 1981, an estimated 750 million people in 74 countries around the world tuned in to watch Prince Charles, Elizabeth’s eldest son, marry Lady Diana Spencer, at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The romance between the heir to the British throne and the young “Shy Di” had attracted massive media attention, and their lavish nuptials were considered the “wedding of the century.” But while Diana earned the adoration of the public, her marriage to Charles (and her relationship with the royal family) was troubled from the beginning .

7. Visit to China - 1986

In late 1984, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ’s government agreed to return sovereignty over Hong Kong to China beginning July 1, 1997. In 1986, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Chinese mainland, touring the terracotta warriors in Xi’an, the Great Wall in Beijing and other sites. For the press, the diplomatic importance of the queen’s visit was outweighed by her husband’s characteristic (and sometimes racist) gaffes: Philip called Beijing “ghastly” and told a group of British students they would get “slitty eyes” if they stayed in China too long.

8. 'Annus Horribilis' - 1992

Charles and Diana’s marriage continued to deteriorate, and in 1992 they announced their decision to separate. Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son, and his wife, Sarah Ferguson, also separated, while Anne divorced her husband, Mark Phillips. Late that year, a fire broke out in Windsor Castle, destroying more than 100 rooms. In a speech delivered to mark the 40th anniversary of her succession, Queen Elizabeth remarked that 1992 “has turned out to be an 'Annus Horribilis'”: Latin for “a horrible year.”

9. Response to Princess Diana’s death - 1997

Public criticism of the royal family grew more intense after Charles and Diana’s divorce in 1996 and especially after Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris the following summer. The queen initially remained at her estate in Balmoral, Scotland, and refused to allow the flag to fly at half-mast over Buckingham Palace or address the grieving nation. 

At the urging of her advisers, she soon revised her stance on the flag, returned to London to greet crowds of mourners and delivered a rare televised address to a nation devastated by the loss of the “People’s Princess.”

10. Golden Jubilee - 2002

The queen’s celebration of her 50th year on the throne was marred by a double loss, when her younger sister, Princess Margaret , and their mother died within weeks of each other. As the first British monarch since Queen Victoria to celebrate a Golden Jubilee, Elizabeth traveled more than 40,000 miles that year , including visits to the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. She also visited 70 cities and towns in 50 counties in the United Kingdom. 

Compared with the tumultuous 1990s, the start of Elizabeth’s second half-century as queen coincided with the beginning of more positive relations between Britain and its royal family: In 2005, a majority of the British public supported Charles’ wedding to his longtime love, Camilla Parker-Bowles.

11. Visit to the Republic of Ireland - 2011

In May 2011, Elizabeth and Philip visited the Republic of Ireland at the invitation of President Mary McAleese. Though the queen had frequently visited Northern Ireland over the course of her reign, this was her first to the Republic of Ireland, and the first by a British monarch in 100 years. Elizabeth’s visit, during which she expressed her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” for the victims of the troubled Anglo-Irish past , was widely celebrated as the beginning of a new era of friendship.

12. Birth of Prince George - 2013

In July 2013, the queen welcomed a new great-grandson , Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge, the first child of Prince William and the former Kate Middleton, who married in 2011. Second in the line of succession after his father, George is widely expected to become king one day. His birth marked the first time since Victoria’s reign that three generations of direct heirs to the British throne were alive at the same time.

13. Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s wedding - 2018

Perhaps no other event during Elizabeth’s reign symbolized the modernizing monarchy more than the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, a divorced, biracial American actress. Though the queen reportedly gave her quick approval to the match, the relationship between the couple and the British media—as well as the rest of the royal family— grew increasingly tense after their marriage. In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were stepping back from their role as senior royals. They later moved to Markle’s native Southern California. Their son, Archie, was born in 2019, followed by their daughter Lilibet in 2021.

14. Prince Philip's death - 2021

On April 9, 2021, Prince Philip, Elizabeth's husband of 73 years, died at the age of 99 . The British monarchy’s longest-running love story began just before World War II, when 18-year-old Prince Philip of Greece met his third cousin, Princess Elizabeth, during her family’s visit to the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, where Philip was studying. On November 14, 1947, the couple were married in Westminster Abbey, and King George VI named Philip as Duke of Edinburgh shortly after that.

For more than a half-century, Prince Philip supported his wife in her royal duties and took on an ambitious slate of obligations of his own. Philip's funeral was held on April 17, 2021. Because of coronavirus restrictions, only 30 guests were invited to attend. Photos of the queen sitting alone in St. George's Chapel struck many as a symbol of her loneliness and grief.

15. Platinum Jubilee - 2022

In February of 2022, England began a series of celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II's 70 years on the throne. On June 2, a military parade featuring 1,400 troops in bearskin caps, musicians and 240 horses, a Royal Air Force flyover and an 82-gun salute were staged to honor the 96-year-old monarch, whose birthday was on April 21. One section of London even featured a parade of corgis (Elizabeth's favorite dog breed), with more than 30 of the short-legged canines "marching" in a procession. 

The queen watched the pageantry from the balcony of Buckingham Palace and was joined by four generations of her heirs, including her eldest son, Prince Charles ; his eldest son, Prince William; and William’s eldest son, Prince George. Despite her age and having just sustained a case of COVID-19, the Queen, dressed in pearls and a light blue dress, coat and hat, wore a broad grin.

HISTORY Vault: Profiles: Queen Elizabeth II

Chart the unexpected rise and record-breaking reign of Queen Elizabeth II, which unfolded in the turbulent modern history of the English monarchy.

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Queen Elizabeth II Says Chinese Officials Were ‘Very Rude’ on State Visit

Queen elizabeth on chinese state visit, queen elizabeth ii was filmed saying that chinese officials were “very rude” during president xi jinping’s state visit to britain last year..

London 10 May 2016 In the garden of Buckingham Palace Lord Chamberlain, The Earl Peel: “Can I present Commander Lucy D’Orsi, Gold Commander when the Chinese State visit..” Queen: “Oh, bad luck” Lord Chamberlain, The Earl Peel: “...who was seriously undermined by the Chinese.” 2. D’Orsi speaking to the Queen UPSOUND: Commander Lucy D’Orsi, Metropolitan Police: “I’m not sure whether you knew, but it was quite a testing time for me..” Queen: “I did.” D’Orsi: “It was, er, ...I think at the point that they walked out of Lancaster House and told me that the trip was off, I felt that ...” Queen: “They were very rude to the Ambassador.” D’Orsi: “They were - yes. Barbara, she was with me - and they walked out on both of us. It was very rude and undiplomatic I thought.”

By Edward Wong

• May 11, 2016

BEIJING — British garden parties are not known as occasions for blunt talk, especially if they take place at Buckingham Palace.

But on Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II, clad in bright pink, had a frank exchange about China on her palace lawn with a Metropolitan Police commander, Lucy D’Orsi. They spoke of conflicts that unfolded in London in October when President Xi Jinping of China and his entourage made a state visit to Britain, and at one point, the queen referred to the visiting officials as “very rude.”

A transcript of that exchange is below.

First, before hundreds of onlookers, the queen, 90, was introduced to Ms. D’Orsi by the Lord Chamberlain , Earl Peel, who serves as head of the royal household.

Ms. D’Orsi spoke of an episode in which Chinese officials stormed out of a meeting with her and Barbara Woodward , a longtime diplomat and the British ambassador to China. She called it “a testing time.” The queen commented, “They were very rude to the ambassador.”

The remarks were included in a video of the party that a longtime palace-approved pool cameraman recorded for the palace. The video was officially distributed to journalists and has been posted online .

The BBC reported that there had been no official reaction from the Chinese authorities, but that coverage had been censored, with BBC World TV blocked in China during its report of the conversation.

The British and Chinese governments have spoken of a new “ golden era ” of relations between the two countries. Mr. Xi’s state visit was supposed to symbolize the strengthening of ties, especially commercial ones. Mr. Xi posed for press photos with Prime Minister David Cameron at a pub in Buckinghamshire, England. The two men held pints of beer up to their lips.

On Wednesday, Western journalists attending a regularly scheduled Ministry of Foreign Affairs news conference in Beijing asked a spokesman about the queen’s comments.

The spokesman, Lu Kang, said that Mr. Xi’s visit to Britain had been “extremely successful” and that it had “launched a golden era” in relations. He also said he did not know of any threats by Chinese officials to cancel the trip.

In June 2014, Premier Li Keqiang met with the queen at Windsor Castle. The Times of London had reported earlier from Beijing that Mr. Li and fellow Chinese officials had threatened to cancel his three-day visit to Britain if he did not get an audience with the queen. “The Chinese are hard negotiators,” an unnamed British government source told the newspaper .

In 2005, Prince Charles sued The Mail on Sunday for publishing a private journal he had written eight years earlier that included candid remarks about Chinese leaders. He was writing about the British handover of Hong Kong to China, and he described senior Chinese officials accompanying President Jiang Zemin to the ceremony in 1997 as “appalling old waxworks.”

Here is the transcript of the conversation on Tuesday:

Lord Chamberlain: “Can I present Commander Lucy D’Orsi, who was Gold Commander during the Chinese state visit…”

Queen Elizabeth: “Oh, bad luck.”

Lord Chamberlain: “… and who was seriously, seriously undermined by the Chinese, but she managed to hold her own and remain in command. And her mother, Judith, who’s involved in child protection and social work.”

Commander D’Orsi’s mother: “Yes, I’m very proud of my daughter.”

Lord Chamberlain: “You must tell your story.”

Commander D’Orsi: “Yes, I was the Gold Commander, so I’m not sure whether you knew, but it was quite a testing time for me.”

Queen: “Yes, I did.”

Commander D’Orsi: “It was, er, I think at the point that they walked out of Lancaster House and told me that the trip was off, I felt that…”

The Queen: “They were very rude to the ambassador.”

Commander D’Orsi: “They were. Well, she was, yes, Barbara, she was with me and they walked out on both of us.”

The Queen: “Extraordinary.”

Commander D’Orsi’s mother: “I know, it’s unbelievable.”

Commander D’Orsi: “It was very rude and very undiplomatic, I thought.”

Follow Edward Wong on Twitter @comradewong .

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China Pays Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

China’s top leaders and its people joined millions around the world to pay tribute to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II after the death of the country’s longest-reigning monarch was announced Thursday. She was 96.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Friday sent their condolences to the royal family and the British people, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency. Xi is quoted as saying that her death was “a tremendous loss to the British people,” while acknowledging her landmark visit to the country.

Queen Elizabeth was the first British head of state to visit the Chinese mainland in October 1986, along with her late husband Prince Philip. The couple met Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and toured six cities, taking pictures at the Great Wall in Beijing and with the famed terra-cotta warriors in the northwestern city of Xi’an.

After Buckingham Palace announced the queen’s death, Chinese social media users shared photos from her China trip. On microblogging platform Weibo, 20 of the 50 top topics list were dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II on Friday morning, with many calling her a “legend.” 

“She has probably witnessed the most striking parts of history in modern times, and now she has completed her mission,” one user commented . 

As the world’s oldest and longest-serving head of state, Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne after her father King George VI died in 1952. She has witnessed a myriad of social changes and political upheavals both at home and abroad during her 70-year reign, from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to Brexit in 2020.

While Elizabeth II was a much revered figure, the institution has been censured for its colonial legacy, including in Hong Kong up until 1997. On Weibo, some comments criticized the British royal family for defending its colonial rule in other countries, arguing that the Chinese people should instead commemorate the nation’s founder Mao Zedong, as Friday marks the 46th anniversary of his death.

The British monarch’s death also made headlines in China’s domestic media. Many outlets highlighted Queen Elizabeth’s key role in stabilizing and unifying the country, while expressing concerns about the struggles Britain currently faces.

“The passing of Queen Elizabeth is another blow to the confidence of British people in the wake of inflation and the energy crisis,” Zhao Chen, a researcher focusing on European studies at China Academy of Social Sciences, told domestic outlet Time News, adding that her death could leave question marks for the monarchy and trigger a reputation crisis for the royal family in the future.

Editor: Bibek Bhandari.

(Header image: Floral tributes for Queen Elizabeth II are seen at Government House in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 9, 2022. Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images/VCG)

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New line of commemorative china to mark the life of Queen Elizabeth II revealed

The Royal Collection Trust has released a new line of commemorative china to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s life. 

The Queen’s personal history has been memorialised on a new RCT line. The design features the late Queen’s personal cypher as Princess Elizabeth. The cypher was included on The Queen’s State Hearse used in September. 

In addition, the decorative border that surrounds the cypher is made of the flowers that were used on the bouquets on her coffin during the State Funeral. The bouquets were composed of flowers that had been cut from the grounds of several royal residences and included rosemary, myrtle, roses, and oak leaves. The myrtle was cut from a plant grown from a sprig included in Elizabeth’s 1947 wedding bouquet.  

Given that The Queen’s Green Canopy is one of the lasting legacies of her reign and her Platinum Jubilee, it is fitting to feature these florals. 

The design also includes the four National Emblems of the United Kingdom: the rose for England, the daffodil for Wales, the thistle for Scotland, and the shamrock for Ireland. 

A Shakespearean quote from Hamlet finished off the design, ‘May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest’. A particularly poignant quote, the new King included the quote in his first public address after the death of his mother. 

The six-piece collection features a teacup and saucer set, a tankard, a pillbox, and a mug that are made by hand in Stoke-on-Trent, as well as a candle made in Hampshire, and a tea towel made in Northern Ireland. 

The items can purchased from Royal Collection Trust shops at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, or from www.rct.uk/shop . 

At the time of writing the teacup and saucer and the tankard are both out of stock. 

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Queen Elizabeth II's China Bond

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, died on September 8 at age 96. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence the next day to Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III on the passing of his mother and Queen. Queen Elizabeth II was the first British monarch ever to visit China.

Queen Elizabeth II visits the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, on October 16, 1986. [Photo/Agencies]

Xi emphasized the store he lays by the development of China-Britain relations, and his readiness to work with King Charles III to take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the ambassadorial level as an opportunity to promote healthy and stable development of bilateral relations for the benefit of the two countries and their people.

The Queen’s Moments with President Xi

In February, 2022, President Xi sent a congratulatory message to Queen Elizabeth II on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the British throne, expressing his hopes that China and the U.K. might take this opportunity to deepen their friendship and mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation, and work together towards international solidarity.

In October 2015, Queen Elizabeth II received President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan with due royal pomp and pageantry on the occasion of President Xi’s state visit to Britain. The first by a Chinese head of state in 10 years, the visit cemented the two countries’ economic ties. Before Xi’s arrival, five tweets about China were successively posted on Her Majesty’s official twitter account, including pictures of her first visit to China in 1986.

On the first day of his U.K. state visit, Xi met with three generations of the British royal family, and attended a private lunch and state banquet hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty said in her speech at the grand welcoming banquet for President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at Buckingham Palace that President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.K. was a milestone that would elevate friendly relations between the two countries to new heights. U.K.-China relations are a truly global partnership. In his reciprocal speech President Xi said that China and the U.K. are two outstanding representatives of the East and West’s great civilizations whose mutual exchanges and achievements have both enriched and promoted their social progress and made remarkable contributions to human progress.

Meetings with Other Distinguished Chinese Guests

The meeting of Queen Elizabeth II in March 1998 with the then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji was the monarch’s first with a Chinese state leader in London. Ma Zhengang, the then Chinese Ambassador to the U.K. recalled, “Showing great interest in China’s reform and opening-up, the queen enquired about the overall situation. And Premier Zhu briefed her.”

The then Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s state visit to the U.K. the next year marked the first by a Chinese head of state. During the grand state banquet held at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II recalled her exchanges with Jiang in 1986 during her first visit to China when he was mayor of Shanghai, and the discovery that they were both born in 1926, the Chinese year of Tiger.

Since then, Chinese state leaders have been regular guests of Her Majesty. On June 17, 2014, Queen Elizabeth II received Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at Windsor Castle in southern England, where they held a friendly and cordial dialogue. British media reported that inviting Li Keqiang to meet with Queen Elizabeth II also constituted a break with official procedures, so reflecting the importance the U.K. attaches to Sino-British relations.

The Queen’s First Visit to China

Queen Elizabeth II mentioned her first visit to China in 1986, the first ever by a British monarch, on many occasions. The historic visit featured a letter, her meeting with an elder statesman, and a number of photos.

The Queen brought to China a copy of the letter from Queen Elizabeth I to Ming Emperor Wanli in 1602. Owing to the messenger’s death, however, it never reached the imperial Ming Dynasty court. Queen Elizabeth II said that visiting China had been her long-cherished wish, and that thanks to progress in the postal sector since 1602 her invitation letter from China, which she joyfully accepted, arrived without incident.

The elder statesman who met with the Queen during her 1986 China visit was Deng Xiaoping, then head of Central Advisory Commission of the CPC Central Committee. On learning that the Queen did not smoke, Deng, a heavy smoker, did not light a single cigarette during their meeting — one successful enough to be deemed the climax of the monarch’s China visit. Her Majesty said later said that Deng’s advanced age in no way impaired his impressive vitality and sharp wit.

Many photos of Queen Elizabeth II’s China visit have been widely circulated. In a one, clad in a red hat and coat in honor of China’s national flag, the Queen inspected the guard of honor, accompanied by the then President Li Xiannian. Another captures a moment when, during their talks, Queen Elizabeth II and Deng Xiaoping share a hearty laugh. And yet another shows the queen taking a long look at the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.

Chinaware Passion

Chinese culture held a strong fascination for the Queen, doubtless driven by her ready access to the royal family’s collection of Chinese antiques.

Items from China in the Queen’s collection. [China.org.cn]

In 1947 Princess Elizabeth received a Xiang embroidery from China as a wedding gift. In 2002 she received a carved wooden screen as a gift from the then President Jiang Zemin on the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne. And in 2006 she received as a gift for her 80th birthday a snuff bottle bearing her image. Other Chinese gifts include replicas of the Terracotta Warriors, a dragon-patterned vase, a crane-patterned plate, and her embroidered portrait.

The Queen was keen to experiment with certain features of Chinese dining culture. During her 1986 China visit she used chopsticks to eat longan fruits, sampled a sea cucumber dish, something which took “great courage” for a Briton, and enjoyed a cup of green tea in Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden. Having grown Chinese plants in the garden at Buckingham Palace, she also planted British roses in China’s frontier province of Yunnan.

But chinaware was what the Queen most admired. She ordered a Chengni stone teapot from China for her grandson Prince William and his newly-wed wife Kate in 2011. Made by Suzhou-based stone carving artist Cai Yundi, it is decorated with carvings of dates, peanuts and longan — fruits offered at traditional Chinese weddings as a wish that the happy couple may soon bear male heirs.

There is indeed much fine Chinese porcelain at Windsor Castle. And the owner of a gift shop in London’s Regent Street confirms that all the porcelain plates in his shop printed with the Queen’s image are made in China.

May she rest in peace. The endearing, memorable and historic China moments of “Elizabeth the Great” during her seven-decade reign will be cherished by the Chinese and Britons alike.

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