We know her simply as the Queen or Her Majesty, but if one British politician had got his way, the monarch might have become ‘Elizabeth the Faithful’.
Michael Farmer, former treasurer of the UK’s Conservative Party, called for ‘the Faithful’ to be added to Elizabeth II’s title in honor of her record-breaking reign.
Making his case in Parliament last week, he suggested the monarch’s unprecedented Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70 years on the throne, ‘demanded marking for future generations’. (Watch above.)
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“Adding ‘the Faithful’ to the Queen’s title, as in ‘Alfred the Great’, would make her stand out in the sweep of history,” Lord Farmer said, referencing the Saxon king who reigned from 871 to 889.
“This permanent and indisputable marker would acknowledge her constancy and outworked sense of duty.”
Though few would deny Her Majesty’s faithfulness to the throne, the proposal of an addition to her royal title was knocked back.
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As reported this weekend by The MirrorFarmer was told there were “no plans” to advise the Queen to make such a change, which would require an amendment to the 1953 Royal Titles Act in order to happen.
“The Platinum Jubilee demonstrated the affection this country has for Her Majesty; it may be left to history to accord titles to past monarchs, but the Government have no plans to make a change,” Lord True replied, according to the Hansard transcript Farmer shared on Twitter.
Another member of parliament, Lord Lexden, suggested it might be unwise to decide on a single epithet for the Queen at this stage.
“As people in the years to come look back on this extraordinary and glorious reign, they are likely to subscribe to it all manner of suitable loving and respectful epithets … it might perhaps be wrong to single out any one term,” he said .
Queen Elizabeth II is Britain’s longest-serving monarch, and the second longest-serving monarch in world history. She’s also the oldest current monarch.
Her Majesty ascended the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father King George VI in February 1952, and was 27 when she was coronated in June 1953.
A snapshot of the British royal family in 1922