Though it is the literal truth, the expression “born to rule” fitted Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the late Queen Elizabeth II, remarkably poorly.
She was born a Princess of York, but her father wept bitter tears when he learnt 10 years later that he would have to become king. It’s no secret his elder daughter’s “best life” would have been that of a country-woman in Barbour jacket and wellies, superintending children, horses, dogs and livestock, and not necessarily with the help of staff.
Her glamour-loving sister, Margaret, seemed temperamentally better suited to the limelight. Yet when duty called with the shock abdication of King Edward VIII, there was no question in Elizabeth’s mind that she must not just prepare to reign, but to do whatever she could to protect the Commonwealth. It, rather than Britain, was her great purpose.
In protecting the then-flourishing alliance, she became the world’s most striking exponent of “soft power”. As historian Ben Macintyre said, few people would remember a word she said, but her actions – even if simply gestures – did the talking.
Nine years after taking the throne, she literally danced the Commonwealth out of potential collapse. As relations between its developing countries and its wealthy white nations deteriorated, Ghana was set to lead other African countries out of the alliance. Politicians could not seem to resolve the situation. In a deft piece of diplomacy, Elizabeth and Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah inaugurated the after-dinner ballroom dancing after a state dinner in Accra. That image telegraphed her intended message around the world: that in her estimation, all Commonwealth
