By: Ewurabena Paha
Since news of her death broke on September 8, 2022 many were the commentaries that inundated the media space about the life and legacy of the longest reigning monarch in British history.
GBC’s Ewurabena Paha put together a spotlight on the lifestyle of Queen Elizabeth, depicting true royalty.
Since she ascended the throne in April 1962, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary has until her death lived as a true royal. From her appearance in public to the dining table in Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth exhibited royalty in spectacular ways.
Clothing:
According to an evaluator of the clothing Queen Elizabeth has worn on public appearances in the past year, blue is the Queen’s preferred color. She became famous for her brightly colored dresses and coats paired with a matching hat, accessorized with her signature square handbag, a string of pearls and a jeweled brooch. Though this may sound simple, the Queen’s style became a powerful formula. As stated by the royal fashion commentator Elizabeth Holmes, the queens image is a huge part of her legacy. There isn’t a hue Her Majesty hasn’t worn, but then, with hundreds of engagements to attend a year and often having to change up to five times a day, variety of colors come to play but the queen always chose blue over every color.
Love for nature:
Outside of her duties as Queen, Elizabeth pursued a variety of interests including Gardening, Pigeon Ranching, Stamp Collecting and Horse riding. When news broke that the royal beekeeper had informed the queen bees of her passing, many were astonished and wondered why the insects must be given such a huge priority. This is perhaps so because the Queen considered bees as part of her reign and means to connect to nature.
Taste:
As a young girl, Princess Elizabeth’s favorite food was jam pennies–tiny, crustless sandwiches made with white bread, strawberry jam, and butter. The affinity for these little finger sandwiches extended into her adult life and throughout her reign. Some believe that the queen will not come down to breakfast if the royal cook fails to add her favorite to the table. The Queen famously had a long-held fondness for corgis, established in her youth. She owned more than 30 during her reign; her first was Susan, who was given to her as a present on her 18th birthday.
Fragrances:
Elizabeth had a great sense of fashion and this did not go without fragrances. Floris of London is reported to have been her favorite fragrance house, and in 1971 the brand was given the Royal Warrant as Her Majesty’s exclusive perfumers. Her signature scent was White Rose, a floral yet musky blend of rose, iris, amber, carnation, and jasmine. Elizabeth reportedly also wears GuerlainL’HeureBleue, a spicy citrus with a powdery dry down. It’s been a classic for the fragrance house ever since the scent was created in 1912.
Household and Wealth:
One would imagine how the queen is served or attended to in the palace. It is speculated that there are an astonishing 1,200 people just to keep the Royal Household up and running. The positions held by her staffers vary from cooks to chauffeurs and everything in between. A lady-in-waiting or court lady is the queen’s first-hand employee and until her death was Michelle Gordon Lennox. The queen had everything and everyone at her beck and calling with news of a designation staff positioned at the entrance of the queen’s bathroom just to spread the queen’s toothbrush with her favorite toothpaste. Indeed, Elizabeth lived the royal way and her lifestyle simply depicted that. According to the Rich List, the annual catalog of British wealth published in The Sunday Times, the Queen had a net worth of about 430 million pounds. This includes her personal assets, such as Balmoral Castle and Sandringham Estate, which she inherited from her father. Some financial experts are even of the view that the queen’s true assets have been kept secret away from the public. There is no doubt that Elizabeth Alexander Mary lived her life as a true royal and a queen to the latter. Her sense of fashion and her ability to relate to the times exhibited her role as a monarch and head of the Commonwealth. She was born a princess and will be going home to her maker on Monday, September 19, 2022, as a woman whose life was a true definition of royalty, power, position and excellence.