History Today: How Elizabeth unexpectedly became Queen on African soil

She was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. Few world leaders have witnessed as many big moments that shaped history, from the moon landing to the pandemic. And few have left a mark like she did. Queen Elizabeth II who claimed the throne for 70 years was one of her kind.

Her ascension came as a surprise. Little would the world know back then that she would reign for decades to come.

In our series History Today, we visit the chapter on how Elizabeth became queen and other big events that unfolded on February 6.

When the King died and Elizabeth II became the Queen of England

Elizabeth’s road to the throne was a lot like her father’s… full of surprises.

King George VI became the king after his brother Edward VIII abdicated the crown to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Spencer in 1936. World War II broke out soon after and the King became popular as he visited sites bombed across England. He even visited Normandy in 1944, 10 days after D-Day.

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But King George VI had been ailing. A heavy smoker, he had lung cancer. He also was diagnosed with arteriosclerosis. After years of deteriorating health, he died on February 6 1952 in his sleep. He was found by a servant around 7.30 am. The cause of death was coronary thrombosis.

The next in line to become the British sovereign was Elizabeth. A princess, she was all of 25.

Elizabeth was visiting Kenya as part of the Commonwealth tour with her husband Philip Mountbatten when King George VI passed away. They were staying at the Sagna Lodge which was a wedding gift to the royal couple by the people of the country.

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According to a report in TIME, Philip got the news by afternoon by telephone from a local newspaper. Elizabeth was resting after she had spent the previous night at the Treetops Hotel in Aberdare Forest. Little did she know her life was about to change.

Philip “sent an equerry to call London for confirmation, then gently led his wife down to the river’s edge and told her that her father was dead. The Queen returned to the lodge on her husband’s arm, shaken but in full command of herself,” the TIME reported.

When Philip heard the news, it looked like half the world had dropped on him, a close aide once said. But the Queen knew what was in store for her; she had been groomed for this role.

Lord Charteris, her then private secretary, remembered seeing the monarch seated at her desk in the lodge appearing “very composed, absolute master of her fate”. When asked what name she wished to use as Queen, she replied matter of factly, “My own name, of course”, according to a report in the Independent.

The couple left Kenya immediately for London. Lord Charteris along with Philip’s equerry and friend Mike Parker packed up and organised their travel – a plane from Mosamba, another one at Entebbe and an arrival at London the next day.

At Entebbe, the Queen’s mourning clothes were ready. Dressed in black, she arrived at London airport on February 7. Elizabeth had left her country as a princess, she would return as queen. The flight was met by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Opposition Leader Clement Atlee and the Duke of Gloucester.

The exact moment when she ascended the throne is not known. The power shifted when the reigning monarch breathed his last.

On February 8, Elizabeth II was formally proclaimed Queen. Her coronation took place 14 months later, on June 2, 1953. She would become the monarch of the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Thus, began the Elizabethan Era.

How Musk shot his sportscar into space

Elon Musk is known for his eccentricities. Seven years ago, SpaceX did the unthinkable. They shot their CEO’s Tesla Roadster into space.

In 2018, SpaceX was test-launching its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket and Musk expected a 50-50 shot at success. The sportscar was intended to be a “dummy payload”. But the mission was a success and now the car continues to orbit the sun.

Astronomers do not track the red car actively. However, last month, it was mistakenly identified as an asteroid.

Wonder where the car is now? A website – Whereisroadster.com – created in 2018 tracks its location and calculates the distance it has travelled. Until recently it has covered nearly 3.5 trillion miles.

The 2023 Turkiye and Syria earthquake that claimed 50,000 lives

At 4.17 am on 6 February 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkiye and northern Syria. The tremors lasted for 65 seconds and unleashed horror. Buildings and bridges crumbled, roads cracked and entire cities were reduced to rubble.

More than 50,000 people were killed in the disaster. At least 850,000 buildings collapsed after the quake and the thousands of aftershocks that followed, one of 7.5-magnitude that afternoon. The volume of debris was estimated to be 100 million tonnes in Turkiye alone. And in Hatay, a province along the Syria border, only 250,000 of the original 1.7 million inhabitants remain.

Two years on, parts of the regions hit by the quake continue to pick up the pieces. Thousands of lives changed forever that day and the scars remain.