# Elizabeth II's health **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270 "2010-08-14T20:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/1 "2010-08-14T20:10:31Z")
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is currently the third longest-reigning British monarch. On May 12, 2011, she will surpass George III. And on September 10, 2015, she will surpass Victoria. She will be 89 then. As someone who remembers watching her coronation on TV when I was 7, I’m really rooting for her. She seems to be in good health, and her mother’s longevity certainly helps, but I’m still wondering whether any health issues have been made public. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/2 "2010-08-14T20:48:31Z")
Her mother made it past 100. I’m looking forward to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I reckon there’s a very good chance she’ll be around in 2022. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/3 "2010-08-15T01:50:48Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Her mother made it past 100. I’m looking forward to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I reckon there’s a very good chance she’ll be around in 2022. Indeed if she lives as long as her mother Charles is going to be nearly _80_ by the time he becomes King (though he might get a couple yrs as Prince-Regent in before that). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/4 "2010-08-15T04:39:32Z")
She does seem to be slowing down a bit, and Wiki says she’s relying on Charles and other, younger members of the Royal Family to cover for her at ceremonial and public events more nowadays, but I agree that she’s got both the genes and the overall-good health to likely be on the British throne for many years to come. God save the Queen! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/5 "2010-08-15T05:00:17Z")
**panache45** , I also remember watching her Coronation on TV. We had to wait for the film to be flown in from Great Britain and broadcast. I also have newspaper clippings of her wedding sometime in the late Forties. I now store them in a Victoria’s Secret box. Heaven help me, I was a fan of Princess Elizabeth when I was four. This may sound strange, but I remember something about there being ears of corn represented on her wedding dress. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/6 "2010-08-15T05:35:38Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **panache45** This may sound strange, but I remember something about there being ears of corn represented on her wedding dress. Not strange, but true. > [@](#): > > ``` > "The dress was made of ivory silk, decorated with pearls arranged as white roses of York, entwined with ears of corn embroidered in crystal." > Source: Gyles Brandreth, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage, page 164. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/7 "2010-08-15T06:53:22Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > > [@Quartz](#): > > > > Her mother made it past 100. I’m looking forward to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I reckon there’s a very good chance she’ll be around in 2022. > > Indeed if she lives as long as her mother Charles is going to be nearly _80_ by the time he becomes King (though he might get a couple yrs as Prince-Regent in before that). I sincerely hope the Crown passes directly to William. Charles isn’t up to the job. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/8 "2010-08-15T06:55:01Z")
Honestly, I don’t mean this quite the way it sounds, but I’d like to see a coronation. I envy those who were around to see QEII’s, but they had to watch on those washing-machine-looking sets, in black and white, with horrible contrast. I would get to see the next one in HD on plasma. If I get to see one at all. ETA: _After Liz, who will it be? The next in line is Charlie Three. But if he’s not then alive, The next in line is Willie Five._ ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/9 "2010-08-15T08:15:57Z")
Charles will not take the Throne as King Charles. That name has bad associations for the Royal Family. 🙂 I too would like to see a coronation. William’s coronation would do wonders for the country, just like QE2’s coronation did in the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/10 "2010-08-15T10:10:54Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > > [@alphaboi867](#): > > > > Indeed if she lives as long as her mother Charles is going to be nearly _80_ by the time he becomes King (though he might get a couple yrs as Prince-Regent in before that). > > I sincerely hope the Crown passes directly to William. Charles isn’t up to the job. Chuck is a doofus but how badly could he screw the ceremonial job up? And how does anyone know Willy will be any good? 30 years ago people would write about how horrible Anne was, now many are wishing she was next-in-line. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/11 "2010-08-15T11:06:56Z")
Queen Elizabeth II is immortal, I thought everyone knew that ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/12 "2010-08-15T11:11:49Z")
Her only notable medical problem has been problems with her knees - she had to have surgery on them a few years ago. I wonder if that’s connected to spending her entire reign walking for miles while doing meet and greets and standing for ages at various dull ceremonies? > [@Quartz](#): > > Charles will not take the Throne as King Charles. That name has bad associations for the Royal Family. 🙂 > > I too would like to see a coronation. William’s coronation would do wonders for the country, just like QE2’s coronation did in the 50s. Yep, he’ll be another George (VII) - for understandable reasons, he doesn’t want the implications of being a King Charles. The last George’s birthname wasn’t George, either. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/13 "2010-08-15T12:23:03Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > > [@Quartz](#): > > > > I sincerely hope the Crown passes directly to William. Charles isn’t up to the job. > > Chuck is a doofus but how badly could he screw the ceremonial job up? Very badly. He’s a meddler. > [@](#): > > And how does anyone know Willy will be any good? We don’t. But he’ll be a dynamic young monarch, much as his grandmother was in 1952. And early mistakes will be put down to inexperience. Charles won’t have those advantages. And he’ll have seen from the example of Edward VIII what happens when a dynamic young monarch goes astray. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/14 "2010-08-15T17:12:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Charles will not take the Throne as King Charles. That name has bad associations for the Royal Family. 🙂 Understood — although I then have to wonder why he was named Charles at all, even as a prince, given the history behind the name. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/15 "2010-08-15T18:09:15Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Honestly, I don’t mean this quite the way it sounds, but I’d like to see a coronation. I envy those who were around to see QEII’s, but they had to watch on those washing-machine-looking sets, in black and white, with horrible contrast. I would get to see the next one in HD on plasma. If I get to see one at all. Same here. I’d also like to see the state funeral, mostly for the pomp and circumstance, not because I want to see her dead. (I had to work the day of the Queen Mother’s funeral.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/16 "2010-08-15T18:14:46Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Chuck is a doofus but how badly could he screw the ceremonial job up? As far as I can tell, it’s not entirely ceremonial. I believe one thing she does is to meet with the PM weekly She has the advantage of being able to advise him or her what every PM back to Churchill was like and how they responded in similar circumstances. What other country has someone with that level of experience in a position to advise the government? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/17 "2010-08-15T18:21:59Z")
I can’t stand monarchies but the more I hear about Elizabeth II, the more I admire her. She’s an intelligent, classy woman who has devoted her life to her country in a way that very few people have. Pretty much every PM has admitted that their required weekly (or whatever it is) meeting with her is far from ceremonial and that she often gave very useful insight. Charles is a fucking idiot. She must realize that and it’s probably one of the reasons that she’s held on for so long. William seems to have gotten his maternal grandmother’s intelligence and his moron mother’s charisma. What a couple of useless dipshits he had for parents. I bet he’ll do really well. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/18 "2010-08-15T18:26:33Z")
Does she smoke? Yeah, yeah, I know she’s smoking, but does she use tobacco? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/19 "2010-08-15T18:27:45Z")
Everyone said the same about Queen Victoria’s son, Edward VII, who turned out to be a decent king. (And the monarchy had a lot more power back then!) So you never know with Charles. He could surprise us. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270/20 "2010-08-15T18:54:38Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Does she smoke? Yeah, yeah, I know she’s smoking, but does she use tobacco? Nope. Neither the Queen or Prince Phillip are smokers. Her father (George VI) and little sister (Princess Margaret) were both heavy smokers which contributed to their early deaths. [QUOTE=Bytegeist] Understood — although I then have to wonder why he was named Charles at all, even as a prince, given the history behind the name. [/QUOTE] His full name is “Charles Philip Arthur George”. George was added both to honour his grandfather and provide him with a regnal name. The name by which a royal prince is know isn’t necessarily what they’d be known as King. For example Edward VIII was formally known as “Prince Edward” before (& after) he was King, but his closest relatives & mistresses called him David; George VI was know as “Prince Albert” (Bertie to the family) before he became kind; Edward VII (Queen Victoria’s son) went by the double name “Edward Albert” before he became King, but opted to become Edward VII instead of Albert (I). While the Queen has always used Elizabeth as her name there was some speculation over wether she’d choose to be “Mary III” instead of “Elizabeth II”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-iis-health/550270.md?page=2)