24 groundbreaking events that happened during the Queen’s reign – Metro.co.uk

When Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, she promised to rule for her whole life.

It was a commitment that never waivered and saw her on the throne for more than 70 years, over which time the world changed significantly.

During her reign, the Queen saw some of the most groundbreaking moments in human history within her seven decades of service; from wars and a pandemic, to technological developments and scientific breakthroughs.

Here, we breakdown some of the most significant events that Queen Elizabeth II witnessed during her legendary time as our monarch.

There were an abundance of scientific breakthroughs during the Queens service, and in just her second year, scientists Francis Crick and James Watson published an article that claimed they had discovered what they called the secret of life.

From the University of Cambridge, the pair along with other researchers worked together to identify the now famous double helix structure aka the deoxyribonucleic molecule, also known as DNA.

This gave rise to modern molecular biology, and helped to produce new and powerful scientific techniques, specifically DNA research, genetic engineering, rapid gene sequencing, and the mapping of the human genome.

Major advances in science, including genetic fingerprinting and modern forensics, owe thanks to this discovery.

British Crick was later awarded the Queens Medal, for his contribution to science.

Shortly after, came the first organ transplant, a huge moment in medical history. The first successful operation a kidney transplant was performed by Dr Joseph Murray in Boston, Massachusetts.

The technique has since saved over 400,000 lives worldwide, with more than 3,000 kidney transplants are now carried out in the UK each year.

During the 70 years of The Queens reign, the world of highways and transportation changed significantly, with cars becoming accessible to the majority of the British population. Alongside this, the road network grew and motorways came into being.

The M6, now Britains longest motorway, was first opened in December of 1958, originally an eight mile section of road, acting as a high speed bypass around the town of Preston, Lancashire.

At the point of its inception, it had just two lanes in each direction, no safety barrier in the central reservation and no other technology. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan oversaw theopening, making the beginning of road travel in the UK more accessible than it had ever been before.

The Queen has been witness to many huge moments for womens reproductive rights and the contraceptive pill is an important one.

Considered one of the most significant medical advances of the 20th century, the contraceptive pill a combination of the hormones oestrogen and progestin was developed in the US in the 1950s by the American biologist Dr Gregory Pincus. It was later released in 1960, and within two years it was being used by 1.2million women.

The pill was introduced in the UK the following year, but initially was only available for married women. However, this changed in 1967 and the pill is now taken by over 3.1million women in the UK.

As later dramatised in Season Two of The Crown, the Queen first met President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at a reception hosted at Buckingham Palace in June 1961.

In an event that shook the world, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963.

The Queen sent condolences and later invited Jacqueline Kennedy to Britain for the unveiling of the British national JFK memorial in Runnymede.

Although the Queen may have been more associated with sports like horse racing and polo, one of the most iconic photographs in British sporting history showed HRH, wearing a mustard coat and hat and long white gloves, shaking the hand of Sir Bobby Moore the England captain who led the team to victory in the 1966 World Cup.

The four-nil victory over West Germany on 30 July 1966 has still never been beaten, or equalled.

Last year, ahead of the England teams Euros final, the Queen released a statement, wishing them good luck ahead of their appearance at Wembley and reflecting on the importance of that landmark victory.

She said: Fifty-five years ago I was fortunate to present the World Cup to Bobby Moore and saw what it meant to the players, management and support staff to reach and win the final of a major international football tournament.

In 1967, the British parliament passed the Sexual Offences Act, legalising homosexual acts if they were consensual, in private, and between individuals who were at least 21 years old in England and Wales.

It was considered a landmark event for gay rights although a far cry from equality and liberation. Scotland didnt follow suit until 1980 and Northern Ireland until 1982.

It wasnt until 2004, that the Civil Partnership Act allowed same-sex couples to legally enter into same-sex unions, and it would be another 10 years before same-sex marriage was legalised in Scotland, England and Wales.

In another landmark event, the 1967 the Abortion Act was passed, which legalised abortion on certain grounds by registered practitioners.

The Queen gave her royal assent to both laws.

In 1969, NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer Neil Armstrong became the first ever man to walk on the moon, duringApollo 11. Armstrong also flew on NASAs Gemini 8 mission in 1966.

For obvious reasons, this was a groundbreaking moment for humanity a giant leap for mankind, you might even say.

After his mission, the Queen met with Armstrong and his wife, who traveled to Buckingham Palace, as part of a world tour to meet global leaders and mark their successful mission.

The first mobile phone call was made on April 3, 1973, by Motorola employee Martin Cooper.

Using a prototype of what would become the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x, Cooper reportedly stood near a 900 MHz base station on Sixth Avenue, between 53rd and 54th Streets, in New York City and placed a call to New Jersey.

The mobile phone would go on to change the world as we know it, particularly with the introduction of the smartphone the first of which, the IBM Simon and Nokia Communicator 9000, were released in 1994 and 1996 respectively

The Queen reportedly used a Samsung featuring anti-hacker encryption by MI6. According to royal commentator, Jonathan Sacerdoti, she would mainly speak on her mobile phone to two people her daughter, Princess Anne and her racing manager, John Warren.

A year after the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee, following 25 years on the throne, a new groundbreaking reproductive moment was recorded; and on July 25 1978, the worlds first IVF baby was born.

Louise Brown was born at Royal Oldham Hospital, Lancashire, after the so-called test tube procedure was developed by English physiologist Robert Edwards, in collaboration with two other scientists.

In 2010, Edwards won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and a year later he was knighted by the Queen.

Margaret Thatcher was Britains first ever female prime minister, and served three consecutive terms in office, from 1979-1990.

During the period of Thatcherism in the 1980s, the Queen met with the prime minister weekly. They were, however, said to have a complicated relationship.

The Queen reportedly disagreed with some of Thatchers policies, including her refusal to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa, according to a 1986 report in the Sunday Times.

But they did work together for over a decade, with the Queen later awarding Thatcher the prestigious Order of Merit.

Queen Elizabeth has been head of state during a time of profound technological advancement. And theres not much that has changed the state of the world more than the advent of the Internet.

No one person invented the Internet it occurred over a number of years, developed by a variety of scientists and engineers who initially brought their research together to create what was known as the ARPANET, the precursor to the World Wide Web.

And the Queen was more tech-enthusiastic than you might imagine. In fact, in 1976 she became the first monarch and one of the first ever people to ever send an email, during the early development stages of ARPANET, when visiting the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern.

It wasnt until 1989 that scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. In 2003, over 20 years after it was first born, nearly half of the UK residents had access to the Internet.

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall dividing East Germany and West Germany was dismantled by protesters, after a five-day gathering opposing the oppressive division.

The bringing down of the wall marked the end of the Cold War, and signified the fall of the iron curtain and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Queen, of course, had her own part to play in the historic moments leading up to the end of the Cold War. Years of diplomacy had been crucial as had the Queens role in warming diplomatic relations between the UK and the Soviet Union.

In fact, just seven months before the Berlin Wall started to be dismantled before it finally fell for good in 1991 The Queen had hosted Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, on a diplomatic visit to Windsor Castle.

The Queen gave her official royal assent to The Maastricht Treaty, first signed in 1992 officially establishing the European Union, that came into force in 1993.

There were originally 12 member countries, including the United Kingdom and the EU evolved out of the European Economic Community (EEC), which partly aimed to prevent conflict after World War II.

The Queen had always appeared to be pro-Europe, in an uncontentious manner, and was, of course, still head of state when the UK vote at referendum to leave its place in the EU in June 2016.

In 2018, she commented to the king and queen of the Netherlands that Britain was looking toward a new partnership with Europe and added that shared values between Britain and Europe are our greatest asset.

Dolly the Sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, and a procedure that led to widespread advancement with stem cell research.

Dolly was created and lived her life at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. One of the lead researchers, Ian Wilmut, received the Order of the British Empire from the Queen in 1999, and was knighted in 2008.

The cloned mammal produced several lambs during her lifetime, and was put to sleep after contracting a progressive lung disease, said to be unrelated to her cloning.

The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998, and marked the end of most of the violence related to The Troubles.

Citizens of both the Republican of Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in a referendum to approve the agreement.

The day after part of the measures went into effect, in 1999, Irish President, Mary McAleese, had lunch with the Queen in Buckingham Palace.

In 1997, the Scottish population voted for devolution with 74% of votes cast in favour, and a turnout of 60%.

Previous proposals for a Scottish Parliament had fallen at a referendum in 1979, as although a majority of Scottish voters had backed the plans, the required threshold of 40% registration of voters was not met.

This marked a period of significant change for the UK and the Queen officially opened the parliament, on 1 July 1999, giving the assembly law making powers.

Elizabeth has since spoken about the deep and abiding affection she and her late husband, Prince Philip, shared for Scotland.

On the morning of 11 September 2001, 19 Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger planes in the United States.

We are all familiar with what happened next it was an event that rocked the entire world.

Following the attacks, the Queen paid her own special tribute to the Americans living and working in Britain, as well as those who had been personally affected.

For the first time in its history, the military band were authorised to play the American national anthem during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, for the gathered crowds.

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeatedJohn McCain of become the 44th U.S. president, and the first African American elected to the White House, a momentous event for the US and the world.

Since the Queens passing, the Obamas have made a heartfelt tribute, stating that they were grateful to witness her reign and dedicated leadership.

The former president said: Michelle and I were lucky enough to come to know Her Majesty, and she meant a great deal to us, adding that she welcomed us to the world stage with open arms and extraordinary generosity.

The worlds attention was focused on Britain in 2012 with the Queens Diamond Jubilee taking place that summer, as well as the London Olympics which the UK was hosting for the third time.

The Queens appeared in a video played at the Games opening ceremony with co-star James Bond, which saw her skydiving into the Olympic Stadium before he declared the event to be open.

In 2016, citizens of the United Kingdom voted to take their nation out of the European Union.

The referendum saw David Cameron resign as prime minister, and Theresa May take over the position.

After years of negotiations, the UK finally withdrew, on January 21, 2020.

The Queen gave her royal assent to the bill that triggered the U.K.s withdrawal a monumental moment in the countrys history.

Nobody could have foreseen the chaos that the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK would bring and the knock on impact of it dominated much of the Queens final years, personally and professionally.

The lockdowns announced as a result saw the Queen broadcast only her fifth message to the nation, in her 70 year reign.

Other than her Christmas speech, she has only given a speech of this gravity during occasions including the beginning of the first Gulf War and the death of Princess Diana.

During her speech, the Queen reassured the nation with the heartfelt words: We should take comfort that, while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.

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24 groundbreaking events that happened during the Queen's reign - Metro.co.uk