An eventful reign comes to an end
Throughout her reign, the Queen witnessed a vast array of changes to the United Kingdom's global position, largely due to the collapse of the British Empire after World War Two. The Queen also saw the rise and fall of 15 different British Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill, born in 1874, to Liz Truss born over a hundred years later in 1975, as well as 13 U.S. presidents. As of 2022, the Queen was by far the most-popular member of the Royal Family, with 81 percent of people in Great Britain having a positive impression of her. Although not universally supported by the British public, recent surveys suggest that a majority of people in Great Britain wanted to keep the monarchy, rather than have an elected head of state.Throughout the Queen's reign, the Royal Family were no strangers to controversy and the mixed fortunes of the Royals have been well-documented. In Oprah Winfrey's March 2021 interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan described experiences of racism and how their treatment by the British media damaged their mental health, leading to their move to the United States in early 2020. These revelations have further damaged the standing of the Royal Family, still reeling from recent sexual abuse allegations made against the late Queen's son Prince Andrew. A survey conducted just after the Harry and Meghan interview, however, highlighted the split in public opinion regarding the matter, with 36 percent of British people feeling more sympathy for the Queen and Royal Family than they did for the Sussexes, who had 22 percent of people feeling sympathetic to them.
