Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-serving monarch in British history. She has been a towering presence in British national life
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England under Elizabeth I: A time of war & plague, politics & rebellion, personal heroism & religious fanaticism. When if you were born poor you stayed poor, & the thumbscrews & the rack could be the grim prelude to the executioner's block. But it was also an age that encouraged literary genius, global exploration, & timeless beauty.