It was on her first official overseas visit, to South Africa in 1947, that the future Queen Elizabeth II pledged in a radio broadcast to devote her life to the service of her people, “whether it be long or short”. She would fulfil that vow to the end of a reign that proved the second-longest by any monarch in world history. Yet the Queen was far more than a servant of her people. She became an enduring symbol of identity, a pivot around which her country changed perhaps even more profoundly than during the reign of her long-lived great-great-grandmother, Victoria.
1947年，在出访南非期间，未来的英国女王伊丽莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)在广播中承诺，将奉献自己的一生为人民服务，“无论是长是短”。那是她的首次正式出访。她将履行那个誓言，直到在位的最后一天。事实证明，她是世界历史上在位时间第二长的君主。然而，女王远不止是她人民的仆人。她成为一种持久不变的身份象征，她的国家围绕着这个轴心发生的变化，或许比她长寿的曾曾祖母维多利亚(Victoria)女王统治时期更为深刻。