Elizabeth II (RWS)

Elizabeth II (born as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor) was Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth from 1952, until her death in 2022.

Biography
Elizabeth II first met Sir Topham Hatt in 1952, when he was presented to her by his son-in-law, Henry Regaby, the Lieutenant Governor (in other words, the Queen's representative and impartial advisor) of Sodor. Elizabeth II first came to meet the residents of Sodor after her coronation in 1953. Gordon was honoured by pulling her train and Thomas sorted the coaches for it, while Edward cleared the line ahead. She was greeted and honoured by Sir Topham Hatt at Tidmouth, and told the controller that she had a splendid run and wanted to meet the engines. She returned to the Mainland the next day, after speaking specially to the engines that had prepared the Royal Train.

In 1995, her son the Prince of Wales visited the Island of Sodor. He told the engines that the Queen had told him all about them, and agreed with her that the engines were a credit to the Fat Controller. He visited again in 2011 and stated that his parents had read him stories about Sodor as a child.

Elizabeth II died at the age of 96 on 8th September 2022. Her son, Prince Charles, succeeded her as the next monarch and became King Charles III. After lying in state for several days at the Palace of Westminster being watched over by her family and the Royal Guard, the Queen was given a full state funeral at Westminster Abbey before being taken to Windsor Castle for another service where she was lowered into the Royal Vault at St. George's Chapel for later internment alongside her husband, Prince Philip, to join her sister, Princess Margaret, and her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * Gordon the Big Engine - Paint Pots and Queens
 * Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines - Golden Jubilee
 * Thomas and his Friends - Gordon's Fire Service and Centenary

Companion Volumes

 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
 * 1996 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection
 * 2005 - Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
 * 2007 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection

Trivia

 * Rev. W. Awdry sent the Railway Series to the royal family in 1950, to read to the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne. This was acknowledged in The Railway Series book, Thomas and his Friends and the twenty-fourth series of Thomas & Friends episode, Thomas and the Royal Engine.
 * Elizabeth II appeared as an allusion to her coronation (2nd June) the year before the book was published.