Heartbreak at the Palace

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The British Royal Family, an institution where stability, consistency and duty come above all else, and where tragedy and turmoil pose a great risk. Over the last half century, the reputation and stability of this great institution has faced great challenges, through death and divorce, the palace has been rocked to its core, and recovering has not always been easy. The great tragedy of King George VI's death in 1952 saw his daughter ascend to the throne and become Queen Elizabeth II. A Queen who would later be known as one of the most dutiful, stoic and stable monarchs in British history, as well as the most beloved. But in spite of the extraordinary reputation she would come to earn, there were significant challenges she would need to overcome. Queen Elizabeth's reign was littered with tragedies, but it would be in the way she coped with them that would reveal her exceptional attitude towards her constitutional role as monarch.