From Salazar to Marcelo, from Churchill to Truss. The Portuguese, British and American leaders (and the Popes) who lived with Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II’s reign spanned numerous historical periods. When the Queen came to the throne, the United Kingdom was still recovering from the scars of the Second World War and it was the beginning of a bipolar world between the United States and the Soviet Union, at the same time that the European empires were losing their luster. .

For 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II has closely watched the Big events – the end of the Cold War, the United Kingdom’s entry into the European Union (and exit from the European project) and the start of an armed conflict in Ukraine are just a few examples. In between, he met countless leaders, including heads of state, heads of government, and popes.

As far as Portugal is concerned, the Queen met with four heads of state, three during the democratic period and one during the Estado Novo. In 1957, Isabel II even met António de Oliveira Salazar, then head of government, and the President of the Republic, Craveiro Lopes, on a visit to Lisbon and Porto.

The Portuguese Presidents of the Republic whose mandates coincided with the reign of the Queen were Craveiro Lopes, Américo Tomás, António de Spínola, Francisco da Costa Gomes, Ramalho Eanes, Mário Soares, Jorge Sampaio, Cavaco Silva and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Elizabeth II also visited Portugal when Craveiro Lopes and Ramalho Eanes were Heads of State. Mário Soares (in 1993) and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (in 2016), as Presidents of the Republic, visited the Queen in the United Kingdom.

5 photos

Inside, the queen lived with 16 British Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss (who was sworn in this Wednesday). In addition to Churchill, the monarch took the oath of office and closely followed the mandates of Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callagham, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Elizabeth II deprived 14 US Presidents: Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

Elizabeth II’s reign also spanned the terms of seven Popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.