The Queen City: A look at Cincinnati during Queen Elizabeth's life

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday at the age of 96, England has a new monarch for the first time in more than 70 years. King Charles III will take some getting used to.

After all, even though there are no strong local connections with the royal family, they have been constant world figures all our lives. For Cincinnatians under the age of 70, about 90% of the population according to Census Reporter, there has never been a time in their lives when Queen Elizabeth wasn’t on the British throne.

So much has happened in the world during her lifetime: World War II, cultural and social revolution, scandals, terrorism, COVID-19 and much more.

As a frame of reference, here’s what Cincinnati has gone through in those 96 years.

A look at Cincinnati during Queen Elizabeth's lifetime

1926 – Princess Elizabeth of York is born: Cincinnati said farewell to the Burnet House the same year of Queen Elizabeth's birth. Abraham Lincoln and Oscar Wilde had visited the historic hotel at Third and Vine streets. So had the queen's great-grandfather, King Edward VII, when he was the Prince of Wales in 1860.

1947 – Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten: The Greater Cincinnati Airport (CVG) had been open for only a few months by the time Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten on Nov. 20, 1947. Coney Island’s majestic steamboat, the Island Queen, also burned to cinders that year while docked at Pittsburgh’s Monongahela Wharf.

1952 – Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen Elizabeth: Elizabeth became queen upon the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952, though Britain celebrated her coronation day on June 2, 1953. At that time, Cincinnati was at its peak population of more than 500,000 people. Our own Rosemary Clooney was on the cover of Time magazine. And a young writer named Rod Serling was working on a show called “The Storm” for WKRC-TV, before he went on to create “The Twilight Zone” in 1959.

1981 – Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer wed: Prince Charles and Lady Diana captured hearts around the world with their royal wedding in July 1981. That summer, the Cincinnati Bengals, in new uniforms and striped helmets, were preparing for one of their best seasons and a trip to the Super Bowl.

1997 – Princess Diana dies: The year Princess Diana died in a car wreck in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, Cincinnati had endured its own tragedy with massive flooding of the Ohio River, cresting at 64.7 feet on March 5, resulting in dozens of lives lost and millions in damages.

2011 – Prince William marries Kate Middleton: While the world celebrated the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29, 2011, Cincinnati mourned the loss of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth in October of that year. Shuttlesworth was a civil rights leader who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham and led the Greater New Light Baptist Church in Avondale.

2018 – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle marry: By the time Prince Harry married Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, Fiona the famous hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo had already become a household name. The MLS also awarded FC Cincinnati an expansion bid 10 days after the wedding on May 29, 2018.

2022 – Queen Elizabeth, who reigned for seven decades, dies: And Cincinnati joins the rest of the world in mourning the loss.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A look at Cincinnati during the reign of Queen Elizabeth