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Greensboro, Winston-Salem experts weigh in on 70 years of history that Queen Elizabeth II witnessed and ruled over

As many leaders came and went, Queen Elizabeth II remained. International affairs experts described her role in it all.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Queen Elizabeth's reign saw decades of change.

In those 70 years, there were 14 U.S. Presidents, 15 U.K. Prime Ministers but only one queen.

Her death Thursday ended the longest reign in the history of the British monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II left a legacy that political experts like Mark Vail at Wake Forest University and Jerry Pubantz at UNC Greensboro said few achieved.

Vail is Worrell Chair of Politics and International Affairs at WFU.

"She is one of the most stable, effective and ultimately beloved monarchs in British history," Vail said.

Pubantz teaches political science at UNCG.

"She provided that stability in that long chain from Winston Churchill to the new Prime Minister today," Pubantz said. "I can't imagine most of us having a job for 70 years and making fewer errors than she did in accomplishing some important things."

Elizabeth was not born to be queen like others in her family.

Her uncle, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne and the title passed to her father, King George VI. She was 25 years old when her father died and she became queen.

She took the throne in the early 1950s, at a time when women were not often in power. Her ascension also came after her country was battered by two world wars.

"She was also the first female monarch in many centuries and she was subjected to not a small amount of sexism and misogyny early in her reign," Vail said.

Vail and Pubantz said she had strong examples to draw from in her ancestors Queens Victoria and Elizabeth I. Vail said what set her apart was how she inspired unity, something that impacted people outside of her kingdom.

"The idea that we were all in this together is something that Queen Elizabeth was very effective at conveying," Vail said. "It's something from which and I think about which Americans could learn a lot."

Pubantz said it will make a reign like hers hard to follow.

"She was probably the best-known woman in the world for the longest period of time," Pubantz said.

Her son now takes the throne as King Charles III.

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