Queen hailed for busting through sexist attitudes of 1950s Britain as young woman

Elizabeth came to throne at time when men ruled and women were subservient, Harman says

Queen Elizabeth II broke through the sexist attitudes of the 1950s, when she came to the throne, to become “matriarch” of the nation, Harriet Harman has said.

Ms Harman, who has the title Mother of the House as the longest-serving female MP, said that she marvelled at the monarch’s ability to “make her way as a woman in a man’s world”.

And she hailed the Queen for the “determination and courage” with which she established her position as a 25-year-old woman surrounded by men steeped in assumptions of male superiority.