Born third in line and never expected to rule, she reigned seventy years
When Elizabeth was born in 1926, her young uncle was expected to marry and push her down the succession. His abdication a decade later made her heir. She went on to reign for 70 years and 214 days, longer than any other British monarch or any queen regnant anywhere.
She arrived by Caesarean section at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, the London home of her mother's father, the Earl of Strathmore. The family called her Lilibet, after her own attempt at her name, and she called George V Grandpa England; the press credited her visits with cheering him through a serious illness in 1929. Winston Churchill found the two-year-old astonishingly authoritative. Educated at home with her sister Margaret, she studied constitutional history privately with Henry Marten of Eton, and a Girl Guides company was created at Buckingham Palace so she could mix with girls her age.
In 1936 Edward VIII gave up the throne over his plan to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson, and her father became George VI. With no brothers, she was heir presumptive under the rules of the day. During the Second World War her mother refused to send the girls to Canada, and they spent most of it at Windsor Castle, staging Christmas pantomimes to raise money for wool to knit into military clothing. At 14 she broadcast to evacuated children on the BBC, and she later served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
She married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, in November 1947, and they had four children. Her father's death in February 1952 made her, at 25, queen of seven Commonwealth countries; she was crowned in 1953. Over her lifetime she was sovereign of 32 states, dwindling to 15 as realms became republics, and more than 170 prime ministers advised her. Landmark journeys included China in 1986, Russia in 1994 and Ireland in 2011, and she met fourteen US presidents and five popes.
Scandal and grief tested the monarchy, notably in 1992, her annus horribilis, and after Diana's death in 1997, yet her personal popularity stayed consistently high. She died at Balmoral in September 2022, aged 96, and Charles III succeeded her.
Source: Elizabeth II
