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Queen Elizabeth II Biography

She served as the longest-serving British monarch for over 70 years presiding over continual change both within the Royal Family, Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth was the eldest child of Prince Albert, the Duke of York (later George VI) and his wife Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother). Her father Prince Albert was second in line to the throne until his elder brother Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 – pushing the shy Prince Albert into an unexpected role of King. King George VI rose to the challenge though he died early in 1952.

Elizabeth was educated at home, along with her sister Princess Margaret. During the Second World War, they were evacuated to Balmoral and later Windsor Castle. Towards the end of the war in 1945, Elizabeth joined the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Territorial Service, where she served as a driver and mechanic. After the war, she increasingly stepped into her role of performing public service and made her first overseas trip to South Africa in 1947. Shortly before her 21st birthday, she said:

“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Yet, there were still high points for the Royal Family, such as her ‘Silver Jubilee’ in 1977 and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981. By the 1990s, the media had a widespread fascination with Princess Diana , but as their marriage broke down, the Queen was increasingly perceived as being out of touch. In 1992, she famously declared the year to be her ‘ annus horribilus ‘ The year saw media headlines dominated by the marriage breakup of Charles and Diana, a fire in Windsor, and other criticisms of the Royal Family.

“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘ Annus Horribilis ‘.” (Christmas address, 1992)

In 1996, Princess Diana died in a car crash, and temporarily there was public dismay as the Queen appeared distant and refused to fly the flag at half-mast. But, after the Queen later expressed admiration for Princess Diana the hostility evaporated. Nevertheless, the relationship between Princess Diana and the Queen was best described as being ‘cool’.

“In tomorrow’s world we must all work together as hard as ever, if we’re truly to be United Nations.”

After the difficulties of the 1990s, the 2000s saw a resurgence in her popularity as the Royal Family put many difficulties behind them, and they were able to celebrate good news. If 1992 was her annus horribilus , 2012, was perhaps her annus mirabilis . Firstly, in April, Prince William married Kate Middleton to widespread public enthusiasm. Then in summer, her Golden Jubilee was widely celebrated and popular despite the wet weather. Finally, in July 2012, she took part in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics – which was a huge global success.

During her time as Head of State, Queen Elizabeth has sought to refrain from interfering in political issues and provide a moderating influence on the nation.

“We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory.” (30 April 2002)

She is a committed Christian and often mentions her religious beliefs in her Christmas addresses. However, in her role as Head of the Church of England, she has stated that she is committed to protecting the rights of all different faiths.

“The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.”

– During a speech at Lambeth Palace, 15/02/2012.

Despite passing 90 years, she remained in relatively good health and continued to serve.

Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September 2022 causing an outpouring of love and good wishes for her unique reign and life of duty and service. Her funeral at Westminster Abbey on 19 September attracted heads of state from around the world. It was the first state funeral since Winston Churchill and huge crowds came to see her final journey to Windsor Castle where she was buried next to her husband Prince Phillip.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Queen Elizabeth II”, Oxford, UK  www.biographyonline.net , 30/01/2013. Updated 20 September 2022.

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Queen Elizabeth II

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 25, 2023 | Original: May 23, 2018

Queen Elizabeth II served from 1952 to 2022 as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and numerous other realms and territories, as well as head of the Commonwealth, the group of 53 sovereign nations that includes many former British territories. Extremely popular for nearly all of her long reign, the queen was known for taking a serious interest in government and political affairs, apart from her ceremonial duties, and was credited with modernizing many aspects of the monarchy.

Childhood and Education of a Princess

When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the elder daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was born on April 21, 1926, she apparently had little chance of assuming the throne, as her father was a younger son of King George V.

But in late 1936, her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry an American divorcée, Wallis Simpson. As a result, her father became King George VI, and 10-year-old “Lilibet” (as she was known within the family) became the heir presumptive to the throne.

Though she spent much of her childhood with nannies, Princess Elizabeth was influenced greatly by her mother, who instilled in her a devout Christian faith as well as a keen understanding of the demands of royal life. Her grandmother, Queen Mary, consort of King George V, also instructed Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret in the finer points of royal etiquette.

Educated by private tutors, with an emphasis on British history and law, the princess also studied music and learned to speak fluent French. She trained as a Girl Guide (the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts) and developed a lifelong passion for horses.

As queen, she kept many thoroughbred racehorses and frequently attended racing and breeding events. Elizabeth’s famous attachment to Pembroke Welsh corgis also began in childhood, and she owned more than 30 corgis over the course of her reign.

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth and Margaret spent much of World War II living apart from their parents in the Royal Lodge at Windsor Castle, a medieval fortress outside London. In 1942, the king made Elizabeth an honorary colonel in the 500 Grenadier Guards, a Royal Army regiment.

Two years later, he named her as a member of the Privy Council and the Council of State, enabling her to act on his behalf when he was out of the country.

In 1947, soon after the royal family returned from an official visit to South Africa and Rhodesia, they announced Elizabeth’s engagement to Prince Philip of Greece, her third cousin (both were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) and a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. She had set her sights on him when she was only 13, and their relationship developed through visits and correspondence during the war.

Though many in the royal circle viewed Philip as an unwise match due to his lack of money and foreign (German) blood, Elizabeth was determined and very much in love. She and Philip wed on November 20, 1947 , at Westminster Abbey .

Their first son, Charles (Prince of Wales, then King Charles III ) was born in 1948; a daughter, Anne (Princess Royal) arrived two years later. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's third child and second son, Prince Andrew, was born in 1960 and the couple's youngest child, Prince Edward, was born in 1964.

Elizabeth and Phillip were married for an extraordinary 73 years, until the Prince died in April 2021 at the age of 99.

Queen Elizabeth's Coronation

With her father’s health declining in 1951, Elizabeth stepped in for him at various state functions. After spending that Christmas with the royal family, Elizabeth and Philip left on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, making a stopover in Kenya en route.

They were in Kenya on February 6, 1952, when King George VI succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 56, and his 25-year-old daughter became the sixth woman in history to ascend to the British throne. Her formal coronation as Queen Elizabeth II took place on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey.

In the first decade of her reign, Elizabeth settled into her role as queen, developing a close bond with Prime Minister Winston Churchill (the first of 15 prime ministers she would work with during her reign), weathering a foreign affairs disaster in the Suez Crisis of 1956 and making numerous state trips abroad.

In response to pointed criticism in the press, the queen embraced steps to modernize her own image and that of the monarchy, including televising her annual Christmas broadcast for the first time in 1957.

Elizabeth and Philip had two more children, Andrew (born 1960) and Edward (born 1964). In 1968, Charles was formally invested as the Prince of Wales , marking his coming of age and the beginning of what would be a long period as king-in-waiting.

Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, marking her 25 years on the throne, proved a bright spot in an era of economic struggles. Always a vigorous traveler, she kept a punishing schedule to mark the occasion, traveling some 56,000 miles around the Commonwealth, including the island nations Fiji and Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the British West Indies and Canada.

Royal Scandals

In 1981, all eyes were on the royal family once again as Prince Charles wed Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Though the couple soon welcomed two sons, William and Harry , their marriage quickly imploded, causing considerable public embarrassment for the queen and the entire royal family.

In 1992, Elizabeth’s 40th year on the throne and her family’s “Annus Horribilis” (according to a speech she gave that November) both Charles and Diana and Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah Ferguson, separated, while Princess Anne and her husband, Mark Phillips, divorced.

A fire also broke out at Windsor Castle that same year, and amid public outcry over the use of government funds to restore the royal residence, Queen Elizabeth agreed to pay taxes on her private income. This was not required by British law, though some earlier monarchs had done so as well.

At the time, her personal fortune was estimated at $11.7 billion. In another modernizing measure, she also agreed to open the state rooms at Buckingham Palace to the public for an admission fee when she was not in residence.

Response to Lady Diana's Death

After Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, Diana remained incredibly popular with the British (and international) public. Her tragic death the following year triggered a tremendous outpouring of shock and grief, as well as outrage at the royal family for what the public saw as its ill treatment of the “People’s Princess.”

Though Queen Elizabeth initially kept the family (including Princes William and Harry) out of the public eye at Balmoral, the unprecedented public response to Diana’s death convinced her to return to London, make a televised speech about Diana, greet mourners and allow the Union Jack to fly at half-mast above Buckingham Palace.

A Modern Monarchy

The queen’s popularity, and that of the entire royal family, rebounded during the first decade of the 21st century. Though 2002 marked Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee—50 years on the throne—the death of her mother (the beloved Queen Mum) and sister early that year cast a pall on the celebrations.

In 2005, the queen enjoyed public support when she gave her assent to Prince Charles’ once-unthinkable marriage to his longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles.

In her seventh decade on the throne, Queen Elizabeth presided over the pomp and circumstance of another royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, that of Prince William to Catherine Middleton in April 2011. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are in line to become Britain’s next king and queen, continued the line of succession with their children, Prince George (born 2013), Princess Charlotte (born 2015) and Prince Louis (born 2018).

In September 2015, Elizabeth surpassed the record of 63 years and 216 days on the throne set by Queen Victoria (her great-great-grandmother) to become the longest-reigning British monarch in history. A consistent presence by his wife’s side and one of Britain’s busiest royals for much of her reign, Prince Philip stepped down from his royal duties in 2017, at the age of 96. That same year, the royal couple celebrated 70 years of marriage, making theirs the longest union in the history of the British monarchy. Philip died in 2021, at the age of 99. 

In May 2018, Prince Harry wed the American actress Meghan Markle , a biracial divorcée. The couple had a son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, in 2019, and a daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, in 2021. Harry and Meghan announced they would be stepping back from senior royal duties in January 2020 and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles.

Rumors swirled at various times that Queen Elizabeth would step aside and let Prince Charles take the throne. In 2017, she delegated some of her royal obligations, such as the official Remembrance Day ceremony, to him, fueling speculation that she was preparing to bequeath the throne to her eldest son. Instead, she remained a consistent, stable presence at the head of Britain’s reigning family until her peaceful death on September 8, 2022 at her beloved country residence, Balmoral Castle. 

In the final years of her reign, she continued many of her official duties, public appearances and spent plenty of time outside with her beloved dogs and horses. Two days before her death, she officially installed a new prime minister, Liz Truss.

HISTORY Vault: Profiles: Queen Elizabeth II

Chart the unexpected rise and record-breaking reign of Queen Elizabeth II, which unfolded in the turbulent modern history of the English monarchy.

Her Majesty the Queen, The Royal Household website . Sally Bedell Smith, Elizabeth the Queen ( Penguin Random House, 2012 ). Queen Elizabeth II – Fast Facts, CNN . “Will Queen Elizabeth Give Prince Charles the Throne in 2018?” Newsweek .

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A timeline of Queen Elizabeth’s life

LONDON (AP) — Key milestones in the life of Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at age 96 after serving more than seven decades on the throne.

READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, dies at 96

• April 21, 1926: Born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in Mayfair, London, the first child of the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, later called the Queen Mother.
• Dec. 10, 1936: Elizabeth becomes heir-apparent to the throne after her uncle King Edward VIII abdicates and her father becomes king.
• Oct. 13, 1940: Elizabeth makes first public speech at age 14 on the BBC Children’s Hour to reassure children who had been separated from their parents during the Blitz.
• 1945: Elizabeth is made a Subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, serving for Britain during World War II.
• Nov. 20, 1947: Elizabeth marries Prince Philip Mountbatten of Greece and Denmark at Westminster Abbey.
• Nov. 14, 1948: Prince Charles, now Prince of Wales, heir-apparent to the throne, is born.
• Aug. 15, 1950: Elizabeth’s second child and only daughter, Anne, the Princess Royal, is born.
• Feb. 6, 1952: Elizabeth becomes queen upon the death of her father George VI.
• June 2, 1953: Crowned in a grand coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. She sets out on a tour of the Commonwealth, visiting places including Bermuda, Fiji, Tonga, Australia, and Gibraltar.
• Feb. 19, 1960: Elizabeth’s third child, Prince Andrew, is born.
• March 10, 1964: Elizabeth’s fourth child, Prince Edward, is born.
• May 1965: Elizabeth makes a historic visit to West Germany, the first German visit by a British monarch in 52 years.

• 1977: Elizabeth celebrates her Silver Jubilee, which marks 25 years on the throne.
• 1992: Elizabeth has what she describes as an “annus horribilis,” or a “horrible year.” The year sees marriages for three of her four children end. Also that year, a fire damages Windsor Castle. Public outcry over the cost of repairs amid a recession prompts the queen to volunteer to pay income taxes.
• Aug. 31, 1997: Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris. Under public pressure to demonstrate her grief, Elizabeth makes an unprecedented television broadcast in tribute to Diana’s memory.
• 2002: Elizabeth marks 50 years of reign with her Golden Jubilee. The year also sees the deaths of Elizabeth’s mother and her sister, Margaret.
• Dec. 20, 2007: Elizabeth becomes the longest-living British monarch, overtaking Victoria.
• May 2011: Elizabeth makes a historic visit to Ireland — the first visit by a British monarch since Irish independence.
• 2012: Elizabeth marks 60 years of her reign with a Diamond Jubilee .
• Sept. 9, 2015: Elizabeth surpasses Queen Victoria and becomes the longest-serving monarch in British history.
• June 11, 2016: Britain celebrates Elizabeth’s official 90th birthday with three days of national festivities.

READ MORE: King Charles III will succeed Queen Elizabeth II. Who is next in line to take the throne?

• Feb. 6, 2017: Elizabeth becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee , marking 65 years on the throne.
• March 2020: Elizabeth and Philip move from Buckingham Palace in London to Windsor Castle at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
• April 9, 2021: Prince Philip, Elizabeth’s husband of 73 years, dies at age 99 .
• Oct. 20, 2021: Elizabeth spends a night in a London hospital undergoing health tests. She cancels major engagements in subsequent months, on doctors’ orders to only undertake light duties.
• Feb. 6, 2022: Elizabeth becomes first British monarch to reach a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years as sovereign.
• June 2022: Elizabeth makes limited public appearances during a four-day holiday weekend celebrating her Platinum Jubilee .
• Sept. 6, 2022: Elizabeth meets Boris Johnson and Liz Truss at her summer holiday home in Scotland to oversee the handover of power from the outgoing prime minster to his successor. The ceremonies, traditionally held at Buckingham Palace in London, were moved to Balmoral for the first time in the queen’s reign in light of her mobility problems.
• Sept. 8, 2022: Elizabeth dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at age 96. Her eldest son becomes King Charles III.

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Short Bio » Queen » Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II is the Queen of Britain and 13 of the 53 Commonwealth Nations. She is formally known as Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth is also the Head of Commonwealth and The Supreme Governor of the Church of England. She succeeded her father on February 6, 1952, and has been the reigning monarch for over 62 years. She is the second longest reigning British monarch behind Queen Victoria. Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent to the throne.

Early Life of Elizabeth II

Elizabeth was born to King George VI on 21 April 1926. Her mother was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon . Queen Elizabeth has a younger sister Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. She was baptized by Cosmo Gordon Lang at the Buckingham Palace Chapel. She is named after her mother. She was called Lilibet by her family. As a child, she loved horses and dogs. At the time of her birth, she was 3rd in line to succeed the throne after her father and uncle King Edward VIII. But King Edward abdicated the throne in 1936. George VI became the new king of United Kingdom. She then became the heir presumptive. In 1934, Elizabeth met her future husband Prince Philip for the first time. At the age of 13, she said that she was in love with him. In 1947 they were engaged. There was controversy because of the King’s advisors. They said Prince Philip was not good enough for her. Prince Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles to marry Queen Elizabeth. He was then made Duke of Edinburgh. They married in 1947. Prince Charles was born the next year. Their second child Princess Anne was born in 1950.

In 1952, Queen Elizabeth was on tour of Kenya. On February 6, 1952, King George VI died. Prince Philip broke the news to her. They came back to England and moved into the Buckingham Palace. The coronation ceremony took place on 2 June 1953. She had two sons after becoming the queen. Prince Andrew was born in 1960 and Prince Edward was born in 1964. Queen Elizabeth rarely gives interviews. Little is known about her personal interests. At the time of her ascension, she was regarded as the ”Fairytale Queen”. She was also regarded as glamorous queen. Prince Charles has been the heir apparent for over 62 years now. He became the longest-serving heir apparent to the British throne. Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William is currently second in line to the throne.

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These photos follow the life of queen elizabeth ii — from childhood to the throne.

Zayrha Rodriguez

May 12, 1937: The royal family is seen at Buckingham Palace in London after the coronation ceremony of Princess Elizabeth's father King George VI. From left: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Princess Elizabeth, Mary of England, Princess Margaret and King George VI. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

May 12, 1937: The royal family is seen at Buckingham Palace in London after the coronation ceremony of Princess Elizabeth's father King George VI. From left: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Princess Elizabeth, Mary of England, Princess Margaret and King George VI.

Following a 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II has died at her castle in Balmoral, Scotland, Buckingham Palace reported on Thursday. She was 96 years old.

We take a look at Queen Elizabeth II's extraordinary life.

Left photo (Oct. 9, 1926): Princess Elizabeth is pictured in her baby carriage for her first outing. Right photo (Oct. 9, 1938): Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret ride in a carriage with their parents, the king and queen, to attend a morning service in Scotland. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Left photo (Oct. 9, 1926): Princess Elizabeth is pictured in her baby carriage for her first outing. Right photo (Oct. 9, 1938): Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret ride in a carriage with their parents, the king and queen, to attend a morning service in Scotland.

Circa 1930s: King George VI rides horses with his daughter Princess Elizabeth. Ullstein Bild/Getty Images hide caption

Circa 1930s: King George VI rides horses with his daughter Princess Elizabeth.

July 5, 1937: Lord Elphinstone (left) greets the British royal Family. From left: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (second from left), Princess Margaret (third from left), Princess Elizabeth (third from right) and King George VI (far right) at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

July 5, 1937: Lord Elphinstone (left) greets the British royal Family. From left: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (second from left), Princess Margaret (third from left), Princess Elizabeth (third from right) and King George VI (far right) at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dec. 31, 1939: King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret leave for their Christmas break in Sandringham, England. Universal Images Group via Getty hide caption

Circa 1940s: Princess Elizabeth changes the wheel of a military vehicle during World War II. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Circa 1940s: Princess Elizabeth changes the wheel of a military vehicle during World War II.

Nov. 20, 1947: Members of the British royal family and guests pose around Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on their wedding day in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace in London. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Nov. 20, 1947: Members of the British royal family and guests pose around Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on their wedding day in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace in London.

1950 : Queen Elizabeth II makes her Christmas Day broadcast from Government House, Auckland, New Zealand. Mirrorpix/Getty Images hide caption

Feb. 9, 1953: Prince Charles, with his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his sister, Princess Anne, left, as they sit in an automobile following their arrival in London by train from a six-week Christmas vacation at Sandringham, England. Eddie Worth/AP hide caption

June 2, 1953: Queen Elizabeth II, surrounded by the bishop of Durham Lord Michael Ramsay (left) and the bishop of Bath and Wells Lord Harold Bradfield, walks to the altar during her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, as her maids of honor carry her train. Intercontinentale/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

June 2, 1953: Queen Elizabeth II, surrounded by the bishop of Durham Lord Michael Ramsay (left) and the bishop of Bath and Wells Lord Harold Bradfield, walks to the altar during her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, as her maids of honor carry her train.

March 23, 1954: Queen Elizabeth II, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh, wearing formal dress, are greeted on their arrival at Parliament House for a state banquet in Australia. Fox Photos/Getty Images hide caption

March 23, 1954: Queen Elizabeth II, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh, wearing formal dress, are greeted on their arrival at Parliament House for a state banquet in Australia.

April 3, 1957: Queen Elizabeth II (center) with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the Duke of Beaufort. Associated Press hide caption

April 3, 1957: Queen Elizabeth II (center) with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the Duke of Beaufort.

May 17, 1962 : Queen Elizabeth II inspects the Grenadier Guards during a military inspection in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London. Evening Standard/Getty Images hide caption

May 17, 1962 : Queen Elizabeth II inspects the Grenadier Guards during a military inspection in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London.

October 15, 1969: Queen Elizabeth II arrives at King's Cross railway station in London with her four corgi dogs after holidays in Balmoral Castle and before welcoming at Buckingham Palace the American astronauts of Apollo 11 who walked on the moon. STF/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

October 15, 1969: Queen Elizabeth II arrives at King's Cross railway station in London with her four corgi dogs after holidays in Balmoral Castle and before welcoming at Buckingham Palace the American astronauts of Apollo 11 who walked on the moon.

May 1970: Queen Elizabeth II visits the Town Hall in Sydney with Sydney Lord Mayor Emmet McDermott during her tour of Australia. She is there in connection with the bicentenary of Captain Cook's 1770 expedition to Australia. Keystone/Getty Images hide caption

May 1970: Queen Elizabeth II visits the Town Hall in Sydney with Sydney Lord Mayor Emmet McDermott during her tour of Australia. She is there in connection with the bicentenary of Captain Cook's 1770 expedition to Australia.

July 29, 1981: Prince Charles and his bride Diana, Princess of Wales, wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their marriage at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Associated Press hide caption

July 29, 1981: Prince Charles and his bride Diana, Princess of Wales, wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their marriage at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

July 26, 1981: Queen Elizabeth II presents her son Prince Charles with a trophy after his team, England II, beat Spain 10-5 for the Silver Jubilee Polo Cup at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor, England. Associated Press hide caption

July 26, 1981: Queen Elizabeth II presents her son Prince Charles with a trophy after his team, England II, beat Spain 10-5 for the Silver Jubilee Polo Cup at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor, England.

June 9, 1982: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II attend a gala dinner at Windsor Castle in London. McCarthy/Getty Images hide caption

June 9, 1982: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II attend a gala dinner at Windsor Castle in London.

Sept. 4, 1982: The royal family share a joke with Geoff Capes as they attend the Braemar Highland Games in Scotland. From left: The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Geoff Capes. Mirrorpix/Getty Images hide caption

Sept. 4, 1982: The royal family share a joke with Geoff Capes as they attend the Braemar Highland Games in Scotland. From left: The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Geoff Capes.

March 20, 1995: Queen Elizabeth II and South African President Nelson Mandela walk from the president's office to parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, during the queen's week-long celebratory visit to the country. Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

March 20, 1995: Queen Elizabeth II and South African President Nelson Mandela walk from the president's office to parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, during the queen's week-long celebratory visit to the country.

June 4, 2002: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip ride in the Golden State Carriage at the head of a parade from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in London. Sion Touhig/ Images hide caption

June 4, 2002: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip ride in the Golden State Carriage at the head of a parade from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in London.

Nov. 18, 2007: Queen Elizabeth II (center) and Prince Philip (right front) are joined by Prince Charles (left front), Prince Edward (right back), Princess Anne (center back) and Prince Andrew (left back). Tim Graham/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Nov. 18, 2007: Queen Elizabeth II (center) and Prince Philip (right front) are joined by Prince Charles (left front), Prince Edward (right back), Princess Anne (center back) and Prince Andrew (left back).

May 18, 2011: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visit the Guinness Storehouse and watch the pouring of a pint in Dublin, Ireland. The duke and queen's visit to Ireland was the first by a monarch since 1911. Pool/Getty Images hide caption

May 18, 2011: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visit the Guinness Storehouse and watch the pouring of a pint in Dublin, Ireland. The duke and queen's visit to Ireland was the first by a monarch since 1911.

July 27, 2012: Queen Elizabeth II speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London. Pool/Getty Images hide caption

July 27, 2012: Queen Elizabeth II speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.

June 14, 2014: Members of the British royal family watch the fly-past as they stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour. From left: Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex; Prince Harry; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

June 12, 2016: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, wave to guests attending "The Patron's Lunch" celebrations for the queen's 90th birthday in London. Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty Images hide caption

May 13, 2017: Queen Elizabeth II drives her Range Rover around the Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, England. Mark Cuthbert/UK Press/Getty Images hide caption

June 14, 2018: Queen Elizabeth II laughs with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, during the pair's first engagement at a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire, England. Markle married Prince Harry in May 2018. Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images hide caption

April 17, 2021: Queen Elizabeth II watches as pallbearers carry the coffin of Prince Philip, Duke Of Edinburgh, into St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England. He served as prince consort to Queen Elizabeth II until his death on April 9, 2021, months short of his 100th birthday. Only 30 guests were invited to his funeral due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Yui Mok/Getty Images hide caption

April 17, 2021: Queen Elizabeth II watches as pallbearers carry the coffin of Prince Philip, Duke Of Edinburgh, into St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England. He served as prince consort to Queen Elizabeth II until his death on April 9, 2021, months short of his 100th birthday. Only 30 guests were invited to his funeral due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

May 11, 2021: Queen Elizabeth II reads the Queen's Speech on the Sovereign's Throne as Prince Charles (right) listens in the House of Lords chamber during the opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London. Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

June 13, 2021: Queen Elizabeth II (center) with U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden in the Grand Corridor during their visit to Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. Steve Parson/Getty Images hide caption

Feb. 5, 2022 : Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House in King's Lynn, England. Joe Giddens/WPA Pool/Getty Images hide caption

June 2, 2022 : Queen Elizabeth II watches with a smile from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Color ceremony in London on the first of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Jonathan Brady/AP hide caption

Sept. 6, 2022: Queen Elizabeth greets newly elected leader of the Conservative party, Liz Truss, as she arrives at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeen, Scotland, for an audience where she will be invited to become prime minister and form a new government. Jane Barlow/WPA Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Sept. 6, 2022: Queen Elizabeth greets newly elected leader of the Conservative party, Liz Truss, as she arrives at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeen, Scotland, for an audience where she will be invited to become prime minister and form a new government.

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9 Books to Read About Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth, famously reticent during her decades in the public eye, was a source of fascination for many. These books offer a deeper understanding of her life, family and world.

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By The New York Times Books Staff

During the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, through times of turbulence and peace, celebration, controversy and scandal, the monarchy has been an object of fascination.

Elizabeth, who died on Thursday at 96 , became Britain’s sovereign in 1952. Her reign, which spanned 15 British prime ministers and 14 American presidents, coincided with tremendous social and cultural change at home and abroad, as its empire overseas fell away.

Her duties were largely ceremonial, but supporters felt that she, and the monarchy, played an important and stabilizing role as the anchor of the country. Critics, on the other hand, considered the institution expensive and increasingly irrelevant in modern life.

Her coronation in 1953 was the first in Britain to be broadcast on television almost from beginning to end, and she struggled throughout her life to balance the norms and traditions with 24-hour news cycles and a far more public age. All the while, she worked to keep intact the public consensus the monarchy needed to survive.

Here are nine books we recommend for a deeper understanding of Elizabeth, her family and her time as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. — Elizabeth A. Harris

‘Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch,’ by Sally Bedell Smith

This thorough but deferential biography was published to coincide with the queen’s diamond jubilee. Smith — who has also written books about Princess Diana, Prince Charles and various American presidents — “curtsies before the British throne as deeply as a lady-in-waiting,” as wrote Alan Riding in The Times in 2012. Smith consulted public sources, friends and former courtiers of the queen who shared “intimate tidbits (all too often about horses and corgis). But despite that,” Riding goes on, “She faces a problem encountered, I suspect, by other royal biographers. Elizabeth has lived a remarkable life yet one that, quite frankly, is a bit dull to recount. Put differently, her somewhat dysfunctional family has provided far livelier copy.” — Elisabeth Egan

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‘Queen of the World: The Global Biography,’ by Robert Hardman

In this 2018 biography, Hardman, a journalist known for his reporting on the royal family, explores the queen’s global standing, her role as the head of the British Commonwealth and her extensive international travels. He catalogs her most significant international trips, and lists some of the memorable gifts she received during her journeys — including a pair of Brazilian jaguars and a baby crocodile, presented in a biscuit tin by a boy in Senegal. He details the byzantine protocols and security measures that were part of her travels to at least 126 nations and territories. “No one is entirely sure how many miles she has traveled,” he writes. “No monarch — perhaps no world leader — has seen as much of the planet and its peoples as Queen Elizabeth II.” — Alexandra Alter

‘The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor — the Truth and the Turmoil,’ by Tina Brown

Even if you think you know all there is to know about the difficult last decade in the life of the royal family — and even if you think you don’t care — you’ll find yourself riveted. This book is Brown at her best: acerbically funny, compassionate, and fully sourced. Ingeniously structured, the narrative has chapters devoted to central players whose stories tell the broader story of the Windsors through their many rises and falls. Brown is particularly sympathetic when it comes to imagining the romantic lives of her protagonists — and everyone here is a protagonist. The result has the exhilaration of real-life gossip, while offering a moving depiction of a family, and a nation, at a moment of monumental change. — Sadie Stein

‘The Queen’s Speech: An Intimate Portrait of the Queen in Her Own Words,’ by Ingrid Seward

Seward, a tireless chronicler of the monarchy, profiles the famously private Elizabeth by analyzing what little she shared with her subjects: seven decades’ worth of speeches. While this may seem like a narrow framework, in fact it’s a savvy workaround. Starting with Elizabeth’s first broadcast in 1940 — a segment on the Children’s Hour directed to young refugees when she was 14 — and continuing through a lifetime’s worth of national highs, lows, and Christmases, Seward manages to paint a surprisingly vivid portrait.

While the author has a wealth of respectful sources, it’s the queen’s words that drive the book. And that’s probably how she’d want it; she was known for the exacting attention she paid to every comma and fully aware of the implications of even the most oblique reference. Her public addresses are probably as close to a memoir as could exist. — Sadie Stein

‘Queen Elizabeth II: Portraits,’ by Cecil Beaton

Beaton, a prominent fashion and society photographer, first received a request to photograph Elizabeth, who was then a teenage princess, some 80 years ago. Over the next three decades, Beaton, who died in 1980, helped to shape the monarchy’s public image through his carefully choreographed and curated portraits . He photographed the queen during some of the most significant moments in her private and public life: in a military uniform as war broke out in England; shortly after the birth of her first child, Charles, and at her coronation in 1953. The book, which contains text by Susanna Brown, a photography curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is as much a celebration of Beaton’s talents as of his subject, Elizabeth. — Alexandra Alter

‘Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage,’ by Gyles Brandreth

“Biographers sometimes borrow the attitudes of their subjects,” our critic, Janet Maslin, wrote of this comprehensive examination of the royal union. “Perhaps that is why Gyles Brandreth would like you to know this about the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: what goes on between them, Dear Reader, is really none of your affair.” However: Brandreth, who knew Prince Philip for 25 years, does “spin little bits of information into long stories” and “ramble reasonably charmingly about royal history.” For instance, Brandreth writes, “Thanks to servants’ tittle-tattle (reliable in this instance) we do know that Prince Philip, in the early days of his marriage, did not wear pajamas.” — Elisabeth Egan

‘Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters,’ by Andrew Morton

Before they were regal women waving white-gloved hands at adoring crowds, Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret , were a formidable, and occasionally antagonistic pair, leading an “insulated and carefree” life, according to Morton. “The king of royal tea,” as our reviewer described him, may rely on oft-shared sagas (for instance, the particulars of Margaret’s love life), but he makes an important point: The Windsors were regular siblings before they were royals. Morton writes, “The two sisters were contradictory and conflicted, butting heads over matters both small and monumental, but they also loved one another.” — Elisabeth Egan

‘Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret,’ by Craig Brown

Brown’s biography of the queen’s younger sister is as irreverent and untraditional as Margaret herself. Elizabeth figures into the book mainly as a foil, with a “distrust of the unexpected” that contrasts sharply with Margaret’s taste for outlandish remarks, a bohemian crowd, scandal — and vodka and orange juice. As Brown (who recounts his own in-person meeting with the queen) described the monarch: “It was her duty and destiny to be dull, to be as useful and undemonstrative as a postage stamp, her life dedicated to the near-impossible task of saying nothing of interest.” — Joumana Khatib

‘All the Queen’s Corgis: The Story of Elizabeth II and Her Most Faithful Companions,’ by Penny Junor

Everything you always wanted to know about royal corgis but were afraid to ask! The biting of footmen! The pack power struggles! The nipping at foreign dignitaries! The illicit liaisons! (A corgi who shall remain nameless mated with one of Margaret’s dachshunds, resulting in several “dorgis.”) From the time she was 7, the future queen had a Welsh corgi trotting at her heels. Her hands-on affection for her pets — she fed and walked them, even traveled with them — provides a rare window into her life, or, at any rate, those of Candy, Disco, Pundit (yes, really), Vulcan and their generations of predecessors . — Sadie Stein

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to one of aspect of Queen Elizabeth’s tenure. As queen for 70 years she was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, but not the world’s. (Louis XIV of France ruled for 72 years.)

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Queen Elizabeth II

• Early Life, Princess, and World War II
• Occupation: Queen of the United Kingdom
• Reign: February 6, 1952 – present
• Born: April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
• Died: September 8, 2022 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
• Best known for: The longest-reigning British monarch

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• Life as Queen, Family, Politics
• Major Events in Reign and Interesting Facts

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Short Biography of Queen Elizabeth I

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Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was a long-ruling queen of England, governing with relative stability and prosperity for 44 years. The Elizabethan era is named for her.

(1533-1603)

Who Was Queen Elizabeth I?

Queen Elizabeth I claimed the throne in 1558 at the age of 25 and held it until her death 44 years later. Elizabeth I was born a princess but declared illegitimate through political machinations. Eventually, upon her half-sister Mary Tudor’s death, she took the crown.

Queen Elizabeth I’s Father and Mother

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She was only 2 years old when her mother was beheaded on the orders of her father, based on questionable charges of adultery and conspiracy.

Early Life and Education

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533, in Greenwich, England. Elizabeth was raised much like any other royal child. She received tutoring and excelled at languages and music.

After her father's death in 1547, Elizabeth spent some time under the care of her stepmother Catherine Parr. Parr hired tutors on Elizabeth's behalf, including William Grindal and Roger Ascham.

Tensions with Parr over Parr's new husband, Thomas Seymour, led Elizabeth to return to the royal estate at Hatfield, away from the court. Her relationship with Seymour later came under scrutiny, and Seymour was tried for conspiring to wed Elizabeth in a bid to gain power. Found guilty, Seymour was executed.

Elizabeth I of England’s Siblings

Elizabeth had an older half-sister, Mary Tudor , who was the king’s first child with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the only to survive to adulthood. Elizabeth also had a younger half-brother, Edward, who was the king’s first and only legitimate son with his third wife, Jane Seymour .

Elizabeth and Mary were declared to be illegitimate as their father sought to pave the way to the throne for Edward, his male heir. The girls were later reinstated as potential heirs. Upon Henry VIII’s death in 1547, Edward succeeded his father as King Edward VI.

Edward VI died just six years later, in 1553. Mary Tudor and their cousin, Lady Jane Grey , both were in line for the crown.

Edward had appointed Grey to be his successor. Her reign proved to be very short: Mary gained the support of the English people and unseated Grey after only nine days on the throne.

Even though Elizabeth supported Mary in her coup, she was not free from suspicion. A staunch Roman Catholic, Mary sought to restore her country back to her faith, undoing her father's break from the Pope. While Elizabeth went along with the religious change, she remained a candidate for the throne for those who wanted a return to Protestantism.

In 1554, Thomas Wyatt organized a rebellion against Mary in the hopes of making Elizabeth queen and restoring Protestantism to England. His plot was uncovered, and Mary quickly imprisoned Elizabeth. Although Elizabeth disputed any involvement in the conspiracy, her sister was not wholly convinced.

Although she was soon released, Elizabeth's life was firmly in her sister's hands. Wyatt was executed, but he maintained that Elizabeth was not aware of the rebellion. Elizabeth eventually returned to Hatfield and continued with her studies. In 1558, Elizabeth ascended to the throne upon Mary Tudor’s death.

Elizabeth I’s Reign

Elizabeth ruled for 44 years, from 1558 until her death in 1603.

Elizabeth I inherited a number of problems stirred up by her half-sister Mary. The country was at war with France, which proved to be a tremendous drain on the royal coffers.

There was also great tension between different religious factions after Mary worked to restore England to Roman Catholicism by any means necessary. Mary had earned herself the nickname Bloody Mary for ordering the execution of 300 Protestants as heretics.

Elizabeth acted swiftly to address these two pressing issues. During her first session of Parliament in 1559, she called for the passage of the Act of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England, and the Act of Uniformity, which created a common prayer book.

Elizabeth took a moderate approach to the divisive religious conflict in her country. "There is one Jesus Christ," she once said. "The rest is a dispute over trifles."

Historians differ on the extent that Catholics suffered religious persecution and execution under Elizabeth’s reign. The Roman Catholic Church took a dim view of her actions, and in 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth.

With the assistance of her key advisor, William Cecil, Elizabeth ended England’s war with France. She was able to avoid clashing with the other superpower of the age, Spain, for much of her reign.

In 1585, however, Elizabeth entered the fray to support the Protestant rebellion against Spain in the Netherlands. Spain then set its sights on England, but the English navy was able to defeat the infamous Spanish Armada in 1588. According to several reports, the weather proved to be a deciding factor in England's victory.

Elizabethan England

Elizabeth’s reign was sometimes referred to as the England's Golden Age or Elizabethan England, an era of peace and prosperity when the arts had a chance to blossom with Elizabeth's support.

While she worked hard at court, Elizabeth took time for leisurely pursuits. She loved music and could play the lute. Thomas Tallis and William Byrd were among her court musicians. Elizabeth also enjoyed dancing and watching plays. Elizabeth's reign supported the creation of works by such greats as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe .

Writers paid tribute to the queen in many literary forms. The poet Edmund Spenser based his character of Gloriana in The Faerie Queen on Elizabeth, and she was sometimes referred to by this name.

Portraiture was the reigning form of painting at the time, and artists honored Elizabeth by painting her portrait. These images reveal that Elizabeth was an early fashionista in many ways. She loved jewelry and beautiful clothing; her garments were often made with gold and silver. With the help of makeup, Elizabeth cultivated a dramatically pale look.

Rivalry Between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

During Elizabeth’s rule, Mary, Queen of Scots lay claim to the English crown and posed one of the greatest internal threats to remove her cousin from the throne. Mary was raised Catholic and was considered by many English Catholics to be the rightful monarch of England.

The daughter of King James V of Scotland, Mary Stuart united her country with France in 1558 when she married the future King Francis II. After Francis' death, Mary returned to Scotland in 1561.

Elizabeth jailed her cousin in 1567 in connection with several assassination attempts, including the Babington Plot. Elizabeth kept Mary imprisoned for nearly 20 years before she had her cousin executed in 1587.

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Later Years

Troubled times marked the final years of Elizabeth's reign. The country suffered from failed crops, unemployment and inflation. There were riots over food shortages and rebellions in Ireland.

Elizabeth faced many challenges to her authority, including from one of her favorite noblemen, Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex. She had sent him to Ireland to quell a rebellion known as the Nine Years War led by Gaelic lord Hugh O'Neill. Instead, Essex returned to England and sought to start his own rebellion. He was executed for treason in 1601.

Elizabeth I’s Golden Speech

Despite her fading power, Elizabeth still showed her devotion to her people. She gave one of her most famous speeches in 1601 to Parliament.

During what is referred to as her "Golden Speech," a self-reflective Elizabeth seemed to look back on her long reign. "Of myself I must say this, I was never any greedy, scraping grasper, nor a strait, fast-holding prince, nor yet a waster. My heart was never set on worldly goods but for my subjects' good."

While the end of her reign had been difficult, Elizabeth is largely remembered as a queen who supported her people. Her lengthy time on the throne provided her subjects with stability and consistency. Her political acumen, sharp wit and clever mind helped navigate the nation through many religious, social and governmental challenges.

Did Queen Elizabeth I Have a Husband or Children?

Elizabeth never married or had children; she seemed to have no interest in sharing power with a spouse. Over time, she cultivated her image as a queen married to her job and her people, earning her the nickname the "Virgin Queen."

Succession was a pressing issue for Elizabeth. During her reign, she managed a number of suitors and potential royal matches. Through her father and her sister, however, Elizabeth had seen the troubles and challenges of royal marriages.

Elizabeth's half-sister Mary Tudor had made an unpopular choice in marrying Philip II of Spain, who shared her devotion to the Roman Catholic faith. In the hopes of reuniting their two countries once more, Phillip offered to wed Elizabeth at one time. She refused.

Other suitors for Elizabeth's hand included the Archduke Charles of Austria and the future King Henry III of France. She used her availability as a means to political ends, but she never agreed to marriage.

Elizabeth herself seemed to have some interest in a member of her court, Robert Dudley. Their relationship was the subject of much gossip and speculation; both parties came under suspicion of the mysterious death of Dudley's wife.

Queen Elizabeth I’s Death

Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603, at Richmond Palace in Surrey. It’s believed that the cosmetic concoction Elizabeth used to cultivate her infamously pale look, called the "spirits of Saturn" — made by mixing white lead and vinegar — may have impacted her health.

Successor to Queen Elizabeth I

Because Elizabeth I had no children, with her death came the end of the house of Tudor — a royal family that had ruled England since the late 1400s. The son of her former rival and cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded her on the throne as James I.

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QUICK FACTS

• Name: Elizabeth
• Birth Year: 1533
• Birth date: September 7, 1533
• Birth City: Greenwich
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Elizabeth I was a long-ruling queen of England, governing with relative stability and prosperity for 44 years. The Elizabethan era is named for her.
• World Politics
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Interesting Facts
• Elizabeth I was called the Virgin Queen because of her refusal to marry.
• It’s believed that the cosmetic concoction Elizabeth used to cultivate her infamously pale look may have impacted her health and contributed to her death.
• Death Year: 1603
• Death date: March 24, 1603
• Death City: Richmond, Surrey
• Death Country: United Kingdom

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Queen Elizabeth I Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-elizabeth-i
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: February 7, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.
• I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.
• I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people.

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• HISTORY MAGAZINE

Queen Elizabeth II: A lifetime of devotion and service

The funeral of Britain's longest-ruling monarch concludes a life exemplified by a personal motto of "I serve."

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died on September 8, setting off a series of well-planned events to mark her passing. The culmination of these events is the state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday and her subsequent interment at King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. The people of the United Kingdom and leaders from around the world will gather in London to pay their respects to the late queen and bid a final farewell.

The beginning of an era

Queen Elizabeth II sat at her desk, undertaking her first duties as monarch. Just hours before, she had been Elizabeth Windsor; now she was queen of the United Kingdom, head of the Commonwealth of Nations, and sovereign of the Commonwealth realms.

It was 1952, and she was in mourning. But despite her grief, the young queen shouldered her new responsibility with grace—and her signature stiff upper lip. “She was sitting erect, fully accepting her destiny,” her private secretary later recalled. When he asked her which name she would reign under, she said “My own, of course.”

Over the seven decades that followed, Queen Elizabeth II would leave an unmistakable impression on her nation and the rest of the world. Her road to the throne was a twisted one; her reign beset by crises and social cataclysms. But her destiny was to rule through triumph and sorrow, conflict and almost unthinkable change. Along the way, she would become the longest-ruling British monarch—linking past and present and emerging as an indelible figure on the world stage.

A twist of royal fate

Born in London on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth was the granddaughter of a king and daughter of a duke—the newest member of the House of Windsor. Despite her royal pedigree, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary didn’t seem destined to the British throne. She was third in line to the monarchy, but it was widely assumed that her uncle Edward would become king, marry, and produce royal heirs of his own. History had other plans for Elizabeth.

When she was nine years old, her uncle took the throne as Edward VIII according to plan. Less than a year later he abdicated, abandoning the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite. Elizabeth’s father would become king, and suddenly Elizabeth was next in line to helm Britain’s hereditary monarchy.

The lonely princess

Elizabeth had been raised quietly along with her younger sister, Princess Margaret. But when she became heir to the throne, her future reign indelibly shaped young Elizabeth’s life. Privately educated in Buckingham Palace and overseen by a beloved governess, she was tutored in her future duties by leading scholars and in religion by the archbishop of Canterbury. She learned from her father, too: Shy, stuttering George VI nonetheless addressed his people regularly and insisted on staying in London during the Blitz of World War II.

Elizabeth was a lonely but dutiful young girl—one biographer noted that her loud cries during her christening as a baby were “the last recorded instance of her surrendering to anything like a tantrum.” But the war opened up her horizons.

In 1940, she made her first public speech at age 14, addressing children who had been separated from their parents during the war. “We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage,” she said. “We are trying . . . to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war.”

Love and war

The teenage princess took part in the war effort in another way, too. In 1945, Elizabeth made history when she became the first woman in the royal family to serve full-time in Britain’s military as a truck driver and mechanic. When the war ended later that year, she wore her uniform and slipped into the celebrating crowds, blending in with the revelers as she basked in the joy and relief of peace.

By then, the seeds of what would become a seven-decade romance had been sown. Elizabeth and Margaret spent much of World War II at Windsor Castle. Elizabeth’s third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark often stayed there when he was on leave from the Royal Navy. After the war, their relationship bloomed.

The dashing, blunt prince—who was exiled to England as an infant amid political strife in Greece and became naturalized as Philip Mountbatten in 1947—was an unlikely match for the reserved queen-to-be. He was relatively poor and seemingly rootless, his childhood marked by instability and trauma. But Elizabeth was captivated, reportedly falling in love at age 13. “She had a protective shell around her, and he brought her out of it,” said one observer. They married in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.

The young queen

As a young wife and mother—Charles III was born in 1948 and Princess Anne followed in 1950—Elizabeth began to step into her aging father’s shoes. In 1952, she undertook a world tour in King George VI’s stead. During a brief getaway with Philip in Kenya, word arrived that her father had died. The 25-year-old was now a queen.

Elizabeth II, Britain’s 61st monarch, would reign over a vast empire and serve as head of the Church of England. At the time of her accession, Britain had more than 70 territories overseas. She was sovereign and head of state of the Commonwealth realms, including Canada and Australia, and the second Head of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of sovereign states mostly linked to the United Kingdom through a history of British colonial rule. But her role was mostly symbolic: Though technically head of state and church, under the United Kingdom’s constitutional monarchy she possessed no ability to pass or enforce laws and was responsible for serving as a national figurehead, not a politician.

Elizabeth considered her responsibility as monarch a sacred duty. “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong,” she said in a radio address on her 21st birthday, when her father was still king. She would spend the rest of her life living up to that promise.

A glittering coronation

As she mourned her father and acclimated to life as queen, Elizabeth prepared for perhaps the most memorable of the many royal appearances she was to make during her long life: Her coronation, held in Westminster Abbey in June 1953, hewed to time-honored tradition.

The day of the ceremony, the demure young queen, wearing an elaborate white satin dress, took a carriage from Buckingham Palace to the abbey. Inside the abbey, she was blessed and anointed with oil, decked with royal robes, and given a scepter and an orb.

Finally, after a nearly five-pound crown studded with jewels was placed on her head, she received the homage of the royal family and the peerage. Prince Philip was the first to kneel before her, pledging to be her “liege man of life and limb.”

Admiring subjects lined the streets of London to celebrate. They weren’t the only ones to take in the grandeur—at the queen’s insistence, television cameras were allowed inside the church for the first time, and the coronation was broadcast live. An estimated three-quarters of the population of Britain, more than 20 million people, tuned in for the ceremony, and millions more watched from other countries. Her coronation was the world’s first must-see television event and ushered in a new, modern monarchy.

Her changing empire

The British Empire of the queen’s forebears was changing rapidly as countries asserted their independence in the postwar years. Elizabeth continued to serve as constitutional monarch of a growing number of Commonwealth realms. And as head of the Commonwealth of Nations, she presided over a loose group of mostly former British colonies that had abandoned their colonial relationships with Britain.

After the coronation, Elizabeth and Philip embarked on an unprecedented tour of the Commonwealth. During the trip, the pair traveled more than 40,000 miles and visited 13 countries. It was the first time a reigning monarch had visited either Australia or New Zealand.

The Commonwealth would become one of Elizabeth’s most enduring projects. She embraced the association’s diversity and fostered close relationships with its leaders. The Commonwealth “bears no resemblance to the Empires of the past,” she said. “It is an entirely new conception, built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace. To that new conception of an equal partnership of nations and races I shall give myself heart and soul every day of my life.”

Royal duties

A busy travel schedule made up just part of the queen’s royal duties. Though the British sovereign must remain externally neutral on matters of state, they retain the right to appoint prime ministers and call a general election. Although those duties are usually no more than ceremonial, they remain a key part of protocol. Monarchs can also advise—or be advised by—their prime ministers.

During her weekly visits with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in her first years as queen, Elizabeth received his tutelage and shared in his notorious sense of fun. Her private secretary recalled hearing “peals of laughter” during their audiences, and the queen wrote that she was “profoundly grateful” for his guidance during her first years as sovereign.

A “priggish schoolgirl”

Despite her outward neutrality, the queen had her detractors—and soon learned that, in times of national strife, the monarchy could be harshly criticized. The first gauntlet came after the Suez Crisis, Britain’s disastrous, short-lived invasion of Egypt in 1956. The brief fiasco resulted in a decline in the U.K.’s global status and fueled a political and economic crisis.

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After Anthony Eden, the prime minister who had given the invasion the green light, resigned, Elizabeth came under fire for relying on the advice of an insular group of royal insiders in choosing Eden’s successor. In 1957, Lord Altrincham, the influential editor of the National and English Review, published sharp criticism of Elizabeth and her “tweedy” advisers. Then he launched into a personal attack on the queen herself, complaining about everything from her voice to her “priggish schoolgirl” demeanor.

The criticism—and the debate it generated—prompted the queen to make lasting changes. Though the queen kept the monarch’s prerogative to appoint prime ministers, she would defer to political parties’ choice of prime minister for the rest of her life. And, in a nod toward equality, the queen eventually did away with the custom of presenting upper-crust debutantes at court, a long-standing tradition seen by some as evidence of a privilege unfairly extended to an elite minority.

A troubled nation

British society was changing and so was the monarchy. During her reign, Elizabeth faced a seemingly endless parade of crises, from economic malaise in the 1970s and 1980s to the international woes of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic in the 21st century. But some events hit closer to home than others.

One such event was the Aberfan mine disaster in 1966, a landslide in which 144 people, many of them schoolchildren, were killed. After refusing to visit the Welsh community until more than a week after the incident, Elizabeth faced deep criticism for what some saw as leaving her subjects in the lurch. The queen reportedly considered her bungled response to the disaster to be the biggest regret of her reign.

The Troubles, a three-decades-long conflict between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland, was another crucible. The violence left more than 3,600 dead and more than 30,000 injured. The Troubles also touched Elizabeth personally: Her second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979. It would take until 2011 for Elizabeth to make an official state visit to the Republic of Ireland, where she offered her sympathy to the victims of the Troubles. Despite her words—the closest a member of the Royal Family ever came to apologizing for Britain’s reprisals during the conflict—tensions continued to simmer in Northern Ireland, especially in the throes of Brexit, which threatened trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Pomp and circumstance

As a mother of four—Prince Andrew was born in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964—the queen hewed carefully to her symbolic duties. Every year, she presided at the State Opening of Parliament, delivering a speech to the assembled members of the Houses of Commons and Lords. (During her reign she missed only three appearances; twice while pregnant with her younger sons and once in 2022 as concerns for her health increased.)

State events were filled with pitfalls of procedure and etiquette. But for the queen, there was a practical annoyance: the weight of her nearly five-pound Imperial State Crown. “You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did, your neck would break—it would fall off,” she told the BBC in a 2018 documentary. “So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.” As the queen aged, she began wearing a lighter-weight diadem to Parliament instead.

Another tradition was the royal Christmas message, a speech broadcast first by radio, then by television to a worldwide audience. During the annual messages, which her grandfather first instituted, Elizabeth offered thanks and encouragement to the people of the Commonwealth and commented on the most pressing issues of the time.

And then there were the jubilees—anniversary celebrations of the queen’s ever lengthening rule. The queen would often travel throughout the Commonwealth of Nations during jubilee years, and she used the jubilee celebrations as chances to greet her subjects and focus on the unity and progress of her nation and the Commonwealth.

In 1969, she presided over a very personal ceremony: the investiture of her oldest son, Charles, as Prince of Wales. As her son knelt before her at Caernarfon Castle, she placed a jewel-studded coronet on his head and presented him to the Welsh people as their prince.

Family matters

Over the years, the queen survived multiple assassination attempts. But those were arguably less traumatic than the family conflicts that rocked her personal life and shook public confidence in the monarchy.

The queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, caused a furor when tabloids published photos of her cavorting with her lover in 1976. Though Margaret’s subsequent divorce scandalized the family, Elizabeth gave it her blessing. It was just a preview of the strife to come.

The fallout of the tempestuous marriage and separation of Charles III and Princess Diana led Elizabeth to refer to 1992 as her “annus horribilis,” a year that also included a catastrophic fire at Windsor Castle, the divorce of Princess Anne, and the separation of Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah.

When Diana died in a tragic car crash while being pursued by paparazzi in 1997, her former mother-in-law was condemned for her seeming lack of emotion. But in private, the queen expressed her grief, writing to a friend that Diana’s death was “dreadfully sad.” In the aftermath, she protected and cared for her grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

A stiff upper lip

Elizabeth’s troubles didn’t end then. Her son Prince Andrew was linked to infamous American financier Jeffrey Epstein and accused of sexually assaulting a minor Epstein had allegedly trafficked. Under increasing public pressure and after a widely criticized television interview in which Prince Andrew downplayed Epstein’s actions and denied any wrongdoing, he stepped down from public life in November 2019 and returned his royal patronages and military titles to the queen in January 2022.

In January 2020, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced they would step back from the royal family and become financially independent. They also alleged that Meghan, who is biracial, had received racist treatment from members of the royal inner circle. Though the couple’s retreat to the United States reportedly came as a blow to the queen, the monarch retained a relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from afar and was said to have been “overjoyed” that the pair named their second child Lilibet.

Another blow came in 2021, when Philip, the longest-serving royal consort in British history, died at age 99. Images of the queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral, which was kept small to conform with the British government’s coronavirus-era restrictions, vividly illustrated the queen’s loss. But through it all, she presented a placid face to the world.

Intensely private though she was, the queen was also known to be warm and witty. She doted on her corgis and relished her summer retreats to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she could go on long walks and picnics, drive her Range Rover, and visit with her royal ponies. A committed horsewoman, she was a fixture at horse shows and races and could be spotted in the saddle into her 90s.

But for the woman who committed to serving her country at the age of just 25, her country was never far from her thoughts. She remained active and involved in public events into her mid-90s and never turned away from her responsibilities as queen. “These are the things that, at her age, she shouldn’t be doing, yet she’s carrying on and doing them,” her grandson Prince Harry said in a 2012 interview. So, what did the resilient queen make of her own boundary-breaking life? She reportedly joked, “I have to be seen to be believed.”

Elizabeth could find the humor in her complicated destiny. And for those who loved her—her millions of subjects, her loving family, and her fans around the world—she was much more than a figurehead. “In the days when it was a man’s world, it was very difficult for her to . . . make a difference,” her grandson Prince William said in a 2019 interview. “And she’s done it. In her own very unique, distinct way.”

To the end, she retained the calm resolve of the young woman who accepted her royal fate so many years before—a life of duty and service, accomplished as no one but Elizabeth could.

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