Queen Elizabeth II was not only a monarch who reigned over the United Kingdom, she was also a mother and grandmother to a whole lineage of Windsors who came to her for support and guidance. On April 21, 1926, she was born in a townhouse in London’s Mayfair neighborhood, as the oldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York. She was educated at home alongside her sister, Princess Margaret, but until the age of 10, she did not know she would someday be queen. When her uncle, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936, her father became King George VI and Elizabeth became the heir presumptive.
After brief service in a women’s auxiliary during World War II, she married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, who was named the Duke of Edinburgh in November 1947. Together they had four children, Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. The marriage lasted for 73 years, until Philip’s death in April 2021, and over the years, she referred to him as her “strength and stay.”
In February 1952, her father died of lung cancer, and she ascended the throne. As queen, she played a cultural role, becoming one of the most recognizable symbols of the U.K. in a prosperous half century, and a political one, conducting a confidential weekly meeting with 14 prime ministers throughout her reign. As the head of the Commonwealth, she traveled the world, greeting average citizens in walkabouts and charity visits, and speaking with diplomats. She made a full-time move to Windsor Castle at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and in her free time, she was a lover of breeding racehorses and always kept at least a few corgis around the home. She died on September 8, 2022.
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