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| Credits: Wikilmages for Pixabay |
The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926
and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than five
decades of enormous social change and development. Much has happened over the
course of The Queen's life. Television has been invented, man has walked on the
moon for the first time and the Berlin Wall has been built and then razed to
the ground. Her Majesty's life has seen many changes too, from fulfilling her
role as Queen at the age of 25, to raising a family, to world travel on a scale
unparalleled by previous monarchs.
The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has four
children and eight grandchildren and is now 85 years old.
She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later
became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. At the time she stood third in line
of succession to the throne after Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward
VIII), and her father, The Duke of York. But it was not expected that her
father would become King, or that she would become Queen.
Princess Elizabeth was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her
younger sister.
After her father succeeded to the throne in 1936 and she became heir
presumptive, she started to study constitutional history and law as preparation
for her future role. She received tuition from her father, as well as sessions with
Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton. She was also instructed in religion by
the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Princess Elizabeth also learned French from a number of French and
Belgian governesses. It is a skill which has stood The Queen in good stead, as
she often has cause to use it when speaking to ambassadors and heads of state
from French-speaking countries, and when visiting French-speaking areas of
Canada.
Princess Elizabeth also studied art and music, learned to ride, and
became a strong swimmer. She won the Children's Challenge Shield at London's
Bath Club when she was thirteen.
Princess Elizabeth enrolled as a Girl Guide when she was eleven, and
later became a Sea Ranger.
In 1940, at the height of the Blitz, the young Princesses were moved for
their safety to Windsor Castle, where they spent most of the war years.
It was a time of austerity and anxiety for the whole country, including
the Royal Family. But at Christmas time there was a period of light relief when
the young Princesses put on pantomimes with the children of members of staff
for the enjoyment of her family and employees of the Royal Household.
On her twenty-first birthday, 21 April 1947, Princess Elizabeth was with
her parents and younger sister on a tour of South Africa. In a speech broadcast
on the radio from Cape Town, the Princess dedicated her life to the service of
the Commonwealth:
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