On April 21, 1926, ELIZABETH ALEXANDRA MARY WINDSOR was born, and at the time, her grandpa was King George V.
On September 8, 2022, she celebrated her 96th birthday and passed away quietly at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
She was the British monarch with the longest life expectancy and reign.
The Queen and Elizabeth I are not related even if they have the same name.
Elizabeth I was the final monarch of the Tudor dynasty, whereas Elizabeth II comes from the Windsors.
King George V’s son David succeeded him as King Edward VIII after his death in 1936, but he deposed the throne a year later to wed American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
Because of his abdication, his brother Albert became King George VI.
His eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, succeeded him after his untimely death in 1952.
On June 2, 1953, Elizabeth was crowned and assumed the monarchy as a 25-year-old mother of two children.
The first of 15 prime ministers to work for the Queen was Winston Churchill.
During her reign as monarch, she had encounters with all presidents of the United States excluding Lyndon Johnson.
She was first and foremost a servant.
She outlined what it meant to be a queen in a broadcast on April 21, 1947, the day before she turned 21.
“Now that we are approaching adulthood and womanhood, it is unquestionably a tremendous joy to us all to believe we shall be able to relieve part of the burden off the shoulders of our elders who have battled, struggled, and suffered to defend our childhood,” she remarked.
She also promised, “I declare before you all that my whole life—long or short—shall be committed to your service and the service of our great royal family, to which we all belong.
Her word was kept.
“It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.”
—Queen Elizabeth II