Elizabeth II, in full Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, officially Elizabeth II, by the Grace of

God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other
realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, (born
April 21, 1926, London, England—died September 8, 2022, Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire,
Scotland), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from February
6, 1952, to September 8, 2022. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning
monarch in British history.

Early life

Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, Princess Margaret, and Princess Elizabeth

Princess Elizabeth

Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth
Bowes-Lyon. As the child of a younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little
prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward duke of Windsor),
abdicated in her father’s favour on December 11, 1936, at which time her father became King
George VI and she became heir presumptive. The princess’s education was supervised by her
mother, who entrusted her daughters to a governess, Marion Crawford; the princess was also
grounded in history by C.H.K. Marten, afterward provost of Eton College, and had instruction
from visiting teachers in music and languages. During World War II she and her sister,
Princess Margaret Rose, perforce spent much of their time safely away from the London blitz
and separated from their parents, living mostly at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at the
Royal Lodge, Windsor, and Windsor Castle.

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wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, duke of Edinburgh

Elizabeth II: family

Early in 1947 Princess Elizabeth went with the king and queen to South Africa. After her
return there was an announcement of her betrothal to her distant cousin Lieutenant Philip
Mountbatten of the Royal Navy, formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. The
marriage took place in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. On the eve of the wedding
her father, the king, conferred upon the bridegroom the titles of duke of Edinburgh, earl of
Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They took residence at Clarence House in London. Their
first child, Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), was born November 14, 1948, at
Buckingham Palace.

Accession to the throne

Elizabeth II: coronation

proclamation declaring Elizabeth II queen of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II: opening of Parliament

Elizabeth II after her coronation

Elizabeth II: Christmas broadcast

In the summer of 1951 the health of King George VI entered into a serious decline, and
Princess Elizabeth represented him at the Trooping the Colour and on various other state
occasions. On October 7 she and her husband set out on a highly successful tour of Canada
and Washington, D.C. After Christmas in England she and the duke set out in January 1952
for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but en route, at Sagana, Kenya, news reached them
of the king’s death on February 6, 1952. Elizabeth, now queen, at once flew back to England.
The first three months of her reign, the period of full mourning for her father, were passed in
comparative seclusion. But in the summer, after she had moved from Clarence House to
Buckingham Palace, she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and carried out her first
state opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952. Her coronation was held at Westminster
Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Elizabeth II: royal tour of New Zealand

Beginning in November 1953 the queen and the duke of Edinburgh made a six-month round-
the-world tour of the Commonwealth, which included the first visit to Australia and New
Zealand by a reigning British monarch. In 1957, after state visits to various European nations,
she and the duke visited Canada and the United States. In 1961 she made the first royal
British tour of the Indian subcontinent in 50 years, and she was also the first reigning British
monarch to visit South America (in 1968) and the Persian Gulf countries (in 1979). During
her “Silver Jubilee” in 1977, she presided at a London banquet attended by the leaders of the
36 members of the Commonwealth, traveled all over Britain and Northern Ireland, and toured
overseas in the South Pacific and Australia, in Canada, and in the Caribbean.

Elizabeth II and her family

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles became heir apparent; he was
named prince of Wales on July 26, 1958, and was so invested on July 1, 1969. The queen’s
other children were Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise), born August 15, 1950, and
created princess royal in 1987; Prince Andrew (Andrew Albert Christian Edward), born
February 19, 1960, and created duke of York in 1986; and Prince Edward (Edward Anthony
Richard Louis), born March 10, 1964, and created earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn in
1999. All these children have the surname “of Windsor,” but in 1960 Elizabeth decided to
create the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor for other descendants not styled prince or
princess and royal highness. Elizabeth’s first grandchild (Princess Anne’s son) was born on
November 15, 1977.

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The modern monarchy

Elizabeth II at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The queen seemed increasingly aware of the modern role of the monarchy, allowing, for
example, the televising of the royal family’s domestic life in 1970 and condoning the formal
dissolution of her sister’s marriage in 1978. In the 1990s, however, the royal family faced a
number of challenges. In 1992, a year that Elizabeth referred to as the royal family’s annus
horribilis, Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, princess of Wales, separated, as did Prince
Andrew and his wife, Sarah, duchess of York. Moreover, Anne divorced, and a fire gutted the
royal residence of Windsor Castle. In addition, as the country struggled with a recession,
resentment over the royals’ lifestyle mounted, and in 1992 Elizabeth, although personally
exempt, agreed to pay taxes on her private income. The separation and later divorce (1996) of
Charles and the immensely popular Diana further eroded support for the royal family, which
was viewed by some as antiquated and unfeeling. The criticism intensified following Diana’s
death in 1997, especially after Elizabeth initially refused to allow the national flag to fly at
half-staff over Buckingham Palace. In line with her earlier attempts at modernizing the
monarchy, the queen subsequently sought to present a less-stuffy and less-traditional image of
the monarchy. These attempts were met with mixed success.

British royal family in 2015

Elizabeth II and Catherine, duchess of Cambridge

In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her 50th year on the throne. As part of her “Golden Jubilee,”
events were held throughout the Commonwealth, including several days of festivities in
London. The celebrations were somewhat diminished by the deaths of Elizabeth’s mother and
sister early in the year. Beginning in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century, the
public standing of the royal family rebounded, and even Charles’s 2005 marriage to Camilla
Parker Bowles found much support among the British people. In April 2011 Elizabeth led the
family in celebrating the wedding of Prince William of Wales—the elder son of Charles and
Diana—and Catherine Middleton. The following month she surpassed George III to become
the second longest-reigning monarch in British history, behind Victoria. Also in May,
Elizabeth made a historic trip to Ireland, becoming both the first British monarch to visit the
Irish republic and the first to set foot in Ireland since 1911. In 2012 Elizabeth celebrated her
“Diamond Jubilee,” marking 60 years on the throne. On September 9, 2015, she surpassed
Victoria’s record reign of 63 years and 216 days.
Elizabeth II at the funeral of Philip, duke of Edinburgh

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

In August 2017 Prince Philip officially retired from public life, though he periodically
appeared at official engagements after that. In the meantime, Elizabeth began to reduce her
own official engagements, passing some duties on to Prince Charles and other senior
members of the royal family, though the pool of stand-ins shrank when Charles’s younger
son, Prince Harry, duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan, duchess of Sussex, controversially
chose to give up their royal roles in March 2020. During this period, public interest in the
queen and the royal family grew as a result of the widespread popularity of The Crown, a
Netflix television series about the Windsors that debuted in 2016. Having dealt with several
physical setbacks in recent years, Philip, who had been Elizabeth’s husband for more than
seven decades, died in April 2021. On their 50th wedding anniversary, in 1997, Elizabeth had
said of Philip, “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.” Because of
social-distancing protocols brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the queen sat alone in
a choir stall in St. George’s Chapel (in Windsor Castle) at Philip’s funeral. The widely
disseminated images of her tragic isolation were heartbreaking but emblematic of the dignity
and courage that she brought to her reign.
Elizabeth II and Liz Truss

In June 2022 Britain celebrated Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne with the “Platinum
Jubilee,” a four-day national holiday that included the Trooping the Colour ceremony, a
thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a pop music concert at Buckingham Palace, and
a pageant that employed street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival, and costume to honour the
queen’s reign. Health issues limited Elizabeth’s involvement. Concerns about the queen’s
health also led to a break in tradition when, in September, she appointed Boris Johnson’s
replacement as prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral rather than at Buckingham Palace,
where she had formally appointed more than a dozen prime ministers.

Just days later, on September 8, Elizabeth’s death, at age 96, shocked Britain and the world.
Prince Charles succeeded her on the throne as King Charles III. Ten days of national
commemoration of her life and legacy—long planned as “Operation London Bridge”—
followed. Notably, the queen lay in state for a day in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh and
then for three days in Westminster Hall in London, outside of which mourners stood in a line
that stretched for miles, in some cases waiting for more than 24 hours to view Elizabeth’s
casket. Her sombre funeral ceremony in Westminster Abbey on September 19 was attended
by an estimated 100 heads of foreign governments. Following a procession to Wellington
Arch, during which Big Ben tolled, the queen’s casket was borne by hearse to her final resting
place in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth II
Elizabeth was known to favour simplicity in court life and was also known to take a serious
and informed interest in government business, aside from the traditional and ceremonial
duties. Privately, she became a keen horsewoman; she kept racehorses, frequently attended
races, and periodically visited the Kentucky stud farms in the United States. Her financial and
property holdings made her one of the world’s richest women.