Key dates in the life of Queen Elizabeth II
UK: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She was 96. Her reign was the longest in the history of the United Kingdom, and one of the longest reigns by any Head of State.
Here are some key moments in her life:
* Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926, christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace.
* She became heir apparent when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated on December 11, 1936, and her father became King George VI. She was 10 years old.
* She married Navy Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at London’s Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.
* They had four children: Prince Charles (born in 1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964). Her husband Prince Philip died in April 2021, aged 99.
* She ascended the throne on the death of her father on February 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on a royal tour.
* She was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey.
* When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were leading the Soviet Union, China and the US, while Winston Churchill was British PM.
* On Sept. 9, 2015, she surpassed the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne.
* Elizabeth remains Queen of 15 realms, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada.
* She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee – the 70th anniversary of her accession – on February 6, 2022.
– THE INDIAN EXPRESS