30 Queen Elizabeth Photos as a Young Woman & Through the Years

A look inside the life of Britain’s longest reigning monarch.

After a 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II peacefully passed away at the age of 96 in September 2022. Of course, it was a big moment: Since her coronation in 1952, the queen had overseen England’s transition from a vast empire to a small but mighty nation while also remaining an anchor of dignity amid personal and national tragedies.

Born on April 21, 1926, Queen Elizabeth was not initially expected to ascend to the throne; her father, King George VI, was actually the younger son of King George V. King George V’s eldest son, Edward VIII, was king for a short time before his abdication in 1936 (he wanted to run off and marry a divorced American woman, which was a choice that shook the country). Amid this scandal, a 10-year-old Elizabeth emerged as the heir presumptive to the throne. Naturally, Queen Elizabeth’s education emphasized skills she would need to properly rule a large commonwealth. However, she also developed her own hobbies and passions on the side: Horses and corgis perhaps most famous among them.

In 1947, Queen Elizabeth — still a princess — married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. The two would embark on a 73-year marriage, having four children (not to mention eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren) until Philip’s death in 2021.

After her father’s death in 1952, a 25-year-old Elizabeth ascended to the throne of post-war Britain. Initially ruling over a vast number of nations (including Kenya and Hong Kong), as the decades passed, colonies began declaring independence. Despite the evolving nature of her country’s international power, Queen Elizabeth was notorious for remaining stoic. This was an attitude that gained her a lot of respect but was occasionally thought to be a bit overly unemotional — namely when her daughter-in-law Princess Diana died and the queen hesitated to join in public mourning. But regardless of that intense calm, the queen remained the British icon and has gained decades of respect and goodwill.

Ahead of the first anniversary of her death, we’re celebrating her life with photos documenting Britain’s longest-reigning monarch (by the way, did you know that her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, was born in 1874 while her most recent prime minister, Liz Truss, was born a full 101 years later?). We’re happy to look back on the earliest moments of her royal childhood, her adolescence, early marriage, coronation, time spent touring the world, and moments with her beloved family.