Evacuating during the Blitz and joining the war effortĮlizabeth once described her ascension as 'very sudden', but she had been training for the role most of her life. It was up to the quiet Albert and his dutiful daughter to save the crown.įifteen years later, Lilibet would become Her Majesty - but not before she fell in love, survived a war and endured a great loss. Ten-year-old Elizabeth, dubbed Lilibet by her family was suddenly heir-presumptive to the throne. He abdicated, and Albert was proclaimed King George VI.

His decision to choose love over the Crown plunged the monarchy into crisis. When King George V died in 1936, the charming David took the throne as King Edward VIII, only to renounce it within a year to marry his lover, American divorcee Wallis Simpson. 'She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant,' Winston Churchill said of the two-year-old Elizabeth, describing her as a 'character'.ĭecades later, when he was 77 and she was 25, Churchill was the first of 13 prime ministers to serve under Elizabeth. It was as if only the toddler herself knew what fate had conspired for her. The Princess of York was then just a decorative object in the House of Windsor, one that would gather dust and obsolescence when her uncle and father produced prized male heirs.Įven as a minor royal, there was something about little Elizabeth. She was third in line to the throne, behind her uncle David and her own father, Albert, the Duke of York. Defying the expectations of her birthĮlizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, during the reign of her grandfather, King George V, the man she called 'Grandpapa England'. Her life was far longer than she perhaps expected, but her devotion never wavered. 'My whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.' Sometimes she even bore their disappointment in her.īut throughout her seven-decade reign, Elizabeth upheld the vow she once made as a young princess. Upon Elizabeth's shoulders, she carried her kingdom's hopes, her people's love, their imagination and their expectations. The most sacred of Britain's treasures was then carefully packed away for her eventual successor.īut every monarch bears the weight of that brief moment for the rest of their reign. Weighing 2.3 kilograms, St Edward's Crown was placed upon Queen Elizabeth II's head for a mere moment during an ancient ceremony that transformed her from Lilibet Windsor into the sovereign. Others conquered armies and murdered rivals to grab it for themselves.īut for one little girl, that intricate crown of gold, ermine and 440 precious gems found its way to her through a royal scandal. Some inherited it upon their father's final breath. The crown has zigged and zagged through 37 generations, landing on the heads of an anointed few. Through 1,200 years of war, death and empire-building, succession in the British monarchy has rarely been a straight line.

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