LONDON
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, better known as Queen Elizabeth II, has reached the 70-year milestone on the throne.
The platinum jubilee will see her as the longest serving monarch in British history, sitting on the throne since 1952.
Buckingham Palace earlier this year published a list of celebratory events planned for the summer, which includes concerts, special ceremonies, street parties and an extra bank holiday for the public.
Born April 21, 1926, she ascended to the throne with the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952.
In 2015, she became the longest-serving British monarch, leaving behind the record of Queen Victoria, who sat on the throne for 63 years and seven months.
Her first state opening of Parliament was Nov. 4, 1952, and the following year her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2.
Circumstantial queen
Princess Elizabeth was a minor royal for the first 10 years of her life and as her grandfather, King George V, died in 1936, next in the line of royal succession was her uncle, Edward VIII.
Edward’s reign, however, was short-lived.
After his abdication to get married to an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth’s father ascended to the throne as King George VI, making the young princess heir apparent at the age of 10.
Elizabeth never went to school but was tutored at home.
She joined the women's Auxiliary Territorial Service and trained as a truck driver and mechanic in 1945, when she was 18 years old.
Family
Lieut. Philip Mountbatten and Princess Elizabeth officially announced their engagement in July 1947 and were married in Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947.
The Queen and Philip had two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, before she ascended to the throne. They had two more children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward after she became queen. They had eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Prince Philip died April 9, 2021, at the age of 99.
Platinum jubilee
Elizabeth is the first British monarch to see the platinum jubilee, which means 70 years on the throne.
She is the only female royal family member to have entered the armed forces.
Elizabeth II is the world's most well-traveled head of state, visiting more than 110 countries but she never used a passport as she does not have one. She is also the only person who is allowed to drive without a driving license in the UK.
Significant events
Her first official visit was to West Germany in 1965 and the first by a British royal since 1913.
On Oct. 21, 1966, an avalanche of mud and water from a coal mine killed 116 children and 28 adults in the South Wales village of Aberfan. The queen visited the site one week later but she received criticism as she was expected to go sooner.
On July 29, 1981, an estimated 750 million people in 74 countries tuned in to watch Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Chinese mainland in 1986.
The queen and royal family received public criticism after Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997. Elizabeth refused to allow the flag to fly at half-mast over Buckingham Palace or address the grieving nation for the much-loved princess. But she soon revised her stance on the flag, greeted crowds of mourners and delivered a rare televised address.
Some international developments of great importance during the queen’s reign include the 1956 Suez crisis, 1962 Cuban missile crisis, 1967 Six Day War, 1969 moon landing, 1979 Iranian Revolution, 1989 Fall of the Berlin wall, 1991 Break Up of the Soviet Union, 1992 Maastricht Treaty, 1994 Rwandan genocide, 1994 Nelson Mandela’s election as president, 2001 9/11 attacks and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
When Elizabeth II sat on the throne in 1952, the USSR president was Joseph Stalin and the US was under the leadership of President Harry Truman.
The UK saw 14 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Boris Johnson, during her reign.
The 94-year-old monarch is the head of state of 15 countries in the Commonwealth including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines and non-Commonwealth states of Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
