In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a symbol of stability in turbulent era that saw decline of British empire and embarrassing dysfunction in her own family, dies after 70 years on throne
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was not just Queen Elizabeth II. She was simply The Queen.
Even as heir apparent, the birth of a baby brother would have sent her back into relative aristocratic obscurity under succession laws in place at the time that gave precedence to males.Until the "shock" of the abdication, she had been brought up exactly like her more outgoing younger sister Margaret. The two were often dressed like twins.
The royal family — George VI, Queen Elizabeth, princess Elizabeth and princess Margaret — referred to themselves as "we four", Morton said, and were close. Queen Elizabeth is one of the most recognisable people in the world and against the tide of history and logic, she made a medieval anachronism somehow modern - a stoic old lady in a hat onto whom so much could be projected. The news that morning of New Zealander Edmund Hillary's conquest of Everest made the celebrations all the more giddy.
She had already done her dynastic duty by giving birth to an "heir and a spare" — a successor and a younger sibling — by the time she was crowned. Despite crises and conflicts, it still counts 54 countries with a combined population of 2.57 billion people. She later described it as "one of the most memorable nights of my life. I remember we were terrified of being recognised."
Both loved horses. The queen's racing stables turned out some 1,700 winners, with the Racing Post occupying pride of place on her desk alongside state papers.Philip played polo into his 50s and raced carriages into his 90s. Fittingly both were obsessed with breeding. The documentary was part of a bid to "humanise" the monarchy masterminded by Philip's uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the former viceroy of India's son-in-law, film producer John Knatchbull, the seventh Baron Brabourne.
In this file photo taken on September 9, 1960 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II , Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and their three children Prince Charles , Princess Anne and Prince Andrew pose in the grounds of Balmoral Castle, near the village of Crathie in Aberdeenshire. The queen's rather unruly and resentful sister, Margaret, was first in the firing line, her colourful private life making her prime paparazzi material.
And then the unimaginable happened. Diana's tragic end in a car crash in Paris in 1997 not only shook confidence in the monarchy, but in the queen herself.
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