Princess Elizabeth shown here (fourth from left), age 11, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, after her father George VI’s coronation. The death of Elizabeth’s beloved father in 1952 propelled her onto the throne at age 25.
Queen Elizabeth's Record-Breaking Reign in 15 Pictures
Queen Elizabeth II, who has now sat on the throne for 66 years, has always emphasized that her role is not to rule, but to serve.
I have to confess I have never been what my dear departed father used to call “a corgi watcher”—someone obsessed with the royal family. Her Majesty’s views and mine, though I have sadly not as yet had the opportunity to exchange them, almost certainly diverge on issues of class and politics.
But like many Brits of my generation (I was born the year before the coronation) my life has been bookended by the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, who in 2015 entered the record books as the longest serving monarch in a thousand years of British kings and queens, eclipsing the 63 years and 216 days set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.
In that time, she has presided over immense social and
