Queen Elizabeth II is the current monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the current Head of State of sixteen Commonwealth realms. Her Majesty is also the current Head of the House of Windsor, the reigning royal house of the UK which was founded in 1917 by her grandfather King George.
Born on April 21, 1926, as the first child of Albert Frederick Arthur George and Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon who were then the Duke and Duchess of York.
Prince Albert was the second child of King George V and was second in line to the throne after his elder brother Prince Edward. When King George V passed away in 1936, Prince Edward became King Edward VIII and as he had no children, Prince Albert became first in line for the throne while Princess Elizabeth became second in line.
Less than a year passed before Edward VIII abdicated the throne and Prince Albert was crowned as the new monarch. He ascended the throne as King George VI with his daughter Princess Elizabeth becoming first in line to the throne.
Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister Princess Margaret were educated at home. They had a governess who gave them lessons on history, literature and language.
During the Second World War, King George wanted to send his daughters to Canada to escape the dangers of German aerial bombing. However, their mother Elizabeth refused and the family stuck together as a unit in Britain. Instead, the princesses were moved to and from several castles in the country, before finally settling at Windsor Castle.
Princess Elizabeth played her part to support the war effort in several ways. She performed pantomimes to help the Queen's Wool Fund, and she made her first radio broadcast in 1940 at age 14 via the BBC’s Children’s Hour to address the children evacuated from the cities of Britain.
The Princess first met Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark at a royal wedding in 1934. The pair met again in 1939 and starting to exchange letters. They became engaged in 1947 after which the Prince then abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles and became British so that they could marry. Phillip was named the Duke of Edinburgh before the wedding which took place on November 20, 1947. They had four children, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
With the start of the pandemic, the Queen gave a rare televised statement where she thanked the workers who selflessly go outside to do their jobs and those following government rules to curb the spread of COVID-19.
On April 9, 2021, Prince Philip died at 99, after more than 70 years of their marriage. The Queen received a lot of love from many people but described being left with a "huge void in her life".
On April 17, at Windsor Castle, a royal ceremonial funeral was held for the Prince. The 94-year-old monarch stood alone due to COVID-19 restrictions as her husband's coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault of the ancient chapel.
The Queen has two birthdays — her actual birthday, April 21, which she celebrates privately, and her "official" one, held in June, called Trooping the Colour, which is a dazzling military parade that culminates with a gaggle of royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Last January, Prince Harry announced that he and his wife Meghan had separated from the British royal family. This was followed by their appearance in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey in which Meghan accused the royal family of raising concerns about how dark their son Archie's skin might be and ignoring her pleas for help while she felt suicidal.
Queen Elizabeth commented that the royal family was saddened by the challenges of her grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and she promised to address revelations about racism in the royal family.
On June 13, 2021, at the G7 summit, the Queen met U.S. President Biden and other world leaders by the seaside in Cornwall in southwest England.
