Since her coronation, she has been an 'anchor in the storm,' facing innumerable crises both inside and outside the walls of her palaces. Queen Elizabeth II has become the keystone in the nation's architecture, a solid and immovable piece holding the country's image of itself in place as it celebrates her 70th year on the throne.
In a speech commemorating her Golden Jubilee in 2002, the Queen stated that she saw her role as "guiding this kingdom through changing times."
"Change has become a constant, and managing it has become a growing discipline," she admitted.
These words represent the Queen's challenge to herself: to make consistency and constancy the hallmarks of her reign, enhancing her image as a dependable and loyal monarch.
When Elizabeth, now 95, was born on April 21, 1926, she was expected to live the life of a minor royal as the elder daughter of King George V's second son. A country house, dogs and horses, a suitable match — a comfortable but uneventful life — appeared to be her future.
Everything changed a decade later, when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth's father ascended to the throne as King George VI, making the young princess heir apparent.
Elizabeth followed in her father's footsteps, joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service in early 1945, becoming the royal family's first full-time active member of the armed forces. On her 21st birthday, she pledged her life to the country and the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of states that arose from the British Empire.
"I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong," she said in a radio address broadcast around the world.
In place of her ailing father, the young princess embarked on a Commonwealth tour in 1952. She was at a remote Kenyan lodge with her husband, Prince Philip, watching baboons from the treetops when she learned of her father's death.
She immediately returned to London, disembarking in black mourning robes to begin her reign as queen. She has reigned ever since, occasionally wearing a crown, holding a sceptre and carrying a simple handbag.
In the seven decades since, the queen has met 14 prime ministers and 13 presidents of the United States.
Britain's longest-serving monarch, the only sovereign most Britons have ever known, has been a constant presence since the Suez Crisis of 1956, when Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal highlighted Britain's declining power, through the 1980s labor strife and the 2005 terror attacks in London.
In 1974, the year of the three-day week, raging inflation, two general elections, and an IRA bombing campaign on the British mainland, the Queen saw herself as comforter-in-chief once more.
"We hear a great deal about our troubles, about discord and dissension and about the uncertainty of our future," she said. "My message today is one of encouragement and hope."
The 95-year-old matriarch needed her words and actions to be perceived as neutral and impartial in the fractured Britain of the 1970s. As a result, she reached for the eternal values that anchored her philosophy.
In the early 1990s, criticism of the monarchy grew in response to reports of the queen's private wealth and concerns about the monarchy's cost. In 1992, the queen agreed to pay for the majority of her family's expenses and became the first monarch to pay income taxes since the 1930s.
Tensions rose again in 1997, when the royal family's silence following the death of Princess Diana, Prince Charles' ex-wife, fueled the resentment of Diana's many fans.
Even now, the monarchy is struggling to distance itself from the scandal sparked by a sex abuse lawsuit filed against Prince Andrew, the Queen's second son, as well as the fallout from two of the royal family's most popular members, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, abandoning their royal duties and departing for California.
