Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926, in London, England.

She was the oldest child of

Prince Albert and his wife Elizabeth. Her father was second in line to the throne and later

became King George VI of Great Britain and Ireland in 1936 when his older brother Edward VIII

gave up the throne. Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were home-schooled and were

taught by their mother Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Their parents were trying to teach them

about royal standards, so their parents would hand them political articles to read and then

eventually they ended up studying the British constitution. Elizabeth and her sister wrote a book
called Crawlier. It was about raising the royal daughters.

At age 16, the fume of World War II broke out, Elizabeth had asked her father if she could serve

as a volunteer nurse in bomb damaged areas in London, but her father thought it was way to

dangerous for her to work in. When she was 18, her father allowed her to work voluntarily with

the Royal Auxiliary Territorial Service. He only allowed her to because he knew how much his

daughter loved serving others. While working there she was trained to drive and repair vehicles

even though she was not allowed to drive any of the vehicles.

As a teenager, Elizabeth started to make her first appearance. Since she was a daughter of a

royal King, her father would mainly be seen. Around the time, she started making appearances,

she also started crushing on her distant cousin, Prince Philip of Greece. When she turned 20,

she got engaged to him. Her father disapproved of her getting engaged at 20 years old. He had

nothing against Philip he just felt like she was too young to consider marriage. Eventually her

father became okay with her falling in love with Philip so they got married after he renounced his

Greek citizenship and title. Four years later, Elizabeth got the message that her father passed
away while she and Philip were on a trip to Kenya. She then became Queen Elizabeth II.

During her travels, Elizabeth celebrated many delight personal events, such as her 25th

wedding anniversary with Prince Philip on November 20, 1972. On that very same day 100

couples from all over Britain joined the queen and Prince Philip to share the occasion.

On November 14, 1973, Princess Anne, Elizabeth’s daughter, married Mark Philips and later

had two children, Peter and Zara. Becoming a grandmother was one of the Queen’s happiest

moments. Her eldest son Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981. They

had two sons, Prince William and Prince Henry. Her other son, Prince Andrew, married Sarah

Ferguson on July 23, 1986 and they had two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess

Eugenie. Queen Elizabeth had a total of 6 grandchildren. Another one of the queen’s happiest

events was when she got the Silver Jubilee in 1977.

She was invited to many sports events, festivals, carnivals, races, concerts, commemorative

stamps, and other activities. On May 4, 1977, both Houses of Parliament presented Elizabeth II

with loyal address in the Westminster Hall at St. Paul’s Cathedral. In June, the Queen and her

family celebrated a Thanksgiving service. At the Thanksgiving service the Queen talked about

her concerns for people who were victims of human conflict. She travelled widely to meet people

during the year she was presented with the Silver Jubilee and established the Silver Jubilee

Trust Fund, which was designed to help the young to help others. Elizabeth became more

confident, more open, and more ready to reveal her sense of humour.

In the late 1980s Elizabeth became very concerned over England and the future of her royal

family. The British press repeatedly reported the problems in her children’s marriages.

Elizabeth later found out that her son Prince Charles was not interested in taking on the throne

after his mother. There then were rumours that Elizabeth was going to hand over the throne to

her grandson Prince William. All troubles just seemed to arise in the year 1992, and she herself

called it a terrible year. Her daughter, Princess Anne’s, 20-year marriage ended in a divorce.

Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, her sons, had officially separated from their wives. Another

thing added on to the list is on the night of November 20, a fire badly damaged a good section

of Windsor Castle one of Queen Elizabeth’s other homes. After the public found out her house

partly burned down they paid for it with taxpayers’ money. The British people felt that the
Queen deserved it. Two days later Buckingham Palace announced that they were going to

restore everything she had lost. So, her year ended on a happier note and she was happy to

find out that her daughter Princess Anne remarried on December 12.

In 1995, Elizabeth wrote a letter to Prince Charles and Princess Diana advising them to divorce,

because they were shown on live television while they were being interviewed about their

relationship and they both discussed their unhappy 14-year marriage. They got divorced in

1996. Regardless of their family problems, Elizabeth still generally remained popular.

After August 1997, her former daughter in law Princess Diana died. Elizabeth was surprised by the

criticism, she was told that she broke the tradition. So on live broadcast the day before the funeral

she addressed the whole nation paying tribute to Diana. Her kind gesture was seen very significant

because she usually only addressed the nation only on Christmas Day. That was the only second

exception in her reign of 45 years.

In regards to all her problems and public stresses, Elizabeth refused to let all that slow her

down. She continued to enjoy time with her family and country life. It was very likewise that

Elizabeth would continue to practice her royal duties. She started hosting both British and

foreign leaders and received visitors from overseas. Elizabeth was also the head of the navy, army,
and air force of Great Britain. She is also a president or financial supporter of more than

700 organizations. In 1998, one of her accomplishments was opening the new British Library in

London. On February 6, 2002, she delivered her Golden Jubilee message to the United

Kingdom. In that same year, it also marked her 55th anniversary of her rise to the throne.

Queen Elizabeth is the only 5th monarch to celebrate a Golden Jubilee.