On 6 February 1952, at 25 years old, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II took on St Edward’s Crown after the untimely death of her father, King George VI.
The King died at Sandringham House, aged 56, due to a coronary thrombosis.
Queen Elizabeth II's official coronation took place on 2 June 1953. It was the first coronation to be televised, winking to a new age and a reign that was rapidly evolving, and her choice proved to be both a bold gamble and a great success for a monarchy that was testing the waters of a modern world.
A total of 27 million people in the UK eagerly followed the black-and-white ceremony on television, and 11 million listened on the radio.
The same year, the Queen and Prince Philip departed on a round-the-world tour, covering 13 countries and over 40,000 miles (64,000 km) in seven months.
Did you know that Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t the only one to sit on the majestic Coronation Chair on Coronation Day?
On the morning of the Queen's Coronation, a black cat called Matins was found in Westminster Abbey, peacefully curled up and sleeping on the throne!
Becoming Queen Elizabeth
The newly-crowned queen attracted massive crowds wherever she travelled – a popularity that only grew with her reign, although intermittently, as she superseded many political and geopolitical changes.
A total of 15 British Prime Ministers governed the country under her reign.
Throughout her long life, the Queen would go on to visit a huge amount of countries (although there are some other places that she would never have the chance to visit due to political reasons, like Greece) and completed many more tours of the Commonwealth, either alone or with her family.
During her reign, Elizabeth II continued to make history.
As one of the most travelled heads of state of all time, she was the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to actually step foot in each country.
However, as expected from a busy public figure, the Queen didn't fly out on scheduled flights, relying on a special unit and private flights depending on the AirForce's availability.
Prince Philip himself was quite the passionate pilot, which reflected on his personal and public life: other than extending his patronage to many flying associations (he became, among other titles, Royal Aeronautical Society Honorary Fellow) he began his training in November 1952. Three years later, in 1955, he also took on helicopter training and at last, in 1959, he gained his private pilot’s license.
Not many know that he regularly piloted the aircraft of The Queen’s Flight in his tours around the world.
While she continued to carry on her royal duties, Her Majesty's popularity grew and she celebrated her Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees in 1977, 2002 and 2012 respectively.
In 2017 she became the first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee (65th anniversary) and, in 2022, the sovereign celebrated her Platinum Jubilee and marked 70 years on the throne: the longest reign for a British monarch ever.