1952: Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at 25

Princess Elizabeth (born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926) became Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 at the age of 25. Her father, King George VI suffered from lung cancer for much of his later life and died in his sleep on Feb. 6, 1952, at age 56. Upon his death, Princess Elizabeth, his oldest daughter, became Queen of England. 

The Death and Burial of King George VI

Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip were in East Africa when King George died. The couple had been visiting Kenya as part of the beginning of a planned five-month tour of Australia and New Zealand when they received the news of King George's death. With the news, the couple immediately made plans to return to Great Britain.

While Elizabeth was still flying home, England's Accession Council met to officially determine who was the heir to the throne. By 7 p.m. it was announced that the new monarch would be Queen Elizabeth II. When Elizabeth arrived in London, she was met at the airport by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to begin preparation for the viewing and burial of her father.

After lying in state at Westminster Hall where over 300,000 people paid their respects, King George VI was buried on Feb. 15, 1952, at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England. The funeral procession involved the entire royal court and was accompanied by 56 chimes from the great bell at Westminster known as Big Ben, tolled once for each year of the king's life. 

The First Television Broadcast Royal Coronation

Over a year after her father's death, Queen Elizabeth II's coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. It was the first televised coronation in history—although the communion and anointing were not televised. Before the coronation, Elizabeth II and Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, moved into Buckingham Palace in preparation for her reign. 

Although it was widely believed that the royal house would assume Philip's name, becoming the House of Mountbatten, Elizabeth II's grandmother Queen Mary and Prime Minister Churchill favored retaining the House of Windsor. On April 9, 1952, a full year before the coronation, Queen Elizabeth II released a proclamation that the royal house would remain as Windsor. After the death of Queen Mary in March of 1953, the name Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for male line descendants of the couple. 

Despite Queen Mary's untimely death three months prior, the coronation in June continued as planned, as the former queen had requested before her death. The coronation gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II was embroidered with the floral symbols of Commonwealth countries, including the English Tudor rose, Welsh leek, Irish shamrock, Scots thistle, Australian wattle, New Zealand silver fern, South African protea, Indian and Ceylon lotus, Pakistani wheat, cotton, and jute and the Canadian maple leaf. 

The Current Royal Family of the United Kingdom 

Queen Elizabeth reigned as queen of the United Kingdom until September 8, 2022, when she died at 96 years old, just months after her Platinum Jubilee celebrated 70 years on the throne.

The current royal family consists of her offspring with Philip. Their son, now King Charles III, married his first wife Diana, who bore their sons William (Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge) who married Kate (Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge) and they have three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis (of Cornwall and Cambridge); and Harry (Duke of Sussex) who married Meghan Markle (Duchess of Sussex), who together have a son named Archie and a daughter named Lilibet. In January 2020, Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping down from their royal duties, beginning March 31. Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, and she died in a car accident in 1997. Charles married the former Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005, and she became Queen Consort upon his accession to the throne.

Elizabeth's daughter, Anne, the Princess Royal, married Captain Mark Phillips and bore Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, both of whom married and had children (Peter fathered Savannah and Isla with wife Autumn Phillips and Zara mothered Mia, Lena, and Lucas with husband Mike Tendall). Queen Elizabeth II's son Andrew (Duke of York) married Sarah (Duchess of York) and sired Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York. The queen's youngest son, Edward (Earl of Wessex) married Sophie (Countess of Wessex) who gave birth to Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn James.