1926: Princess Elizabeth was born on April 21, at 17 Bruton St, Mayfair, London, and christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, her full name being Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. The first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

1933: Her lifelong love of corgis began with “Dookie”, the first corgi owned by her family.

1936: At 10-years-old, Elizabeth became heir apparent when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated on Dec. 11, and her father became King George VI. She was 10 years old.

1940: The 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during the BBC’s Children’s Hour addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities.

1942: The Princess’s first public engagement. She inspects the soldiers of the Grenadier Guards on her 16th birthday. During the Second World War she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and her sister Margaret mingled incognito with the celebrating crowds in the streets of London. Elizabeth later said in a rare interview, “We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised … I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.”

1947: Elizabeth marries Royal Navy lieutenant, Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, at Westminster Abbey on November 20. They met at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth she was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July

1948: Prince Charles is born at Buckingham Palace.

1949: Princess Elizabeth visits Callington (photo below)

1950: Princess Anne is born at Clarence House.

1952: Queen Elizabeth II ascends to the throne after the death of her father. She is in Kenya on a royal tour when she receives the news.

1953: Aged 27, she is crowned on June 2 at Westminster Abbey, the first ever coronation to be televised. When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were leading the Soviet Union, China and the United States, while Winston Churchill was the British prime minister.

1960: Prince Andrew is born at Buckingham Palace.

1964: Prince Edward is born at Buckingham Palace.

1977: The Queen celebrates her Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne.

1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

On September 14, shots are fired as the Queen participates in the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony. It turns out they were blanks, fired by a teenager.

1982: Prince William is born and is next in line to the throne following his father the Prince of Wales. On 9 July, In a serious lapse of security, she is woken by an intruder, Michael Fagan, who is in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace.

1987: The involvement of younger members of the royal family in the charity game show It’s a Royal Knockout …

1989: The unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, as a communist spy; AND the assassination of her relative Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

1992: The Queen’s son Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah separate, her daughter Princess Anne divorces her husband Capt. Mark Philips, her heir Prince Charles formally separates from his wife Diana, and a significant portion of Windsor Castle is destroyed by fire. At the end of the year, Elizabeth sued The Sun newspaper for breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before it was broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees and donated £200,000 to charity.

1997: Princess Diana is killed in a car crash in Paris, alongside Dodi Al-Fayed.

1999: The Queen opens the newly-created National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament.

2002: The Queen marks her Golden Jubilee, with 50 years spent on the throne.

Her sister Margaret, dies in February and the Queen Mother just over a month later, aged 101.

2005: Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles.

2007: The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their Diamond wedding anniversary.

2011: Prince William marries Kate Middleton in a widely televised ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

2012: The Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne. She helps stage a stunt jumping from a helicopter alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond for the opening of the London Olympics.

2013: Prince George, 3rd in line to the throne, is born to William and Kate.

2015: The Queen becomes the longest-reigning monarch, surpassing the 63 years that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne to become the country’s longest-reigning monarch in a line dating back to Norman King William the Conqueror in 1066.

2020: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announce their intention to step back from royal duties. They move to Canada and then to America.

2021: Prince Philip died on 9 April after 73 years of marriage, making Elizabeth the first British monarch to reign as a widow or widower since Queen Victoria. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions she sat alone during the funeral service.

2022: She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee – the 70th anniversary of her accession – on Feb. 6 For the Jubilee concert, she took part in a sketch with Paddington Bear, that opened the event outside Buckingham Palace.

On 6 September 2022, she appointed her 15th British prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the first and only time she did not receive a new prime minister at Buckingham Palace. No other sovereign has seen so many prime ministers. During her reign, there have been 14 U.S. presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson.

Sept 8th Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire. Succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.

Sept 19th State Funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at Windsor Castle.

She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations and started official royal walkabouts in 1970. Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, India in 1997 and the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes. She toured the Commonwealth and was the most widely travelled head of state. People will remember her for all sorts of reasons, her sense of duty as our Queen, her sense of humour, her garden parties, her issues with her family members and her love of horses and corgis.