Queen Elizabeth II:
A visual timeline of her
70 years on the throne
70 years on the throne
Elizabeth’s path to the throne was hastened by the abdication of her uncle and the early death of her father, King George VI. She became queen in February 1952, at age 25, and was 27 at the time of her official coronation in June 1953.
The event was televised for the first time — a decision encouraged by her husband, Philip, that would catapult the royal family into people’s homes for decades to come. Millions in Britain and around the world watched the BBC broadcast from Westminster Abbey.
“Although my experience is so short and my task so new, I have in my parents and grandparents an example which I can follow with certainty and with confidence,” Elizabeth said, addressing the nation that evening. “I thank you all from a full heart.”
Among the notable cultural moments of the second Elizabethan era was the Beatles’ visit to Buckingham Palace in London on Oct. 26, 1965. Thousands of adoring fans pressed past policemen and climbed onto palace gates and lampposts as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr arrived to meet the queen.
Wearing a pale gold gown, she bestowed medals of honor on the British pop culture icons. “She was very friendly,” McCartney said after the meeting. “She was just like a mum to us.” Four years later, Lennon would return his medal, in protest of Britain’s support of the U.S. war in Vietnam and its involvement in the Nigerian Civil War.
Queen Elizabeth II broke centuries of tradition when, instead of waving from afar, she greeted people up close on a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970. Wearing a lemon-yellow dress, with a signature hat and handbag combination, she walked through the streets of Sydney smiling and speaking to giddy onlookers. Since then, the “walkabout” has become a regular practice for many members of the royal family.
One of the rockier periods of the queen’s family life began with the fairy-tale wedding of her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, to Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981. Up to a million people sought to get a glimpse of the procession in central London, while the BBC estimated that 750 million people around the world watched on television.
Although Diana was beloved as “the people’s princess,” the couple had a troubled marriage, with mutual accusations of infidelity. They separated in 1992 — a year the queen called “annus horribilis,” (“a disastrous year” in Latin), as it also involved her son Andrew’s separation, her daughter Anne’s divorce and a fire at Windsor Castle.
outh African President Nelson Mandela arrived in Britain in July 1996 for a four-day state visit to his country’s former colonizer. Addressing members of Parliament, he denounced racism as “a blight on the human conscience.”
On that trip, Mandela and the queen developed a lasting fondness for each other. She hosted him at Buckingham Palace and took him on a carriage ride through central London. At a party at the Royal Albert Hall, Mandela had the queen on her feet, though she “has seldom been known to boogie in public,” the Daily Telegraph reported.
In 2007, the queen marked 50 years of her Christmas broadcast with a modern flair: She posted the speech on YouTube.
“One of the features of growing old is the heightened awareness of change,” she said. “To remember what happened 50 years ago means that it is possible to appreciate what has changed in the meantime; it also makes you aware of what has remained constant,” like family, the monarch added.
The famously staid queen surprised audiences at the 2012 London Olympic Games by appearing in a dramatic opening segment alongside Britain’s most famous spy, James Bond, played by actor Daniel Craig.
A video showed 007 coming to the palace to escort the monarch to the opening ceremony, with the two appearing to parachute from a helicopter into the Olympic Stadium amid wild applause from startled fans. The real queen, poker-faced as always, entered her box seat with a familiar yet cheeky wave.
Elizabeth had been married to Philip for 73 years when Buckingham Palace announced his death on April 9, 2021. His funeral, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, was attended only by close family members and friends. The queen sat alone in a pew, wearing a black face mask, in keeping with national restrictions. Elizabeth, whom Philip affectionately called Lilibet, had described him as her “strength and stay.” In her Christmas message that year, she recalled that his “mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him.” Then she added: “But life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings.”
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Written by Frank Hulley-JonesRuby Mellen, Adela Suliman, Sarah Hashemi
Portrait photograph by John Hedgecoe, 1966
Illustrations by Marianna Tomaselli for The Washington Post
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