As Buckingham Palace announces the death of Her Majesty the Queen, it is only right that we take a look back on her extraordinary life.
In her Platninum Jubilee message to the public earlier this year, The Queen said: 'These last seven decades have seen extraordinary progress socially, technologically and culturally that have benefitted us all; and I am confident that the future will offer similar opportunities to us and especially to the younger generations in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth.
Elizabeth II was never actually meant to be Queen. When she was born on 21 April 1926, she was unlikely to ever rule, as her father was the second son of the monarch. However, when Edward VIII abdicated the throne and her father became King, Princess Elizabeth became the heir presumptive to the British throne.
Whilst on a royal trip to Kenya, King George VI died of lung cancer at 56-years-old on 6 February 1952. At just 25-years-old, the then Princess Elizabeth, took on the huge responsibility of leading the monarchy. Her formal coronation as Queen Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953, in Westminster Abbey.
Here we take a look back at the full life of the young Queen Elizabeth…
A two-year-old Princess Elizabeth smiles sweetly for the camera.
Another snap of the two-year-old Princess Elizabeth taken in 1928.
A young Princess Elizabeth aged nine in 1935. Princess Elizabeth aged nine, 1935. A photograph from the Illustrated London News.
The Queen's passion for horses began at an early age. Here she is pictured on horseback aged nine in 1935.
The Duchess of York with her daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the garden of the Royal Lodge at Windsor.
This portrait was taken on 17 April 1940, on Elizabeth's 14th birthday, with her younger sister Princess Margaret.
Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret at a window in Windsor Castle, June 1940. With them is their pet corgi named Jane.
The sisters study the Ministry of Agriculture's cropping chart while working in a new vegetable garden at Windsor Castle in 1943.
The Queen Mother with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in 1944.
Princess Elizabeth holds Sue, a corgi pup, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire in May 1944.
Queen Elizabeth II as a teenager on a summers day at Windsor Castle – 1940.
The young Elizabeth in the Girl Guides at Frogmore 30th June, 1942.
A young queen wears a girl scout uniform in 1943. At the time she was a member of the Buckingham Palace Company of Girl Guides.
King George VI and Elizabeth in the gardens at Windsor Castle in July 1946.
Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth with their beloved father King George VI onboard HMS Vanguard in 1947.
An image taken from the upcoming BBC documentary, 'Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen,' showing 20-year old Princess Elizabeth on a visit to South Africa in 1947.
A sweet candid unseen photograph that captures the then Princess Elizabeth beaming at her new engagement ring, soon after Prince Philip's marriage proposal. Image is also from upcoming BBC documentary – Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen will follow the monarch's life as a princess in her own eyes and own words.
Elizabeth with her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne, August 1951.
Elizabeth with her children Charles and Anne at Balmoral, 1952.
The cover of the Italian women's weekly magazine Grazia showing Queen Elizabeth II, at 25-years old, on 31 May 1953. The cover marked her Coronation and rise to the throne.
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