The Queen will this year become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, thanks to a 70-year reign that is all the more remarkable given she was never meant to wear the Crown.
When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street, her mother’s family home in the heart of bustling Mayfair, no one dreamed the tiny bundle would one day be Queen.
Then, when she was just 10 years old, on December 11, 1936, her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated, turning his back on the throne in pursuit of love, having reigned for just 327 days.
