The Queen is set to celebrate her 96th birthday on Thursday - and Her Majesty is in remarkably good shape for her age.
Queen Elizabeth II, who is a mother of four, grandmother of eight and great-grandmother of 12, has led an active life in the public eye for more than seven decades, showing great strength and resilience throughout the ups and downs of her reign.
Despite being the longest-reigning monarch in British history, she has rarely fallen ill and is not known to have any major medical conditions. And on the odd occasion she has missed official engagements on health grounds, it has been at the insistence of her doctors.
