Factbox-Key dates in the life of Britain's Queen Elizabeth

Reuters

Published Sep 09, 2022 01:32PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Here are some facts about Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

- Elizabeth was born at 17 Bruton St, London, on April 21, 1926, and christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace.

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

- She married navy lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, a Greek prince, at London's Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947. They had four children: Prince Charles (born in 1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964). Philip died in April 2021, aged 99.

- She ascended the throne on the death of her father on Feb. 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on a royal tour. She was crowned on June 2, 1953 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 British prime minister.

- She has been served by 15 prime ministers. During her reign, there have been 14 U.S. presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson.

- On Sept. 9, 2015, she surpassed the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes 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.