Elizabeth II

Born by Caesarean section at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London. First child of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is third in line to the throne but not expected to become queen. Her uncle Edward is the heir, and he is young and unmarried.

Her uncle Edward VIII abdicates to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Elizabeth's father becomes King George VI. She is now heir presumptive at age 10. Her sister Margaret reportedly asks: "Does that mean you will have to be the next queen?" Elizabeth replies: "Yes, someday." Margaret says: "Poor you."

Joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service at 18. She trains as a driver and mechanic, learning to strip and rebuild engines. She is the only female member of the royal family to have served in the armed forces. She drives military trucks through London.

Marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey. He is a Greek-Danish prince with almost no money. He gives up his foreign titles and becomes a British citizen. She is 21. They met when she was 13 and he was 18, at a visit to the Royal Naval College. She fell in love immediately and never wavered.

Becomes queen at 25 while staying at a treehouse hotel in Kenya. Her father George VI died in his sleep at Sandringham. She climbs a tree a princess and comes down a queen. She isn't told for several hours. Philip breaks the news.

Crowned at Westminster Abbey in the first coronation broadcast on television. 27 million people in Britain watch. Churchill had opposed televising it. Elizabeth overruled him. Three million people line the streets of London despite pouring rain.

Calls 1992 her "annus horribilis" in a speech at Guildhall. Windsor Castle caught fire four days earlier. Three of her four children's marriages have collapsed. The tabloids have published intimate phone conversations. She delivers the speech with a cold, her voice hoarse. She's been queen for 40 years.

Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris. The Queen stays at Balmoral with her grandsons William and Harry. London fills with flowers. The tabloids turn hostile. "Where is our Queen?" Five days of silence before she returns to London, inspects the flowers, and makes a televised address.

Surpasses Queen Victoria to become the longest-reigning British monarch. 63 years, 7 months, 2 days. She has outlasted 15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. When asked about the milestone, she says she has never aspired to it.

Dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at 96. She had been photographed two days earlier, standing with a cane, appointing Liz Truss as her fifteenth prime minister. The photo shows her smiling. Her reign lasted 70 years and 214 days. The queue to view her lying-in-state stretches for five miles through London.