History/Jubilee/Coronation

     

 Queen Elizabeth II was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on 21st April 1926 in Mayfair, London, to the Duke and Duchess of York. Elizabeth was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, and at the time of her birth she was third in line to the throne behind Edward the Prince of Wales, who would go on to be King Edward VIII, and her father, the Duke of York, who would go on to be King George VI.
       Princess Elizabeth was given the name Elizabeth Alexandra Mary after her mother (Elizabeth), and her parental great-grandmother (Queen Alexandra), and her parental grandmother (Queen Mary).
       After knowing each other for many years, Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten's wedding was announced by the Royal Families house when the couple returned from a visit to South Africa in 1947. They were married that year on 20th November in Westminster Abbey, but because it was shortly after World War II, Princess Elizabeth, as well as many young brides across the country at that time, had to collect clothing coupons in order to make her wedding dress.

      
       

        In 1952, Princess Elizabeth's father, King George VI, was in ill health and on 6th February 1952, Princess Elizabeth was informed that her father had died while she was staying in Kenya with her husband, Prince Philip.  Princess Elizabeth's coronation took place over a year after her father's death, on 2nd June 1953 in Westminster Abbey, the same place she married her husband, Philip Mountbatten.

      
       In 2012, Queen Elizabeth's reign as the Queen of Britain and the British Commonwealth hit the 60 year mark and was celebrated as the Diamond Jubilee. The celebrations in 2012 were to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI in 1952, despite the coronation not actually taking place until 1953. Queen Elizabeth II is only the second monarch in the history of Britain to have ever had a Diamond Jubilee, the other monarch being Queen Victoria I in 1897. During the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Queen Elizabeth II visited many of the countries within the British Commonwealth.