Queen Elizabeth II had the longest reign of any member of the monarchy in England’s history. She was only 25 at the time of her coronation, and died at age 96. Although she did not expect to be the Queen of England as a girl, she was in the public eye since she was a baby. A photo captured her first outing in 1926.
The Royal Family announced her death in a statement, saying she “died peacefully” on Thursday afternoon, September 8, 2022, at Balmoral Castle. She had been under medical supervision at the castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. Her son, Charles, 73, is now king. He will be known as King Charles III, the statement from the Royal Family said.
King Charles was among family members who gathered at the castle as her condition declined. He remains at the castle and will return to London on Friday, the statement said.
Here’s what you need to know:
Elizabeth II Was Photographed on Her First Outing as a Baby at 6 Months Old & Childhood Photos Show Her With the Queen Mother & Princess Margaret
Elizabeth II, who was born Princess Elizabeth, made her first voyage into the public sphere on October 9, 1926. The pudgy-cheeked infant who would one day become the longest reigning monarch was 6 months old at the time.
A few years later, Princess Elizabeth was photographed as a wiry 11-year-old girl in 1937.
Another photo, taken before she became the Queen of England, captured a cute moment between the young Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip talking across the aisle. The young couple appeared flirtatious in the image taken at the Royal Horse Show at Windsor in 1949. They were married in 1947.
Another photo before her reign began showed Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, at a memorial in London for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The photo was taken in 1948, three years after he died.
A much younger photo of the princess sisters shows the two as girls with their mother, who became known as The Queen Mother when Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne. Queen Elizabeth I lived even longer than her daughter, living to age 101.
Queen Elizabeth II was also photographed in 1955, early into her reign as queen, on a visit to Kenya.
Queen Elizabeth II Was 25 at Her Coronation, Which Was the First to Be Televised
Queen Elizabeth II was the first member of the monarchy to be coronated in a televised ceremony, according to TV Insider. She was 25 at the time of her coronation June 2, 1953.
Her coronation occurred 14 months after she ascended to the throne, according to Town & Country. At her coronation ceremony, she became the queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka.
TV Guide Magazine put Queen Elizabeth on its cover in 1953 in its story, “A Queen Is Crowned,” which detailed some of their newest television technologies.
The TV Guide cover story in 1953 announced their upcoming coverage, writing, “WHEN, WHERE AND HOW AMERICA WILL SEE POMP OF FIRST TELEVISED CORONATION.”
The TV Guide said the coronation was an opportunity for TV networks to “unveil their latest technical innovations,” which included “the use of jet planes to speed films across the ocean and possibly the first live pickup to span the Atlantic.”
“Because of the five-hour time differential between London and New York, American viewers will be forced to climb out of bed at dawn if they’re to watch the start of the Coronation ceremonies,” the TV Guide said. NBC and ABC started their coverage at 5:30 a.m., “bringing viewers a description of the royal procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey,” the article said.
The coverage lasted throughout the day, with the major networks airing the Queen of England’s first speech following her coronation at 4 p.m. that day, the TV Guide reported. The networks returned two hours later “to show the first films taken in London earlier that day.”
The films shot in London were transported from London to Montreal with Royal Air Force jet bombers, the article said. The recordings were kinescopes, also called telerecordings, which are made by filming the screen of a monitor.
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