Elizabeth II HAS REIGNED in a world moving swiftly through political shifts, cultural change and technological advances. Traditional institutions of law, religion and politics have suffered loss of esteem, but the Queen has remained steadfast and unwavering, a focus of stability. Her devotion to duty has won respect and admiration not only in Britain but also throughout the Commonwealth and wider world.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born at 17 Bruton Street, London on 21 April 1926. A happy childhood was spent with her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, and younger sister Margaret Rose. Present at her parents' coronation in 1937, at the age of 14 she broadcast to the children of the empire.

Edward VIII (1936)
Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George V and Queen Mary, was known to the family as 'David'. Charming and informal, he was a popular prince, touring Britain and the empire, fond of golf, tennis, parties and dancing. Wanting to serve in the First World War, he was kept away from the front line lest he be killed or, worse, captured. Later, he was banned from riding in steeple-chases and learning to fly.

Edward vii's eldest son Albert died at the age of 28, and so it was his second son, George, who followed him as king. George had learned the navy's traditions of duty and. Blue-eyed, blunt, and unafraid to express an opinion on things he did not care for, George was more interested in guns and boats than intellectual pursuits. In 1893 he was married to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, the intended bride of his elder brother.

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, she left three generations of heirs. They, it was expected, would reign as monarchs of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In fact, the name survived only 16 years. In 1917, King George V announced that the name was no more. The rising horrors of the First World War had filled a reservoir of anti-German feeling, and the royal family's German name was no longer politically correct. Henceforth the House of Windsor would reign.

Edward VII ('BERTIE' to his family) was born in 1841 and had to wait almost 60 years to become king. Given little to do during this long apprenticeship, he chose - to the alarm of his well-intentioned parents Victoria and Albert - the card-tables of fashionable society rather than the desk of diligent duty.

Two days after Albert's death, Victoria wrote to her eldest daughter Princess Victoria in Germany. 'My darling Angel's child - Our firstborn. God's will be done.'
Prince Albert's loss was a shattering blow. Prolonged mourning was expected, but Victoria took it to extremes that alarmed the government. Not until the late 1870s did she resume anything like a normal public life.

As Victoria and Albert's nine children grew up and married into other royal families, Britain's ageing queen became the hub of a European royal network.

Five days after Victoria and Albert met for the second time at Windsor Castle in 1839, the queen proposed. She wrote that she would do everything in her power 'to render the sacrifice he has made (for sacrifice in my opinion it is) as small as I can.'

Victoria was the desperately desired product in 1819 of the late marriage of the Duke of Kent (George IV's brother) to Princess Victoria, widowed daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Fatherless from the age of eight months, Victoria was brought up in a somewhat impoverished home -for the most part away from her uncles, George IV and William IV At 5 a.m. on the morning of 20 June 1837, the princess was woken at home in Kensington Palace to hear that she was now queen.