As the Prince of Wales, he was heir apparent since the age of 3, making him the longest serving British monarch-in-waiting.Ĭharles attended Cambridge University and studied archaeology and anthropology in his first year, then history. He was officially crowned in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. The queen and Philip’s marriage lasted for 73 years until his death at age 99, making him the longest-serving royal consort in British history.Ĭharles Philip Arthur George Windsor acceded to the throne as King Charles III on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. He was also skilled in the sport of horse carriage driving and learned to fly aircraft, racking up almost 6,000 hours in the air. As a sportsman, he had a successful polo career spanning 20 years. The duke took an active, public-facing role, accompanying the queen on royal tours and even presenting television programs.Ī keen environmentalist, Philip wrote a number of books on the environment and other subjects and was president of the World Wildlife Fund for decades. Philip had joined the Royal Navy at 18 and continued in active duty throughout World War II, only stepping down in 1951 as his wife became busier with royal duties. He renounced his former royal title and in 1957 became His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Philip first met Elizabeth when she was a princess they married a little over four years before she became monarch, in 1947. This connection made Philip and Queen Elizabeth II third cousins. His father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born in Corfu, Greece, as the youngest of five children. She was laid to rest alongside her husband of 73 years at Windsor Castle. In 2022, she celebrated her platinum jubilee - which marked an incredible 70 years on the throne - and three months later she died of old age in Balmoral, Scotland, at age 96. She would go on to permit cameras at her daily engagements, allow unprecedented access to her private life in the 1969 BBC documentary “Royal Family,” and even dipped her toe into social media when she joined Twitter in 2014.Īs queen, she was served by 15 UK prime ministers, met 12 serving US presidents ,countless heads of state and visited over 120 countries. At her coronation in 1953, she requested cameras be allowed into Westminster Abbey to televise the event for the first time. After eight years as queen, she had her third child, Andrew, and in 1964 her last son, Edward.įrom an early age, Elizabeth understood the power of media and harnessed it to great effect throughout her reign. On February 6, 1952, at age 25, Elizabeth acceded to the throne.

Soon after, they had their first two children, Charles and Anne. The move made the young princess, who was just 10 years old, the next in line.įrom this moment on, her life changed as she began training to be the next monarch.Įlizabeth married Prince Philip a couple of years after World War II ended and he had returned from serving overseas in the navy in 1947. But after her grandfather died and her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated - both within the same year - Elizabeth’s father became King George VI. When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born, she was not a direct heir to the throne since her father was the second son of King George V.

Queen victoria of england family tree