Young Queen Elisabeth II photos

Young Queen Elisabeth II photos

I just finished watching this three part documentary called “The Diamond Queen” that I initially thought (based only on the title) was a science fiction short story about aliens living on a diamond planet in a galaxy far, far away and their fearless leader and queen. Logical assumption or so I thought!!!

Well it proved to be an “inside” piece about Queen Elizabeth II and her 60 years long reign! Still, I kept on watching and realized … she was actually young once. I knew that rationally but as she was quite old for most of my existence on earth I kind of forgot that.

In fact Elisabeth was crowned after the death of her father King George VI, when she was only 25 (in 1953). Can you imagine that?!

I’m a few years older and I’m barely able to take care of myself! I can’t even commit to a pet! Forget about being 21 and having such a powerful sense of duty and being able to take on such a lifelong commitment (and it was just after the Second World War too)!

A few facts I learned about young Elisabeth:

She and her sister were home-schooled
When she was a little girl Her Majesty the Queen was known as Lilybet and even the media referred to her as "Princess Lilybet"
She meet her future husband (Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark) when she was 14 (1940) and they started writing letters to each other.
During the Second World War she wanted to help somehow and enrolled with the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service where she worked as a driver and loved it
Her marrying Prince Philip in 1947 was pretty controversial and low key (her mother didn’t approve because some of his relatives were suspected of being Nazi supporters). One year later she had her first child – Charles.Over the years she had three more kids.

Now, I live in a country that’s been a republic for 60 years and I’ve only read about the time Romania was a monarchy in history books but I still find it fascinating.

So you’ll understand why I looked up some photos with a young Elisabeth to see for myself and to share with all of you.

Left -1933 next to her little sister Margaret, Right -1930s King George VI with the queen and princess Elizabeth