Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch

“Does that mean that you will have to be the next Queen?” “Yes, someday,” Elizabeth replied. “Poor you,” said Margaret.

Newly crowned King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the Buckingham Palace balcony with the King’s mother, Queen Mary (center); Princess Elizabeth, the heiress presumptive (left); and her sister, Princess Margaret (right), May 12, 1937. Fox Photos/Getty Images

She learned to drive a three-ton truck in heavy London traffic, change wheels and spark plugs, understand the workings of ignition systems, bleed brakes, and strip down engines.

The heiress presumptive as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexander Mary Windsor during her mechanical transport training for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, 1945. Photograph by the Imperial War Museum, Camera Press London

“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.”

Princess Elizabeth giving her twenty-first birthday speech in Cape Town, South Africa, April 21, 1947. Associated Press

“I pray that God will help me to discharge worthily this heavy task that has been lain upon me so early in my life.”

Queen Elizabeth II (left), nine days after her accession to the throne, with her grandmother, Queen Mary (center), and her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, at the funeral of King George VI at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, February 15, 1952. Ron Case/Getty Images

Princess Margaret had a slightly glazed look and during the Queen’s investiture “never once did she lower her gaze from her sister’s calm face.”

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (left) with Prince Charles and Princess Margaret in the royal box at Westminster Abbey during the coronation ceremony, June 2, 1953. Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Townsend was struck by Margaret’s “astonishing power of expression” that “could change in an instant from saintly, almost melancholic, composure, to hilarious uncontrollable joy.”

Margaret (left) and Elizabeth (center) with Group Captain Peter Townsend in the royal box at Ascot on June 13, 1951, four years before Margaret and Townsend declared their intention to marry. Keystone/Getty Images

The Queen took a particular interest in frozen chicken pot pies, while Philip nibbled on sample crackers with cheese and exclaimed, “Good for mice!”

Elizabeth II making an unannounced visit to a supermarket in West Hyattsville, Maryland, after watching the University of Maryland-University of North Carolina football game, October 19, 1957. Associated Press

Once while staying with some good friends, the Queen said, “I must go do my boxes. If I missed one once, I would never get it straight again.”

The Queen at her desk in Buckingham Palace reviewing confidential documents in her red leather dispatch boxes, January 25, 1959. ©TopFoto/The Image Works

When Margaret fell in love with Tony, it came as a relief to the Queen, who wanted above all for her sister to be happy.

Princess Margaret and her husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones (later 1st Earl of Snowdon), paying homage to Queen Elizabeth II with a bow and curtsy after their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey, May 6, 1960. ©Bettmann/CORBIS

Jackie had complained about the pressures of being on tour in Canada, causing the Queen to throw her a conspiratorial glance and reply cryptically, “One gets crafty after a while and learns how to save oneself.”

The royal couple entertaining President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, at a Buckingham Palace banquet, June 15, 1961. Popperfoto/Getty Images

The seventy-five-year-old duchess was heavily sedated, and the Queen “showed a motherly and nanny-like tenderness and kept putting her hand on the duchess’s arm and glove.”

The Queen with the Duchess of Windsor after the funeral of the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, June 5, 1972. Reg Burkett/Getty Images

As military musicians play their tunes, the Queen and her family whirl through intricate reels and veletas with gamekeepers, ghillies, footmen, and maids—a montage of sights and sounds from an earlier century.

Elizabeth II and Philip dancing at the annual Ghillies’ Ball at Balmoral, 1972. Lichfield/Getty Images

The swarm of racegoers shouted “Vive la Reine,” and when the Queen went to see Highclere, she was nearly mobbed by the crowds, protected only by Porchester, Oswald, and some gendarmes.

The Queen in prayerful pose as her racing manager, Henry Porchester (left), and her stud manager, Sir Michael Oswald (right), cheer her filly Highclere across the finish line to win the Prix de Diane at Chantilly, June 1974. Private collection of Sir Michael Oswald

He would regale her with stories, such as the time at a garden party when he found a sticky bun containing an entire set of dentures.

Patrick Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket, a close adviser and friend of Elizabeth II since childhood, the impresario of her social life from the beginning of her reign until his death at age fifty-one in 1975. Private collection of Shaun Plunket

Wilson relied on the Queen’s confidentiality. When he was worried about fellow cabinet ministers undercutting him, she gave him a shoulder to weep on.

The Queen with Harold Wilson at Balmoral in September 1975 after he confided to her that he planned to step down as prime minister on his 60th birthday the following March. Private collection of Lady Wilson

Elizabeth II stepped out of the car, her eyes reddened from crying. “Ma’am, would you like to go upstairs?” “Yes, I think I would,” replied the Queen.

The royal family in Westminster Abbey during the funeral service of Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. From left: Princess Anne, the Queen Mother, Captain Mark Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Philip, and Prince Edward, September 5, 1979. Associated Press/TopFoto/The Image Works

Her life in the Highlands offers the Queen a taste of normality, and a sense of freedom.

Elizabeth II laughing at the Braemar Games near Balmoral Castle as the Queen Mother, Diana, and Charles join in, September 1982. ©Mirrorpix

“Come show me this lions’ cage of yours,” said Elizabeth II. “Do I need a whip and a chair?”

The Queen in the indoor riding school at Windsor Castle with Monty Roberts, the “horse whisperer” from California, before he demonstrated his technique for “starting” horses, April 10, 1989. Photograph by Pat Roberts

“It’s the American way,” Frazier said afterward. “I couldn’t stop myself.”

The Queen being hugged by sixty-seven-year-old Alice Frazier during a visit to Frazier’s home in Washington, D.C., May 15, 1991. Associated Press

Prince William “has no desire to climb the ladder of kingship before his time.”

Prince Charles and his sons, William and Harry, second and third in line to the throne, after Harry’s graduation from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, where William was also training, April 12, 2006. Ian Jones Photography

She had first glimpsed the future prime minister when he appeared at age eight with her son, Prince Edward, in a school production of Toad of Toad Hall.

The eighty-four-year-old Queen greeting forty-three-year-old David Cameron, her twelfth prime minister, as he arrives at Buckingham Palace to “kiss hands,” May 11, 2010. Ian Jones Photography

“To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deepest sympathy.”

Queen Elizabeth II after laying a wreath in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin on May 17, 2011, during her four-day state visit to Ireland, the first since her grandfather, King George V, toured Dublin a century earlier. Arthur Edwards/AFP/Getty Images

David Cameron called William and Catherine “the team of the future.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Derby Day, Epsom Racecourse, June 4, 2011. Ian Jones Photography

“Her reputation now is as high as at any time since the golden early years when everyone was intensely loyal to the new Queen, and Churchill was flat on his back with admiration.”

The royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony officially marking the Queen’s eighty-fifth birthday, June 11, 2011. Ian Jones Photography