“I declare before you that my whole life whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service. These words were broadcast to the world on the event of the then-Princess Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday. Princess Elizabeth suddenly took on the mantle as Queen Elizabeth II on February 6, 1952 upon the death of her father King George VI. Official coronation ceremonies took place on June 2, 1953. February 6, 2022 marks her 70th year on the throne; the longest reigning monarch in British history, and the first to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.
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