Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating the 69th year of her accession to the throne today (January 6).
She was crowned Queen of England and the United Kingdom on February 6, 1952, after her father, King George VI, died.
The Royal Family’s official Instagram account marked the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne by sharing a throwback video.
The video shows an old newspaper report published at the time of her coronation.
“#Onthisday in 1952, The Queen acceded to the throne on the death of her father King George VI. Her Majesty has now been Sovereign for 69 years,” the video caption read. “This clip is taken from Lord Wakehurst’s film about the death of King George VI and The Queen’s accession.”
Westminster Abbey official Twitter account also shared a tribute to the Queen
The official Twitter account of Westminster Abbey also shared a tribute to the queen.
Westminster Abbey, also known as the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is the place where British kings and queens are crowned and buried.
Queen Elizabeth was 27 years old when she was crowned
Monsters and Critics reported that Elizabeth’s father was a smoker who suffered from smoking-related health issues during his lifetime. He died from coronary thrombosis at 56.
He was crowned King George VI in 1936.
Queen Elizabeth II was 27 years old when she was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom. She was born in April 1926. Her younger sister and only sibling, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden, was born in August 1930.
Margaret, who became the second in line to the throne after their father became king, was Elizabeth’s closest companion.
The pair formed a bond despite the difference in their personalities. Elizabeth was quiet and reserved while Margaret was “glamorous and mischievous.”
They had been close from their childhood but they formed a closer bond after their father died.
Queen Elizabeth suffered a double loss in 2002
Queen Elizabeth lost her younger sister, Princess Margaret, in February 2002, while their mother, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, died a month later in March 2002, at 101.
Margaret, a smoker like their father, died after a period of illness. She underwent a lung operation in 1985, came down with pneumonia in 1993, and suffered multiple strokes that led to her death.
She died shortly after Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Golden Jubilee.
The historian Dr. Kate Williams described Princess Margaret’s death as “cataclysmic” for Queen Elizabeth.
According to the royal biographer Hugo Vicker, the Queen has struggled with loneliness since she lost her only sibling.