Following her grandfather’s death and the surprising abdication of her uncle, Elizabeth's existence took an unexpected turn as she became the heir presumptive. At the time, she was only 10 years old.
Her father, born Albert Frederick Arthur George of York and King George V’s second son, was crowned King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth at Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937, taking the royal name of George VI.
In 1934, at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark to Prince George, Duke of Kent, a young princess Elizabeth met for the first time her future consort, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
After a second meeting in 1937 and a third in 1939, the royal couple began exchanging letters.
The couple got engaged in 1947 and, only four months after the announcement, they tied the knot with a majestic wedding ceremony that took place at Westminster Abbey in November.
Still a princess at the time, Her Majesty was the 10th member of The Royal Family to be married at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York with 2,000 guests in attendance.