Milestones a of MATRIARCH

The queen has travelled a long and often chequered road in her personal life – but love has always been at its heart

SHE may be queen first and foremost but Her Majesty is so much more than a monarch. A wife, a mother, a mother- in- law, a gra n d m o th er, a grandmother-in-law, a great-grandmother – these are among the many hats the queen has worn. And those close to her say that while duty is her soul, family is her heart.

Here’s a look at some of the most important events in her personal life.

MARRYING HER PRINCE CHARMING

The story of how Elizabeth met Philip is the stuff of legend.

She was just an eight-year-old princess when she first saw Philip, then 13, at the 1934 wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark and Prince George, the Duke of Kent.

Five years later their paths crossed again when Elizabeth, accompanied by her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, visited the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

Philip was a cadet there and he and Elizabeth were formally introduced at the commanding officer’s home.

There was a connection and they began to exchange letters. Over the next eight years their love bloomed and, shortly before the 10 July 1947 announcement of their engagement, Philip remarked: “To have fallen in love unreservedly makes all one’s troubles seem small and petty.”

The pair tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in London on 20 November 1947, Elizabeth in a dress by designer Sir Norman Hartnell, who would become her go-to dressmaker.

Due to rationing measures in place following World War 2, the family used clothing ration coupons to pay for her dress.

Two weeks after their wedding, Philip wrote a letter to the Queen Mother, expressing his love for his bride.

“Lilibet is the only thing in this world which is absolutely real to me, and my ambition is to wield the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”