Queen Elizabeth II passes away: Life & times of UK’s longest-serving monarch

Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on the death of her father on February 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on a royal tour. She was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey, the first ever coronation to be televised.
On September 9, 2015, she surpassed the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne to become the country’s longest-reigning monarch in a line dating back to Norman King William the Conqueror in 1066.

When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were leading the Soviet Union, China and the United States, while Winston Churchill was British prime minister.
In seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II saw 15 British prime ministers come and go, from Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher to Boris Johnson to Liz Truss.

During her reign, there have been 14 US presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson. She also saw seven Popes during her reign.