International Basic Sciences Knowledge Contest

The Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development. The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren. The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London.

Princess Elizabeth was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her younger sister.

She became Queen at the age of 25. The Coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953.

The couple, who had known each other for many years, were married in Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on 20 November 2011.

They have four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The Diamond Jubilee takes place in 2012, marking 60 years of The Queen’s reign. The Queen came to the throne on 6th February 1952 (her Coronation took place on 2nd June 1953).

An animal lover since childhood, The Queen takes a keen and highly knowledgeable interest in horses. Other interests include walking in the countryside and working her Labradors, which were bred at Sandringham.

Official website of the British Monarchy