Life Before the Crown: Princess Elizabeth

On April 21st 1926, the future Queen was born. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her uncle Edward and her father. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second in line to the throne, after her father. Her younger sister, Princess Margaret, became her best friend and confidant as a child. They grew up in a relatively stable and mundane family dynamic. It was a seemingly blissful life with privilege, with very little in the way of the pressure they would later face. Elizabeth’s exceptional dedication and attitude to the duties she inherited, as she followed in her father’s footsteps, would have the nation’s unwavering respect and love. A love which Margaret would come to envy. They were both Princesses, but only one could be Queen. She would grow up to become the most powerful woman in the world, and the titled leader of the British Empire.