Britain's young Princess ascends the throne

On the morning of February 6, 1952, while staying at Treetops resort in Kenya, Princess Elizabeth was informed by her husband Philip that her father, King George VI, had passed away during the night.

With that news, the 25-year-old's life was transformed and things would never be the same again.

The new sovereign promptly returned to London to confront a maelstrom of state occasions, one of the first being with the Accession Council.

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"My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than that I shall always work as my father did," she told them in an emotional speech.

And the years since that pledge have been filled with unstinting devotion to duty, prompting former Prime Minister Harold Wilson to call her "the most professional head of state in the world".

Her coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. It was a solemn ceremony conducted by Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Duke of Edinburgh was the first subject to pay homage to his wife.

Kissing the newly crowned Queen he stated: "I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship.

"And faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God."

A year later, in 1954, she and Philip set off on a six-month tour of world, setting the tone for a monarch who has now visited .