Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952, and is a couple years shy from serving the longest reign in British monarch history (Queen Victoria served for 64 years). As the eldest daughter of King George VI, she became Queen upon his death. It was quite by happenstance that young Elizabeth would eventually be Queen. Her father was actually the second in line, after his older brother, Edward, who would relinquish the throne in order to marry his great love, the American socialite and (gulp) divorcée, Wallace Simpson. While mainly a figurehead of the United Kingdom, the throne persists and Elizabeth still commands much love and respect of the British people despite the many ups and downs of her family in modern times.
