As tributes flood in for Queen Elizabeth II, many are taking time to look back over her time as monarch.
As the longest-reigning British monarch, Elizabeth II has seen 15 prime ministers form governments in her name and overseen countless moments of history.
She follows a line of monarchs that date back centuries in English history, including four preceding queens.
Before the country became the United Kingdom in 1707, the monarch would have been known as the King or Queen of England. All Welsh Celtic kingdoms were incorporated into England in the 16th century.
Here are all the female monarchs of England (and, later, the United Kingdom):
Mary I, 1553 – 1558
Also known as Bloody Mary for the civil war that England was plunged into during her reign, Queen Mary I was the first female monarch of England. Born to King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she was a devout Catholic and married Philip of Spain.
During her reign, Mary I attempted to enforce the wholesale conversion of England to Catholicism. She ordered many who resisted to be burned at the stake, including Protestant bishops Latimer, Ridley, and Archbishop Cranmer. She died in 1558, at Lambeth Palace, in London.
Elizabeth I, 1558 -1603
The namesake of the first Elizabethan age, Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She is often remembered for her intellect and for her bold choice to never marry, famously saying that she was “already bound unto a husband which is the Kingdom of England”.
She was popular with the people throughout her reign, seeing successes like victory over the Spanish Armada, which was decisively defeated in 1588. She died at the age of 69 in 1603.
Anne, 1702 – 1714
Almost a hundred years later, Queen Anne was the second daughter of King James II. She had 17 pregnancies in her lifetime but just one child survived, William, who died of smallpox aged only 11.
A devout Protestant, it was during Anne’s reign that Great Britain was created by the Union of England and Scotland, and all subsequent monarchs ruled England, Wales, and Scotland, and some channel islands, rather than just England. Ireland was not included under British rule until 1801, when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created, restricted to Northern Ireland in 1921.
Victoria, 1837 – 1901
Queen Victoria was the only child of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Edward Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George III. She is the second-longest reigning British monarch at 63 years and 216 days, second only to Queen Elizabeth II.
She is most widely remembered in popular culture for her love story with her husband, Prince Albert. The pair ruled together for decades and the Queen largely withdrew from public life after his death in 1861.
Queen Victoria’s reign saw the British Empire double in size, meaning that, in 1876, the Queen became Empress of India, the so-called ‘Jewel in the Crown’. When Victoria died in 1901, the British Empire and British world power had reached its zenith. She had nine children, 40 grandchildren, and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered across Europe. It is said that the majority of royal families across Europe are related to her in some way.
Elizabeth II, 1952 – 2022
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, or ‘Lilibet’ to close family, was born in London on April 21, 1926. She married her cousin, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and they had four children together: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
When she was growing up, it was never thought that Elizabeth would become Queen, as the daughter to a second son. However, when her uncle abdicated, her father became King George VI and she was now in line for the throne.
On September 9, 2015, Elizabeth became Britain’s longest-serving monarch, ruling even longer than her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96.
