When Elizabeth took the throne, the U.K. was the seat of an Empire that straddled the globe. Today, Britain is a smaller player on the world’s stage, but the Queen remained the sovereign leader of 15 nations—including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand—and head of a Commonwealth of more than 50 nations. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on Apr. 21, 1926. She was an heir to the throne, but third in the line of succession. The early life of Princess Elizabeth was chronicled with zeal both by the British press and in the former colonies. Sir Winston Churchill first met Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle in 1928, when she was two, and proclaimed that he saw in her “an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.” She was only 10 when she learned she would one day become queen after her father’s death. From her birth to death, Queen Elizabeth II was very likely the most portrayed woman on the planet. Here are photos spanning her lifetime, including her 70 year reign as the Queen of England. Photographs by Max Mumby/Indigo/@gettyimages; Lisa Sheridan—Studio Lisa/Getty Images; Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (2); Douglas Miller—Keystone/Getty Images; Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images; Ken Goff—LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images; Press Association/@apnews; Suzanne Plunkett—WPA/Getty Images