Rare Image of Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth at her young age

Queen Elizabeth is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. 

On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised.

Her reign of 60 years is the second-longest for a British monarch; only Queen Victoria has reigned longer.