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Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926), reigning monarch, was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who subsequently became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Educated at home, the Princess was a Girl Guide and a Sea Ranger before taking on public engagements at age sixteen. She married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (1921–2021) – the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and a great-great grandson of Queen Victoria – in 1947. In 1952, she and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh set out for Australia and New Zealand; on the way, in Kenya, Elizabeth received news of her father's death. She returned to England and was 25 on her coronation on 2 June 1953. The delayed visit, the first of many tours of the Commonwealth, was accomplished the same year. Her Majesty is currently the Head of State of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth countries. By convention, she is not involved the day-to-day business of the Australian Government, but plays a ceremonial and symbolic role. She made her sixteenth visit to Australia in October 2011, and in September 2015 became the longest reigning British monarch, surpassing the record set by Queen Victoria.
Charles Wheeler drew Princess Elizabeth at about age seventeen, wearing the diamond regimental brooch of the Grenadier Guards and the Grenadier's gold badge on her hat.
Purchased 2019
© Estate of Charles Wheeler
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.
Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.