But while Elizabeth was just 25 years old when she unexpectedly ascended, her heir and firstborn son, Prince Charles, is still waiting for his crowning moment at age 66.
Although he remained silent, those who know Charles say he is proud of his mother’s landmark. “He will be full of admiration,” his former spokeswoman Colleen Harris tells PEOPLE. “She took over the role at such a young age, and has really shaped it in a way that the public have grown to love and admire – and that’s a great achievement.”
She adds, “In a way, the royal family is about stability and consistency, and she embodies that. You forget she’s aging until you say she’s been doing her job for more than 63 years.”
Of course, Charles won’t have forgotten – he has been immediate heir for as long.
An in-depth TIME profile in 2013 found a man not “itching to ascend the throne,” as is sometimes claimed, but one nonetheless who is impatient to achieve more in public life.
He has been carrying out a greater number of ceremonial duties on behalf of his aging mother in recent years.
At the same time, he has forged an identity built around his ongoing conservation efforts and successful projects like the Prince’s Trust to help disadvantaged youth find work and fund businesses, which is set to mark its 40th anniversary next year. In May, he impressed many with his statesman-like skills during a historic meeting with Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams. That path sets him apart from other heirs of the past.
“Charles is the first Prince of Wales who has actually done anything,” says former palace staffer Dickie Arbiter, who wrote last year’s On Duty With The Queen. “If you go back in history and the likes of George IV, all he did was date women, buy paintings and spend a lot of money. Edward VII and Edward VIII were the same. They were just playboys.
“This Prince of Wales has really put his money where his mouth is and done things for the community through the Prince’s Trust and other organizations,” says Arbiter. “People don’t always agree with what he says, but he has provoked debate and he has done something.”
When he does ascend, his wife of 10 years, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will step into an even more high-profile role. Recent polls reveal there is a slightly growing acceptance among Britons for her being called Queen. Officially, Charles’s office has said she will be titled Princess Consort.
“It is a fact of life that she is married to the heir to the throne,” says Arbiter, “and when he becomes King she will become Queen.”
On April 21, 1926, the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) welcomed their daughter Elizabeth Alexandra Mary to the world. Shortly after, the family was photographed with baby Elizabeth cloaked in a christening robe that had been in the royal family for generations.Popperfoto/Getty ImagesElizabeth stands in a field picking flowers circa 1930. As the eldest child, Elizabeth, often called Lilibet by her family, was treasured among family members, including her father, who snapped this photo.Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe family poses on the grounds of Windsor Castle in the English county of Berkshire in June 1936. With the arrival of Elizabeth's sister Princess Margaret Rose on Aug. 21, 1930, the family was complete.Lisa Sheridan—Getty ImagesThe royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the coronation of King George VI on May 13, 1937. After George's older brother Edward abdicated the throne to marry a socialite divorcée named Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth's father became King. As the oldest child, 11-year-old Elizabeth became the heir presumptive to the throne.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisPrincess Elizabeth (right) reads a broadcast in 1940 with her sister Princess Margaret at her side. The future Queen was making her first royal address to Britain and the Commonwealth during the BBC's Children's Hour. She sent her best wishes to all the children who had been sent overseas to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. for safety during the war.Popperfoto/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth stage a rehearsal of Cinderella on Dec. 21, 1941, the first royal pantomime at Windsor Castle. Both Elizabeth and Margaret were educated at home, with lessons concentrating on history, language, literature and music.Lisa Sheridan—Getty ImagesPrincess Elizabeth, age 15, poses amid Syringa flowers at Windsor in the summer of 1941. Even at a young age, friends and relatives uniformly say, the royal was responsible and sensible.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisPrincess Elizabeth stands next to her father King George VI on April 11, 1942. Unlike her younger sister, who was often considered feisty, Elizabeth had the characteristics more suited to her future position as she was respectful, traditional and calm.Lisa Sheridan—Getty ImagesPrincess Elizabeth, on her 16th birthday on April 21, 1942, reviews the Grenadier Guards, the most senior regiment of the British infantry. She was appointed as the Colonel-in-Chief as part of her expanding royal duties.David E. Scherman—Time&Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPrincess Elizabeth drives an ambulance on April 10, 1945. Just two months earlier, the Princess had joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, which was the women's arm of the British army. She trained as a driver and mechanic.Popperfoto/Getty ImagesPrincess Elizabeth stands with her fiancé, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, Prince of Greece and Denmark, at Buckingham Palace on Aug. 19, 1947. Though the pair had known each other for years and were very much in love, their engagement sparked some controversy. To appease critics, foreign-born Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles and converted to Anglicanism.Bettmann/CorbisThe happy royal couple, photographed on their wedding day, Nov. 20, 1947, at Buckingham Palace. Elizabeth's dress was designed by Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell and was purchased with ration coupons because of the economic hardship Britain faced after the war.Associated Newspapers /Rex USAPrincess Elizabeth with her 1-month-old son Prince Charles of Edinburgh in London on Dec. 21, 1948. Charles was born shortly after Elizabeth's father stated that the couple's children would be bestowed with the titles of prince and princess, even though Philip was no longer a royal prince.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisPrincess Elizabeth greets Winston Churchill at Guildhall on March 23, 1950. Under her reign as Queen, Elizabeth has seen 13 Prime Ministers, including Churchill, from both the Tory and Labour parties.Keystone France/Gamma Keystone/Getty ImagesPrincess Elizabeth, along with her mother, sister and husband, watches as her father's coffin is lifted from a train before heading to Westminster on Feb. 11, 1952. When King George VI's health started to decline the previous year, Elizabeth began standing in his place for royal duties. She and Prince Philip were abroad in Kenya on one such mission when word came that the King had passed away on Feb. 6. Elizabeth was immediately proclaimed the Queen.Fox Photos/Getty ImagesElizabeth, her grandmother Queen Mary and her mother Queen Elizabeth stand in mourning at the funeral of King George VI. The following year, just 10 weeks before Elizabeth's official coronation, Queen Mary would pass away from lung cancer at the age of 85. Before her death, she insisted that the coronation not be postponed.Ron Case—Getty ImagesOn June 2, 1953, the Queen's coronation took place at Westminster Abbey in London. It marked the first time a royal coronation was televised.APThe newly named Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh wave from a balcony to the crowds at the gates of Buckingham Palace after the coronation on June 2, 1953. Norman Hartnell designed Elizabeth's coronation gown; she had specifically requested that it be embroidered with the national flowers of each Commonwealth country.APThe royal family poses for a portrait on the day of the coronation, with Queen Elizabeth II in the center.Keystone France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty ImagesA family portrait during a picnic at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on Sept. 8, 1960. After the births of Prince Charles and Princess Anne, Elizabeth and Philip's family continued to expand with the arrival of Prince Andrew on Feb. 19, 1960.Bettmann/CorbisThe royal family spends time together at home. With the arrival of Prince Edward, far left, on March 10, 1964, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II's brood of children was complete.Willi Schneider—Rex USAQueen Elizabeth II waves to onlookers from a balcony in Bonn, Germany, on May 19, 1965. The Queen and her husband were on an 11-day state visit. Throughout her time as Queen, Elizabeth would become the most widely traveled of any previous monarch.dpa/CorbisQueen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip return from a visit to Yorkshire in an Andover of the Queen's Flight in 1969. In addition to attending to her more traditional duties, the Queen pioneered additional practices like walkabouts, which involved meeting ordinary citizens.Bettmann/CorbisPrince Charles kneels before his mother at Caernarvon Castle on July 1, 1969, during his investiture as the 21st Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. The title is reserved for the heir apparent to the throne. Charles is the oldest and longest-serving holder of the title.Reginald Davis—Rex USAQueen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip kneel during a ceremony for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Celebrations throughout Britain and the Commonwealth reaffirmed the monarch's popularity among the public.Rex USAPrince Charles and Princess Diana greet the public on a Buckingham Palace balcony, along with members of the royal family, following their wedding on July 29, 1981. Their tumultuous marriage and messy divorce would be fodder for the British press for years to come.Wally McNamee—CorbisA fire broke out in Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, when a curtain caught fire from a spotlight. Rex USA—The Queen, along with Prince Philip, survey the flowers left in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, on Sept. 5, 1997, the eve of her funeral. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris the week before, and although she was no longer married to Prince Charles, as the mother of Princes William and Harry, she was honored with a national public funeral.Rex USAThe Queen, with Prince Philip, is led by the Marquess of Cholmondeley and the Duke of Norfolk during an event that marks the beginning of a session of Parliament. Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II has opened every session, except in 1959 and 1963, years when she was pregnant.Tim Graham—Getty ImagesPrince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, smile as they leave St. George's Chapel on their wedding day on April 9, 2005. Queen Elizabeth II, who gave the longtime lovers her blessing, looks on.Rex USAPrince William stands with his bride, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, on a balcony at Buckingham Palace, surrounded by family, on April 29, 2011. The future King's marriage to his longtime girlfriend, a commoner by birth and the first female member of the royal family to graduate from a university, marked a shift in the mores of the monarchy. The Queen officially approved the marriage, as required under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, by signing a document stating that she accepts the union between her grandson and the "well-beloved" Kate Middleton.Hubert Boes—dpa/CorbisTo mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on November 20, 2007, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh re-visit Broadlands, where they spent their wedding night 60 years earlier, in November 1947.Tim Graham—Rex USABritain's Queen Elizabeth tours the Royal London Hospital in East London, on Feb. 27, 2013.Ian Gavan—ReutersQueen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wave from a boat during a pageant in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee along the River Thames in central London on June 3, 2012.Andrew Winning—ReutersIn this image released by the Royal Mail on April 20, 2016, Britain's Prince George stands on foam blocks during a photo shoot in mid-2015 in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace in London, for a stamp sheet to mark the 90th birthday of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. He is photographed with Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and his father, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.Ranald Mackechnie/Royal Mail—APIn this undated photo released by Buckingham Palace on June 10, 2016, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, pose for a photograph to mark the Queen's 90th birthday in Windsor. The queen, Britain’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, turned 90 on April 21. She usually celebrates her birthday privately, but this year’s milestone served as the jumping off point for weeks of celebrations.Annie Leibovitz—Buckingham Palace/AP
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