From the day a footman delivered the news in 1936 that Edward VIII had abdicated the British throne, it was clear that his brother’s 10-year-old daughter would one day rule the Commonwealth. Fifteen years later, the princess, by then the wife of a Greek prince and mother of two, became Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen enters the Diamond Jubilee of her reign—the second longest in English history—VF.com presents a look back at the days of her youth.

(via alessandrahautumn)