As the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 71 years of marriage, here’s a look at the monarch and her consort in pictures through the decades:
Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten are pictured together at Buckingham Palace after their engagement was announced (PA)
A delighted Princess Elizabeth was captured sat on a chair, proudly showing off her ring, and gazing up adoringly at her husband-to-be – the 26-year-old Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh leaving Westminster Abbey after their wedding ceremony (PA)
The fairytale royal wedding in London’s Westminster Abbey was a morale boost in the tough years that followed the Second World War, and millions of people tuned in to listen to the ceremony on the wireless.
– 1950s
Five years after they married, the princess – by then a mother of two – became Queen Elizabeth II when her father George VI died in 1952.
Princess Anne in the arms of Princess Elizabeth, with the Duke of Edinburgh, holding Prince Charles, in the grounds of Clarence House, their London residence in 1951 (PA)
A Commonwealth tour took them on a six-month trip around the world.
The Queen, with Philip, taking a cine-film of the historic hand-over of escort duty from the cruiser Sheffield, which was returning to Panama, to the New Zealand light cruiser Black Prince in 1953 (PA)
The sixties saw the arrival of two more children – Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
The Queen and Philip surrounded by their children – Andrew, Anne, Edward and Charles – on the monarch’s 39th birthday in 1965 (PA)
– 1970s
In the 1970s, the couple celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in 1972 and the Queen reached her silver jubilee on the throne in 1977.
The Queen and Philip at Balmoral to celebrate their Silver Wedding anniversary (PA)
– 1980s
The Queen and Philip in a haulage truck ready to go down to the lower level of the Geevor tin mine at Pendeen, Cornwall in 1980 (PA)
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, and the Princess of Wales with Prince Harry and Prince William in front on the palace balcony in 1988 (PA)
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh arrive on the course at a rain-swept Royal Ascot in 1997 (Martin Hayhow/PA)
But the duke was at the Queen’s side throughout.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh view the floral tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, at Buckingham Palace in 1997 (John Stillwell/PA)
The Queen escorted by Philip after the State Opening of Parliament in 2003 (PA)
It was also the decade that saw the Prince of Wales finally marry Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2005.
The Queen and the duke marked their diamond wedding anniversary in 2007.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Broadlands in Romsey, Hampshire, where they spent part of their honeymooned in 1947, in photos marking their diamond wedding anniversary in 2007 (Fiona Hanson/PA)
The brief poignant, private return to the Mediterranean island was the duke’s idea.
– 2010s
The 2010s have seen the Diamond Jubilee, the weddings of both the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, and the arrival of the Queen and Philip’s seven – and soon-to-be eight – great-grandchildren.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh onboard the Spirit of Chartwell during the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames (John Stillwell/PA)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh photographed by Matt Holyoak in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in celebration of their platinum wedding anniversary (Matt Holyoak/CameraPress/PA)
The Queen and Philip pictured together after Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October (Alastair Grant/PA)
