Thursday 8 September 2022 09:34 PM The Queen dies: How Princess Elizabeth succeeded father King George VI on Kenya ... trends now
It was Prince Philip who broke the news of the King's death to his wife while they were alone.
They had been staying at Sagana Lodge which had been given to them as a wedding present by the people of Kenya, resting after spending the night at the Treetops Hotel, in Aberdare Forest, watching big game.
At just 25, the new Queen was the same age as Elizabeth I when she came to the throne.
Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh had been married for less than five years when their lives altered irrevocably.
As he heard the news, Philip looked as if 'you'd dropped half the world on him', according to one close aide. But Elizabeth was composed even at a time of such grief.
Lord Charteris, her then private secretary, recalled seeing the new Queen seated at her desk in the Lodge shortly after being told the news.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, but there were no tears. She was ready to fulfil the role for which she had been carefully prepared.
Princess Elizabeth and Philip in Kenya in the gardens of the Sagana Lodge, which she was given as a wedding present, on the day before he told her her father, George VI, was dead
The Queen walks through the Sagana lodge in Kenya alongside Sir Philip Mitchell, Governor of Kenya, a few hours after receiving the news her father had died on 6 February 1952
When he asked what name she wished to use as Queen, she replied simply: 'My own name, of course, Elizabeth.'
The tour was cancelled and the royal couple arrived home on February 7.
Queen Mary was first to pay formal homage, kissing her granddaughter's hand that afternoon.
The next day, February 8, Princess Elizabeth was formally proclaimed Queen.
The Queen smiles as she leaves for Kenya on 31 January 1952, pictured left, but looks sombre as she returns home following the death of her father, right
This banner was unveiled by nuns in Kenya on the day before Elizabeth learned of her father's death. The royal couple had spent the night at the Treetops Hotel, right, when a message was given to Philip that the King was dead
Elizabeth's father King George VI, her mother Queen Elizabeth and sister Princess Margaret at London Airport to wave her off ahead of the tour. He died six days later.
She was crowned in Westminster Abbey on June 2 1953 - by coincidence the same day as a joyous nation learned that a Commonwealth team had conquered Mount Everest.
Through the blossoming new medium of television, the ceremony was relayed throughout the world.
Tens of thousands braved pouring rain to line the streets from Buckingham Palace and 20 million people around the country watched the event on television.
It captured the hearts and minds of a nation starved of pageantry by the war.
The Queen was crowned with the St Edward's Crown and her coronation dress, by couturier Norman Hartnell, was a white satin gown encrusted with diamonds, gold and silver bullion, seed pearls and crystals.
