Because the world mourns the dying of Queen Elizabeth II, it feels almost inconceivable to think about a change to the monarchy after her 70-year reign.
However on the time of her start, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was by no means meant to be queen.
When King George V, Elizabeth's grandfather, died in 1936, his first-born son King Edward VIII ascended to the throne.
However a controversial romance with American divorcee Wallis Simpson put an abrupt finish to a reign that lasted simply 325 days.
"Divorce was nonetheless one thing that was not carried out. And it definitely wasn't a standard observe for a monarch," royal historian Laura Mayhall advised CBS Information nationwide correspondent and anchor Vladimir Duthiers.
He was given a alternative: quit the love of his life or quit the throne. He selected love. His choice thrust his brother and Elizabeth's father, George VI, into the highlight.
George VI was a person with a stutter, a concern of public talking with no want to be king. His life was depicted within the 2010 film, "The King's Speech."
However he cast forward, fulfilling his responsibility and getting ready Elizabeth to at some point be queen. That included serving within the girls's department of the British military throughout World Struggle II.
The 25-year-old inheritor was touring Kenya when she realized her father had died and that she was queen.
"It is vitally clear that she understood her life could be devoted to service," Mayhall mentioned. "She took it very, very significantly."
However her reign didn't come with out controversy. There was opposition to the colonial subjugation of the Commonwealth's lands and other people.
"Even beneath her reign, there was the Mau Mau insurrection of Kenya, as an example ... beneath the British at the moment, which the British violently crushed, put Kenyans into focus camps, proof of torture of displacement which, to this present day, the survivors and the descendants are looking for damages from the U.Okay. for that," Washington Publish columnist Karen Attiah mentioned.
In her world travels, Queen Elizabeth II by no means publicly acknowledged the monarchy's usually brutal colonial previous.
Over the previous few days, many individuals all over the world have expressed resentment towards the girl who symbolized to them the techniques of oppression and compelled extraction of labor.
"The rationale we've not been capable of have correct conversations about Britain, concerning the royal household, concerning the symbols of white supremacy and colonialism is as a result of these discussions have been whitewashed, erased and sabotaged," Attiah mentioned.
Regardless of the difficult historical past of the monarchy, to many, Queen Elizabeth II was a beloved monarch — evidenced by the individuals everywhere in the world who made their solution to England to pay their respects to the queen who at all times mentioned she was merely a humble servant.