Longer may she reign.(Queen Elizabeth II of England)

The woman in white, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor 89 years ago, is the daughter of a prince who became Britain's reluctant wartime king after the abdication of his feckless brother. The young princess came of age listening to the roar, whistle and thud of air raids near the sand-bagged redoubt of Windsor Castle. As the Second World War neared its end in 1945, she would wheel an ambulance through roads cratered by German bombs. She became Queen on Feb. 6, 1952, upon the death of her father, King George VI. Neither she, nor her subjects, had any real say in the matter.