Elizabeth II: life of the week

This April marks the centenary of the birth of Elizabeth II, who reigned over an incredibly transformative period in British history. But who was the real woman behind the crown? In this special episode of our Life of the Week series, Kate Williams guides Charlotte Vosper through the late Queen's life, picking a key moment from each decade that illuminates the monarch's personality, public role, and private life. How did she feel when she unexpectedly became heir apparent to the throne?

And what did she really think about the media furore that surrounded her and her family? And before we get going, just a flag that you can join Cape for a six part History Extra Academy series, uncovering the little known stories behind some of history's most famous queens. All the details of that are in the show notes, but for now it's on with today's episode. This month is the centenary of Elizabeth II's birth, which offers us the opportunity to think about the key moments in her personal and her public life.

She was born in 1926, so let's start there. Kate, what was Elizabeth's early childhood like? Elizabeth was born, as you say, on April the 21st, 1926, and she was born in her grandparents' house in Piccadilly. It's been through various iterations, a car showroom and now a restaurant. But even though she wasn't born in a royal palace,

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (46 minutes, 8,546 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 5 episodes for $3.49, and monthly plans are cheaper still.