The Royal Family has shared an adorable photo of the Queen to mark her 96th birthday, throwing back to the days before her maj became our monarch.
The photograph shows a young Princess Elizabeth aged two in 1928. Back then, she was never expected to become Queen, but all that changed when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated and her father George VI took up the thrown.
This year, the Queen is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee – a first in British history – and we get a jolly old four-day bank holiday weekend to celebrate.
The sweet toddler snap was the second image shared to mark the Queen’s birthday.
In the first image, the 96-year-old is photographed standing with two of her beloved fell ponies, as the build-up begins for the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which is planning to mark the Platinum Jubilee with an equestrian display showcasing horses from across the globe.
It has been billed as a “personal tribute to our monarchy” and will feature more than 500 horses and more than a thousand performers taking the audience on a journey from Elizabeth I to the Queen.
The new photograph of the Queen was taken in March in the grounds of Windsor Castle by Henry Dallal, who was commissioned to take an official portrait of her to mark her 90th birthday.
On the Queen’s left is the pony Bybeck Nightingale and on her right is Bybeck Katie, and both animals will feature in the event, A Gallop through History.