Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96 . The queen was the longest-serving British monarch ever and the oldest reigning female monarch in world history.
Her death comes a year and a half after the loss of her husband, Prince Philip , the Duke of Edinburgh. He was 99.
The pair had an epic love story , and a courtship that was capped off with a gorgeous, headline-making wedding.
Long before Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle , there was another royal wedding the world eagerly anticipated: the nuptials of then-Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in 1947.
The pair, who were married for 73 years, were wed on Nov. 20, 1947 , at Westminster Abbey. It was a bright spot for many British people after the years of austerity and darkness during World War II.
“For months, the public was treated to tantalizing hints about the details of the bridesmaids’ dresses and the cake and so on,” Sarika Bose , a royalty expert and a lecturer in Victorian literature at the University of British Columbia, told HuffPost. “Here you had this young couple that represented hope for a new, happier age after the war.”
Not unlike Harry and Meghan and Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge , Princess Elizabeth and her suitor were seen as a breath of fresh air. The dashing Philip Mountbatten, who was 26 at the time of the wedding, had served in World War II and possessed a slightly rebellious attitude at least by royal standards. Elizabeth, then 21, fell hard for him .
According to their mutual cousin Patricia Mountbatten, the future queen saw that behind his slightly steely exterior, “Philip had a capacity for love which was waiting to be unlocked, and Elizabeth unlocked it.”
Below, we take a look back at Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding.
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Crowds gathered around
London's Trafalgar Square to see Elizabeth and her father, King George VI, arrive at the service by royal coach.
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A woman holds up a toddler to watch the royal procession in London for the wedding.
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Police hold back crowds outside Buckingham Palace in London during the wedding.
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Confectioners stand next to the impressive official cake, which stood
nine feet tall .
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The cover of a special royal wedding edition of Picture Post magazine, showing Elizabeth arriving at Westminster Abbey.
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Tens of thousands of people gathered in
freezing temperatures to try to catch a peek at the royal couple.
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With postwar austerity measures still in effect, Elizabeth had to
save up ration coupons to purchase the material for her wedding gown. Here, she arrives at Westminster Abbey with her father King George VI.
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Two members of the British royal family -- Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (back), and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester -- arrive at Westminster Abbey.
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Elizabeth and Philip make their way down the aisle of Westminster Abbey.
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The scene at the altar steps during the royal wedding ceremony.
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The title page of a Bible presented to Elizabeth to commemorate her marriage to Philip.
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The couple with Elizabeth's eight bridesmaids in the throne room at Buckingham Palace, including her sister, Princess Margaret, to the right of Philip.
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A honeymoon-bound Elizabeth and Philip travel in a carriage procession to Waterloo Station. After the wedding, the pair caught a train to Winchester and then
stayed at Broadlands , the home of Philip's uncle, the Earl Mountbatten. Elizabeth's Corgi,
Susan, joined them .
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Six years after the wedding, Elizabeth returned to Westminster Abbey
for her coronation following the death of King George VI. In their 73 years of marriage, the couple had four children, eight grandchildren and
twelve great-grandchildren .
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