III.

Marriage

On November 20, 1947, Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, the former Prince Philip of Greece, at Westminster Abbey in London. He had become a British subject nine months earlier and was married under the title of Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh. A year later Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Charles. In 1950 she gave birth to a daughter, Anne. A second son, Andrew, was born to Elizabeth in 1960, and a third, Edward, in 1964.

Elizabeth has traveled widely. Early in 1947 she visited South Africa with her parents. With her husband she visited France in 1948; Malta in 1949; Greece in 1950; and Italy, Canada, and Washington, D.C., in 1951. The sudden death of George VI, her father, cut short a trip in 1952. She came to the throne on February 6, 1952, and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.