The Royals

Elizabeth's Early Life in Pictures

Look back at the fairy-tale princess's charmed life before she became Her Majesty, the Queen

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PRINCESS DEBUTANTES

Elizabeth and Margaret pose in evening gowns in 1946. Then 20, the elder princess had already fallen in love with a distant relative whom she'd met seven years earlier and with whom she'd kept up a correspondence – her future husband, Prince Philip. The couple were secretly engaged the same year this photo was taken.