Platinum Jubilee Time.

June 2, 2022 Glen Turpening

The Queen marks her 70th year on the throne in a remarkable record breaking reign as head of the British people. (CNN)

She’s been photographed, painted and graffitied. She’s been struck on coins, cast in iron, silk-screened onto T-shirts and fired onto plates. There’s even a Barbie doll in her likeness. At 96 years old, the longest-serving monarch in Britain’s history celebrates seven decades on the throne this year. Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has seen the proliferation of color photography, the commercialization of television and the pervasiveness of the internet on screens big and small. Over this time, her image has been widely circulated the world over, making the Queen one of the most recognizable faces in history. As the UK celebrates a four-day holiday weekend for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, CNN explores some of the official and unofficial, classic and controversial images that turned Elizabeth II into the cultural icon she is today.

By Sarah-Grace Mankarious, CNN

The Queen has seen it all and keeps going albeit it at a much slower pace. Her reign has been a remarkable feat and been present for so many of the important historical events of the last nearly three quarters of a century. The future of the Monarchy will inevitably look and feel different when she is no longer the Queen, after all she IS the British Monarchy in the minds of most people. Her children and grandchildren have an enormous act to follow and the World will be watching.