Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

Born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon into British nobility on 4 August 1900, she married Prince Albert, Duke of York, in 1923 - second son, no expectation of the throne. The couple and their two daughters became the picture of steady public service until 1936, when Albert's older brother Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson and Albert unexpectedly became George VI. As queen consort, Elizabeth accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America, then spent the Second World War projecting what looked like indomitable resolve to a battered public. Widowed at 51 in 1952 when her elder daughter became Elizabeth II, she lived on as the family's matriarch after Queen Mary died in 1953 - remaining popular even when other royals weren't, active in public life until months before her death on 30 March 2002, seven weeks after burying her younger daughter Margaret.