She was the oldest of two girls. Born into the royal family on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary never dreamed she would some day become the world's longest reigning monarch in history. She and her younger sister Mary ,the Duchess of Snowdon, lived in London at the Buckingham Palace, living what they would call an ordinary royal life. Her parents, King Geoge VI and Queen Elizabeth the I, reared Elizabeth as a normal, royal child, unknowingnly raising the future most prominent ruler in Engish history. At a young age, Elizabeth was very involved in things ,such as participating in a Girl Guide ( nowadays known as a "Girl Scout") in 1937 at the young age of eleven. She also became a Sea Ranger (a group who taught sailing skills) in 1943 at the age of seventeen. At the beginning of World War I she also learned how to drive with Winston Churchhill's daughter in the womes's branch of the British army. Elizabeth lived a fairly normal life as a princess until her father died of lung cancer in 1952. Elizabeth became the queen of England that same day on February 6, 1952. She was officially coronated on June 2, 1953.