Queen Elizabeth II: A life in pictures

The Queen's extraordinary life has been captured in all its variety. Photo / Getty Images

The Queen's extraordinary life is captured in all its variety in this stunning selection from the Herald's photo desk.

It captures her encounters with world leaders, from meeting Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela to ballroom dancing with US President Gerald Ford at the White House.

On her overseas tours, she has inspected her own Queen's regiment in Nigeria, dressed in their colourful pink and red uniforms, ridden with her husband Prince Philip in an open-top convertible in Canada and been paddled ashore in a brightly decorated dug-out canoe in Tuvalu.

Excited crowds lined the streets for her first New Zealand visit as Queen in 1953 and the British were equally enthusiastic as they celebrated her 70th jubilee on the throne in London in June 2022.

The selection also offers a glimpse into her personal life with family portraits across the decades, starting from her early years as Princess Elizabeth with her father King George VI all the way through to her own - sometimes controversial - children and grandchildren and their in-laws, including Princess Diana and her grandson Harry's wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

There are several solemn moments such as her coronation that year and the unforgettable picture of her sitting alone in a pew at Philip's funeral in 2021.

But perhaps the most revealing photos are those which show her looking comfortable in her happy place - outdoors in the country, with her beloved horses and dogs.