Elizabeth's early years are explored, from the day she learned she would eventually be Queen, to the tour of Kenya during which she learned her father George VI had died. Then how she faced many tough decisions, including how to modernise the British Empire, manage a critically ill prime minister and balance her royal duties with her family.

Through the 70s and 80s, Elizabeth was thrilled to see her sons married, but also faced a strained relationship with her first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. In the 1990s, Elizabeth faced the most challenging decade of her reign, including the famous 'annus horribilis', during which three of her children's marriages failed, and fire destroyed much of Windsor Castle.