Born on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was delivered just after 2:30 in the morning in her grandfather's London home, in case anyone wants to do her birth chart. At the time no one thought that she would be the Queen of England some day. Her father was second in line for the throne after his brother Edward VII. However, when Edward abdicated the throne to Elizabeth's father it became clear that she would be more than just the daughter of the King's brother.

Wilson Harris, editor of The Spectator in the 1940s, wrote that Elizabeth's early days in London prepared her for life as the reigning monarch over an ever-changing modern city. He stated:

Princess Elizabeth was born in a house in a London street, and spent most of the first ten years of her life in a house in another London street, Piccadilly, with cars and buses and taxis—all that makes up the swift and shifting life of London speeding ceaselessly past its windows day and night. It was the comfort of an English home like a thousand others, rather than the luxury, or imagined luxury, of a palace. There the Princess was taught to read by her mother.

In 1936, the ten year old Elizabeth became the heir-presumptive to the British throne. She was already receiving a standard education for royalty, but when it became apparent that she could be Queen she was given private tutoring sessions from some of the greatest minds in the world. To make sure that she didn't live the cloistered life of a baby monarch, she was enrolled in the Girl Guides (essentially the English Girl Scouts) so she could make friends with girls her own age.

In 1940, when she was only 14 years old, the BBC aired her first radio broadcast during Children's Hour. During the broadcast she spoke directly to children who were displaced following the German Blitzkrieg, reminding them to keep their heads up and be brave in the face of one of the greatest military threats that Britain had ever seen. She told her listeners:

We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.

Princess Elizabeth had two loves: reading and horses. As a girl she began riding horses, and even received a Shetland pony named Peggy for a gift when she was four years old. Her early infatuation with horses led to her working the animals into her every day life as Queen. Not only do they play a major part in her life as a royal, but she takes pleasure in going for a ride.

What better way for a young girl to spend her days? Especially when you're royalty and can literally ride wherever you like, that has to be one of the greatest feelings ever. Whether she was staying in London or visiting one of her family's estates there was always a horse nearby that she could take for a ride. As Queen, Elizabeth bred horses, raced them, and she could be spotted riding them in well into her 90s.

One of the Queen's favorite places on Earth is Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the royal family's home in the highlands. The Windsors travel to the estate every year for their summer holiday, and she's been going out there since she was a girl, and in the lead up to World War II she stayed at the estate until Christmas of 1939. Princess Euginie said of her grandmother's love of the estate:

I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands. Walks, picnics, dogs—a lot of dogs, there’s always dogs—and people coming in and out all the time. It’s a lovely base for Granny and Grandpa, for us to come and see them up there, where you just have room to breathe and run.

It's redundant to say that the only people who knew what Elizabeth was like as a teen were the people who were around her, and no one was really around her other than her family. By the time she began working as an auto mechanic during World War II people were genuinely shocked that she wasn't hiding out in the country, but in hindsight it's clear that Elizabeth has always loved England.

Wilson Harris of The Spectator writes that the lack of information about the life of the young Queen is actually a good thing. He believes that because she spent much of her early life out of the public eye she didn't have to restrain herself, and could grow into her own person: 

That relatively little has been known of the Princess hitherto is matter for satisfaction rather than regret, for it means that her childhood has been wisely guarded and sheltered, and her personality allowed to develop as it would, unstrained by any undue consciousness of status.