Cunard celebrates Queen Elizabeth II and four ships she launched, in photos

Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has been showing up at signature events for Cunard since 1938. Now the luxury cruise line releases never-before-seen photos in honor of her 90th birthday.

The queen turned 90 on April 21, but will be celebrating throughout the summer. Cunard’s photos show her role as the only person who has attended the launch of all three of the line’s ships named Elizabeth.

On Sept. 27, 1938, a 12-year-old Princess Elizabeth accompanied her mother, Queen Elizabeth, and her sister, Princess Margaret, to John Brown’s Shipyard on Clydebank in Glasgow, Scotland, for the christening of the original Queen Elizabeth liner.

Her father, King George VI, remained home in London due to deteriorating relations with Germany. Slightly less than a year later, Great Britain entered World War II.

Over the decades, Queen Elizabeth has personally christened four Cunard ships: Caronia (Oct. 30, 1947), Queen Elizabeth 2 (Sept. 20, 1967), Queen Mary 2 (Jan. 8, 2004) and the Queen Elizabeth (Oct. 11, 2010).

As the photos above illustrate, the queen also visited the Queen Elizabeth and QE2 and has observed Cunard ships from the decks of the Royal Yacht Britannia.

There’s still time to wish Queen Elizabeth a happy birthday by tweet or via the British Monarchy’s Facebook page.