From the earliest days, The Queen took up her new role with energetic commitment.

Political duties began immediately, from the State Opening of Parliament to weekly audiences with the prime minister. The first prime minister of The Queen's reign was Winston Churchill.

During the decade The Queen had occasion to exercise her Royal prerogative, appointing Harold Macmillan as prime minister in 1957. At that time, the Conservative Party did not have any formal electoral machinery to choose a new leader, and The Queen acted on the advice of government ministers.

Watch footage of The Queen's Christmas Broadcast of 1957:

The Queen took her role as Queen of the whole of the United Kingdom seriously. She began a wide-ranging programme of visits throughout every part of the country.

Her first regional tour was a three-day visit to Northern Ireland. In the same decade The Queen travelled north, south, east and west, from Shetland to the Isles of Scilly, and from Swansea to Holy Island.

Taking up her duties as Head of the Commonwealth in earnest, The Queen embarked on a series of overseas visits, including visits to parts of the Commonwealth never before visited by her predecessors.

In winter 1953, for example, Her Majesty set out to accomplish, as Queen, the Commonwealth tour she had begun before the death of her father.

With The Duke of Edinburgh she visited Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.

The Queen made her Christmas Broadcast from New Zealand that year. This was to be the first of many tours of the Commonwealth The Queen has undertaken at the invitation of the host governments.

The Queen also represented Britain in State visits to countries including Norway, Sweden, Portugal, France, Denmark, the USA and The Netherlands.

The Queen made a number of innovations on previous Royal traditions. The year 1958, for example, saw the end of formal presentations at Court, and the number of garden parties held each year increased from three to four.

Family life remained an essential support during official duties. As well as being Sovereign, The Queen was a mother with two young children to care for.

With the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960, The Queen became the first reigning Sovereign to give birth since Queen Victoria, who had her youngest child, Princess Beatrice, in 1857.