Elizabeth was born as the first daughter of the Lord of Windsor, a leading lord in the House of State. During World War Two she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and became a popular public figure. Her father died in 1944 causing her to become the Lady of Windsor, and the youngest female lord to ever enter the House of State. In 1952 following the premature death of the Lord Protector Archibald Villers, Earl of Hertfordshire she was elected as the next Lord Protector by the House of State, having run unopposed since being endorsed by her second cousin and former viceroy of India the Earl Mountbatten.