There was an odd sound from the churches of the entire England on September 9th that most
of the English population hadn’t heard ever in their life before. As muffled bells tolled for
the first time in nearly seventy-one years, the country drowned in mourning. A beloved monarch, a
caring grandmother, and a witty human being was no more. Queen Elizabeth lived a long and fulfilling
life trying her best to be a champion of people despite her demure stature. People mostly knew her
only as a queen of an empire, head of a troubled royal family, and a somewhat controversial figure
but there is more to the departed and beloved monarch of England, Scotland, and Wales.
How did she do more than her duty as a princess during the second world war?
Which American Presidents she befriended and which she trolled? What unique collections she
held that made her extremely human? Welcome to Nutty History, and today let’s find out
little-known facts you didn’t know about Queen Elizabeth the Second, Rest in Peace.
Queen Elizabeth the Second left the world with an unprecedented record of being the
sovereign of the British Empire for seventy years and two hundred and fourteen days.
She was merely twenty-five when the sudden demise of her father thrust her to become
the queen of a nation that was still reeling from the adversaries of the second world war. She also
had become sovereign of an empire which had the sun setting on it and instead of attempting to
tighten her clutches on it, she chose to gently let it reshape itself to the modern times.
Despite being a monarch for such a long period, it might surprise you that she still isn’t the
record holder for the longest reigning monarch. The title of the longest-reigning monarch in the
world still belongs to France’s King Louis XIV. While Elizabeth famously became queen at age 25,
Louis XIV was just four years old when he was named king.
Louis, also known as the "Sun King," officially reigned for 72 years and 110 days. Oof, so close!
However, not a lot of people know that when Elizabeth was born, she was third in the line
of succession, expected to go even further down the line. Her uncle Edward was first in line to
succession, followed by her father, and then her. However, this was supposed to change as everybody
expected Edward to get kids of his own who would get priority over Elizabeth and her father in the
line of succession. So, all in all, there was little likelihood that Elizabeth would ever get
a chance to be on the throne. But that changed in 1936 as her uncle Edward, who was already reigning
as Edward the third, abdicated the throne in favor of marrying a divorcee named Wallis Simpson.
Little princess Elizabeth had recently finished her swimming classes when she heard chants of
“Long Live the King” outside. It is then she came to realize that her father,
George the fourth, was the king now and she was suddenly next in the line of succession.
Elizabeth was only 10 years old but she took her duties seriously,
even back then and especially when Britain got involved in the second world war.
When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in retaliation for the invasion of Poland on
September 3rd, 1939, Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret were evacuated from London
to Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This is the same Castle where Elizabeth the second would take her
final breath nearly 83 years later. But Princess Elizabeth and her sister spent the majority of the
war years at Windsor Castle with their mother. And like her mother, Princess Elizabeth too
wanted to motivate the people of her nation in those troubled times so on October 13th, 1940,
the princess addressed the children who had to leave Britain due to the Blitz. The blitz, for
those who do not know, was the bombing campaign Axis powers unleashed on Great Britain. Elizabeth,
only at the age of fourteen made a moving speech to encourage fellow children of her country on
the BBC’s Children's Hour. “We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors,
soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and sadness of war.
We know, every one of us, that in the end, all will be well.” But that was not all,
she wasn’t just a woman of words but action as well. She learned to shoot combat weapons
around this time as well and prepared to serve her country to a larger extent.
When Elizabeth came of age, she insisted on joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service and
took a training course in driving and vehicle maintenance at the major garrison of Aldershot,
qualifying just as the war ended. Although her first job during the second world war was to
inspect a military regiment during a parade at Windsor castle on her 16th birthday. Her father
also made sure that she was given no special treatment or titles during her tenure in the
military. She enlisted as a second subaltern in the British Army and served as a mechanic. She was
later promoted to a Junior Commander which is the U.K. equivalent to a Captain in the U.S. military.
But her truest friends were her pet Corgis, who were also featured in her 2012 Olympics
appearance with James Bond himself when she appeared to jump from a helicopter to
announce the commencement of the games. Though her first two corgis were Dookie and Jane,
the queen fell in love with corgi Susan at the age of eighteen. Over the next six decades,
the Queen would own 30 of Susan’s descendants. She stopped breeding them in 2015 as she began
to face her mortality and dreaded leaving behind puppies without proper care. Though
due to her time in the military, she was fully trained to drive not just regular cars but also
heavy-duty vehicles, once she was crowned as queen in 1952, she needed no license to drive anymore.
Well, being a queen comes with its perks and as driving licenses in England were issued in her
name, she needed none for herself. She was her own driving license and the same logic applied
to her passport too so she didn’t need one of those either. Elizabeth took full advantage of
her liberty of traveling without a passport as traveled to almost 300 states during her long
reign. She also chose to not have a last name. And despite the fact she didn’t need a license,
she had a thing or two to say to those states that wouldn’t issue a driving license to women.
In 2003, the Queen was visited by the then Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at the Balmoral
castle in Scotland. The Queen was well aware of the fact that Saudi Arabia back then did
not offer driving licenses to women. Her majesty offered the crown prince a tour of the beautiful
Scottish countryside by herself and asked him to sit shotgun, with her in the driving seat.
It's safe to say Prince Abdullah was both equally amused and terrified to be driven by a woman for
the first time in his life. Not so soon after, Prince Abdullah was both astonished and yet
even more frightened of how fast and yet how casually Elizabeth was driving the Land Rover,
and yet she was in full control of the vehicle. The Crown Prince had to request his interpreter
to ask her to slow down and the Queen did so with a sly smile, well aware that the point was made.
With a 70-year long reign, Queen Elizabeth the second witnessed many elected heads of state come
and go. That includes fifteen Prime Ministers of the UK that were appointed during her reign
and she also witnessed the appointment of fourteen US Presidents, of whom she met thirteen. From
Harry S. Truman, who Elizabeth was acquainted with before they both ascended to their post,
to Joseph Biden, Queen Elizabeth the second met them all,
except Lyndon B. Johnson, who she was supposed to meet but never got around to it.
During her long reign, Queen Elizabeth the second visited the USA many times
but a mishap in 1991 left the press dissatisfied as nobody lowered the podium or provided a
pedestal for the Queen who was nearly a foot shorter than President George Bush Sr. after
his opening remarks. The newspapers the next day joked about “the talking hat” at the cost of the
embarrassment of administrators. So, when the Queen had to address the Congress soon after,
special precautions were taken for the Queen’s speech. Ever so witty,
she opened with “I do hope you can see me today.” The entire Congress burst into
laughter and just like that Queen Elizabeth had once again won the hearts of her audience.
During the 2007 visit, she gently teased President Bush Jr.’s verbal gaffe as he
mistakenly mentioned the Queen’s appearance during the celebration of the US bicentennial in 1776,
rather than 1976. Well aware of jokes about her immortality,
she started the toast with 'When I was here in 1776...'
The President sheepishly responded that the look
she gave him at his mistake was of only a mother to her child.
Despite the mishaps, the Queen made lifelong friendships with many American presidents.
She was especially fond of President Ronald Reagan with whom she would like to go on horse rides.
President Obama said she reminded him of his grandmother and considered the queen
one of his favorite people. She was also introduced to Baseball by Bush Senior.
Apart from Corgis, she held the record for the world’s largest private art collection which
included thousands of paintings and some half a million photographs. But she was perhaps prouder
of her over five thousand plus hat collection. Also, due to a ridiculous but conservative law
created in the 12th century, Queen Elizabeth the second was the proud owner of all unmarked swans
as well as all the porpoises and dolphins in British waters. By this law, even if
you would catch a fish within three miles of a UK coastline, the Royal family could claim it!
Over the years, Queen Elizabeth was gifted many animals such as an elephant, a pair of sloths,
two black jaguars, Liberian pygmy hippos, a couple of beavers, several toucans, an anteater,
an armadillo, giant tortoises and kangaroos and even several crocodiles. Crocodiles! On
several occasions! Who and why do they think it was a good idea? Anyways, she donated all these
animals to British Zoos. Although she still owned a lot of racing horses for herself.
The queen was known to wear very distinct bright colors and hats over the years
so people could single her out even from a distance. She wasn’t big on cosmetics
and used rather inexpensive nail polish. But she had her shoes specially made by shoemaker
Anello & Davide which were then given to a special staff member whose job was to just
break in the shoes for her by wearing them and walking on carpet. The simple qualification
for the job was to have the exact same size as the queen! How cool was that?
On the unfortunate day of the demise of Princess Diana, the Queen let go of protocol and chose
to be with her two grandkids, William and Harry instead of doing her duty as a queen.
She chose to be a grandmother first; she also broke protocol by bowing in front of
Diana’s casket to pay respects to her departed daughter-in-law. It wouldn't be wrong to say that
she was more human than people often credit her to be. Leaving behind eight grandchildren, twelve
great-grandchildren, and 30 godchildren, Queen Elizabeth has left behind a legacy that could
not be forgotten for centuries. Called Lilibet by her parents and cabbage by her beloved husband,
she will be remembered for her sharp wit, her easy approach, and her people-pleasing personality. She
was particularly fond of champagne and used to drink it at night before bed. She once said,
“For me, heaven is likely to be a bit of a come-down.” Do you think we missed any
lesser-known facts about the queen? If yes, tell us in the comments. As always thanks for
watching Nutty History and do not forget to like, subscribe and share this video.