30 Things You Didn’t Know About Queen Elizabeth
As one of the most famous monarchs in the world, Queen Elizabeth II has had a life that
was constantly under scrutiny by the media and the public.
With such a long reign, Queen Elizabeth has seen it all.
This royal is extremely private, which is why there are a lot of things about Queen
Elizabeth that you may not know.
Here is a list of some of the little-known facts about the Queen.
1.
She is the longest-reigning British monarch: Queen Elizabeth II is the United Kingdom’s
longest-reigning monarch, and one of the world’s longest-ruling monarchs in history.
Following the death of her father King George VI in 1952, she ascended the throne.
In June 1953, she has officially crowned the Queen of the UK and queen regnant of seven
Commonwealth countries at the time.
2.
She was not technically in line to take the throne:
The longest-reigning British monarch was never supposed to ascend the throne.
In 1936, Queen Elizabeth’s uncle became King Edward VIII.
However, he was never crowned, and he didn’t rule for even a year.
He made the controversial decision to marry an American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
This led to him abdicating the throne.
This changed the course of Elizabeth’s life forever.
As King George became King, Elizabeth became the immediate heir to the throne.
Her whole life became a matter of public scrutiny.
3.
She never went to school: Princess Elizabeth never went to school.
But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t educated.
No!
Elizabeth and Margaret were home-schooled instead, which was normal for a royal at the
time.
She studied constitutional history from Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton College,
which helped her prepare for her role as a future monarch.
The Archbishop of Canterbury taught her religion.
She was also fluent in French, a skill that helped her greatly during her reign.
She studied art and music and was a champion swimmer.
4.
She had two birthdays The Queen celebrated her birthday twice a
year.
She celebrated her birthday on 21 April, which is her actual birthday, and then celebrated
it again in June.
This is because April was deemed too cold for any public celebrations.
5.
She had more than one use for her handbag: The Queen never seemed to be without her handbag.
And her handbag was never without a portable hook.
Does that sound strange?
Yeah, maybe.
But it did have its uses.
You see, the Queen used her bag to send signals to her staff.
If she set it on the table for dinner, it meant that she wanted to end the event in
the next five minutes.
When she puts her bag on the floor, it is a sign that she’s not into the conversation
and wants to be rescued by her lady-in-waiting.
But if she hangs the bag from the portable hook under the table, then everything is well
and good.
6.
She owns all the swans in Britain: The Queen legally owns all the unmarked mute
swans in the United Kingdom.
This is part of a royal tradition that started way back in 1186.
Swans were very valuable at the time, so when Henry VIII was King, it was a crime to steal
swan eggs.
All the eggs had to be counted to make sure none were stolen, a tradition known as “swan-upping”.
Every year, a team rows through the Thames to check on the health of the birds.
So, the tradition that originally started to prove ownership is now a census of the
birds.
7.
She was a part of the army Princess Elizabeth started training as a Girl
Guide when she was 11, along with her sister, Princess Margaret.
She was also a part of the Sea Rangers, a group that taught girls water-based activities
like sailing.
Her work in the Girl Guides and Sea Rangers helped her prepare for military service.
Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1945, becoming the first
female member of the Royal Family to join the Armed Services as a full-time member.
She served in World War II.
The Princess learned how to drive and maintain vehicles while in the ATS.
She worked as a mechanic and a truck driver.
8.
She has a stable of racehorses: Queen Elizabeth is an avid equestrian.
She began riding when she was only three years old.
When she was four, Elizabeth got her first pony as a birthday present from her grandfather,
King George V. Her first pony was Susan, a Shetland pony.
The Queen breeds racehorses and owns many award-winning horses.
Her horses have won more than 1600 races.
She is a patron of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and is very knowledgeable about
the industry.
One of the biggest horse shows in the world, the Royal Windsor Horse Show is often attended
by the Queen.
9.
She loves dogs: You must have seen the classic images of Queen
Elizabeth along with her corgis.
It is a well-known fact that the Queen loves dogs.
She received her first corgi, Susan, as a birthday present when she turned 18.
After Susan, the Queen had owned at least 30 Pembroke Welsh corgis, who all descended
from Susan.
The last of them, Willow, died in 2018.
The Queen has also bred a mix of corgis and dachshunds, “dorgis”.
10.
She used coupons to buy her wedding dress: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip got married
in 1947 when the country was still recovering from the war and had rationing measures in
place.
As a result, Elizabeth had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding dress.
She got 200 extra coupons from the government.
Princess Elizabeth looked beautiful in the final dress designed by Norman Hartnell.
The dress was made of Chinese silk, with a high neckline and tailored bodice.
It had a 13-foot-long train with a Botticelli-inspired pattern and was adorned with crystals and
10,000 seed pearls imported from America.
11.
Her tiara snapped on her wedding day: Hours before her wedding, the diamond tiara
that Princess Elizabeth was supposed to wear snapped in half as it was being secured to
her veil.
Seeing as how this wedding was going to be broadcast all over the world, this was a disaster.
The tiara, called the Fringe Tiara, was the Queen’s “something borrowed” from her
mother, the Queen Mother.
When the tiara snapped, according to reports, the Queen Mother told Elizabeth that they
“still had two hours and there are other tiaras”.
Thankfully, the royal jewelry house Garrard was on call in case of an emergency, and the
broken tiara was taken to the workshop and welded back together.
It reached the princess in time for her to wear it to the wedding.
12.
She met Prince Philip when she was 13: Elizabeth and Philip first crossed paths when
the princess was just eight years old, at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and
Denmark and Prince George, Duke of Kent, in 1934.
They met again properly five years later at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth when
Elizabeth was 13 and Philip was 18.
This was the first time she remembers meeting him, and it was here apparently that she fell
in love with her future husband.
Later, they began exchanging letters.
In 1946, Philip asked King George VI for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
The King agreed on the condition that the formal announcement of the engagement be delayed
until Elizabeth turned 21 the following April.
According to reports, both the king and the queen feared that their daughter was too young.
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were third cousins through Queen Victoria.
Prince Philip was born a royal of Greece and Denmark.
13.
She has broken many records: Queen Elizabeth is the longest-reigning royal
in the history of Britain.
During the Queen’s reign, there have been 12 British Prime Ministers and 7 Roman Catholic
popes.
Queen Elizabeth is also the longest-reigning female monarch in the history of the world.
The marriage of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip is the longest of any British sovereign.
The Queen also holds the record for most countries with her portrait on the currency.
She appears on the currency of 35 nations.
Queen Elizabeth has traveled the world more than any other king or queen in the world.
She has visited 116 countries for official visits.
14.
She likes to drink: The Queen has a glass of champagne each night.
According to her cousin, Margaret Rhodes, the Queen enjoys a tipple every day.
She performs the same drinking ritual every day.
A gin and Dubonnet on the rocks with a slice of lemon before lunch, wine with lunch, and
a glass of champagne to finish the day – that does sound good!
15.
She is exempt from the usual documentation: The Queen does not require to have most of
the important documentation that we have.
She can drive without a license.
She does not even need a passport.
This is because they are all issued in her name.
She has visited more than 100 countries without one.
She is also exempt from taxes, but she still voluntarily pays income and capital gains
taxes.
16.
She has a few nicknames: The Queen’s full name is Elizabeth Alexandra
Mary.
But when she was a young girl, she had trouble pronouncing her own name, which came out as
Lilibet, and the name stuck.
She was called Lilibet by her close family.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan chose this name for their daughter.
The Queen’s husband lovingly called her Cabbage.
Her great-grandchild, Prince George, calls her Gan-Gan.
17.
She speaks fluent French: Queen Elizabeth is fluent in French.
She learned to speak French at a young age from her French and Belgian governesses.
She often speaks in French when she visits the country and delivered an address at the
State Banquet in 2014 in French, shocking many.
The skill has proved useful for the Queen while speaking to ambassadors and heads of
state from French-speaking countries or when visiting French-speaking areas in Canada.
18.
She has 30 godchildren: Being a godparent is a great honor.
The Queen has at least 30 godchildren from the 1950s to the present day, but not all
of them have been revealed publicly.
She became a godparent even before her reign began.
Many of her godchildren have connections to the royal family.
Her first godchild, Guy Rupert Gerard Nevill, in 1945, was the son of Lady Nevill, a longtime
friend of Elizabeth.
19.
She sent her first email from a British army base:
On 26 March 1976, the Queen sent her first-ever royal email while visiting the Ministry of
Defense’s scientific research hub, the Royal Signals, and Radar Establishment.
Peter Kirstein, the man who first brought the ARPANET to Great Britain, set up the Queen’s
mail account.
He chose the username HME2: Her Majesty, Elizabeth II.
All she had to do was press a couple of buttons and her message was sent.
In doing so, Queen Elizabeth became the first royal to send an email.
20.
She wears Essie 'Ballet Slippers' nail polish: When you are the Queen, even your nail paint
is a very big deal.
Since 1989, Queen Elizabeth has worn the same shade of nail polish.
Essie’s iconic Ballet Slippers nail polish is loved by the Queen so much that it is the
only color she will wear.
According to the brand’s website, the Queen’s hairdresser wrote a letter to nail polish
queen Essie Weingarten in 1989, requesting a bottle of the classic pale pink shade.
21.
She owns an apartment in NYC: The British royal owns an apartment in the
Big Apple.
The Queen has a $7.9 million pied-à-terre in Manhattan.
The house is a three-bedroom apartment in Zeckendorf Development’s 50 United Nations
Plaza, a building designed by Lord Norman Foster, who was knighted by the Queen many
years ago.
The 3000 sq ft space comes with three and a half bathrooms, and a 15-foot long living
and dining room.
22.
She is rich: Forbes estimates that the Queen is worth $500
million in personal assets, and she is rich.
However, even though she is the Queen, she is not the wealthiest person in the United
Kingdom.
Her net worth is way below the 2674 billionaires on the Forbes richest people list.
Much of her wealth comes from private income from her many estates.
23.
She has a personal poet: A poet laureate has been a part of the British
royal staff since the 17th century.
It is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom.
The Queen’s current poet is Simon Armitage.
He replaced Dame Carol Ann Duffy 2019, who was made the first female Poet Laureate in
2009.
She wrote poems for special royal events such as the wedding of Prince William and Kate
Middleton, and the Queen’s 60th coronation anniversary.
The appointed poet gets an annual salary and 720 bottles of sherry when they start.
24.
She is woken up every day with bagpipes: The Queen doesn’t wake up to an alarm clock
like us commoners.
Instead, she has a bagpiper, who plays outside her window for 15 minutes every morning at
9 am.
The piper is known as “Piper to the Sovereign”.
She can even tell if someone different than her usual bagpiper is playing.
25.
She was in Kenya when she received a message about her father’s death:
Princess Elizabeth became Queen after the death of her father, King George VI, on 6
February 1952.
At the time, she was on a royal tour of Kenya with her husband, Prince Philip.
Elizabeth’s private secretary got the news through a call from a local journalist and
was confirmed by Prince Philip’s equerry after listening to the BBC World Service on
the radio.
Prince Philip broke the news to the queen about her father’s death.
She was one of the last to know that she had become Queen.
26.
She doesn’t risk getting blisters when she buys new shoes:
The royal duties of a queen would also entail being on her feet for hours on end.
The Queen is known to wear a few different styles of shoes from Anello & Davide, and
she has a trick that she uses to never risk getting blisters on her feet.
The Queen has a servant with the same sized feet who breaks in her shoes.
Her shoes have to be immediately comfortable.
She can never say “I am uncomfortable, I can’t walk anymore” during a royal occasion.
The servants breaking in the shoes also wear cotton ankle socks and walk on carpet to soften
the leather.
27.
She once found an intruder in her room: In 1982, a man named Michael Fagen invaded
her bedroom.
The reports at the time said that the Queen, with all her poise and calm, asked him what
he was doing there and stalled him with 10 minutes of conversation while waiting for
security.
But according to later interviews with Fagan, he said that she didn’t wait to have any
chats, instead of running past him and out of the room.
28.
She sneaked out with her sister to celebrate the end of the war:
When the War finally ended on 8 May 1945, Elizabeth and Margaret were allowed to join
the crowds on the streets to celebrate.
The Queen recalls the evening as one of the most memorable in her life.
"I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us
just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief," she said of the event, according
to a post by the royal family on Instagram. 29.
She has survived assassination attempts: Being a royal constantly in the public eye
isn’t always a good thing.
Queen Elizabeth has been in danger on more than one occasion and has survived three assassination
attempts.
In 1970, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were on a tour of Australia, when an attempt
was made to assassinate the queen, according to former Detective Superintendent Cliff McHardy.
The royal couple was to go by rail from Sydney to Orange, and the would-be assassins had
placed a log on the train tracks to derail the train.
The train struck the log but was traveling too slowly for any damage to be done.
On 13 June 1981, at the annual Trooping the Color event in London, crowds gathered to
watch the queen attending the ceremony on horseback.
As the queen rode by, 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant fired six blanks from a starting pistol.
The queen’s horse was startled but the sovereign managed to calm him down.
He was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
Just a few months after being shot at the event, the queen faced another assassination
attempt during a visit to New Zealand in 1981.
While she was visiting a museum in Dunedin, Christopher John Lewis, 17 was waiting in
a nearby building and fired out of the window as the queen alighted from her vehicle.
He missed, but witnesses reported hearing a loud crack.
He was arrested eight days later.
30.
She has many titles: The Queen is not just ‘The Queen of England’.
She has many, many other titles.
Her official title is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of The United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head
of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
In Canada, she also holds the title of Chief Hunter of the Order of the Buffalo Hunt.
She also holds titles from the Order of the Garter, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem,
and the Imperial Order of the Crown in India, to name a few.
So, did you learn any new information about this popular British Royal?
How many of these facts did you know about?
Tell us in the comments below.