Queen Elizabeth II and her Platinum Jubilee
On 6th February 1952, the life of Elizabeth, who was just 26 years old at that time, changed forever: as a matter of fact, her father and king of Great Britain, George VI died after a long illness and Elizabeth, the elder of the king’s two daughters, was next in the succession line.
It’s been 70 years since then, many things have changed, but Elizabeth is still on the throne of the UK, leading one of the most renowned monarchies of the world.
In order to best commemorate her 70th year as Queen of Great Britain, here are some curiosities about one of the most famous monarchs in human history:
She celebrates her birthday twice
As a matter of fact, the Queen celebrates her birthday twice a year. The real one is on 21st April and it is celebrated privately with the immediate family. The other is instead publicly celebrated on the second Sunday of June. On that occasion, a parade is held, also known as Trooping the Colour, which has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over 260 years now.
She does not have a surname
Even though many people still wrongly believe that "Windsor" is the last name of the Queen, it is actually the name of the Royal House. It was changed from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor during World War I, because of the anti-German sentiment in the UK.
So, the Queen’s full name is just Elizabeth II. Anyway, she usually signs as ‘’Elizabeth R’’ and R stands for the Latin word "regina".
She has travelled so much
She is probably the person who has travelled the most in the world. She has visited 117 different countries and travelled 2 million kilometres. So she has basically toured around the world 42 times! The country that the Queen has visited the most so far is Canada (she has been there 25 times), while she has come to Italy 5 times.
The Queen and her admirable confidentiality
The Queen is also known for her discretion. As a matter of fact, she believes that confidentiality is very important for a monarch and this is why she does not really fancy being interviewed publicly. During her 70 years as Queen of the UK, she decided to grant an interview only once, in 2018, on the 65th anniversary of her coronation.
She was also in the army
During World War II, she decided to join the army and started working as a mechanic in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. So she became the very first British royal woman to have been a member of the army.
