One of the keys to the Queen’s success in her role as the unmoving anchor of the nation was how little of herself she let others see. So it’s not a surprise that’s there’s quite a bot that’s not widely known about her. Here then are ten surprising facts about her life and reign:
- SHE WAS THE LONGEST REIGNING BRITISH MONARCH
At 70 years the Queen’s reigned 7 years longer than her closest competitor, Queen Victoria.
2. HER CHILDHOOD NICKNAME WAS LILIBET
Lilibet was all the very young Princess Elizabeth could pronounce of her name and it stuck. Her Grandson, Prince Harry, would honour this by calling his second child Lilibet out of respect for his Grandmother.
3. SHE WAS THE ONLY UK PERSON ALLOWED TO DRIVE WITHOUT A LICENCE
She was often seen touring around her various estates in a Land Rover and drove, and maintained, trucks during the War.
4. HER BIRTHPLACE IS NOW A CHINESE RESTAURANT
17 Bruton Street in Mayfair was redeveloped before the War and is now a upmarket Cantonese restaurant.
5. QUEEN ELIZABETH NEVER WENT TO SCHOOL
She instead was taught by private tutors at home.
6. SHE OWNED ALL THE SWANS ON THE RIVER THAMES
By ancient right the Crown owns every one of the swans on the banks of the river flowing from near the Welsh border and through London to the sea.
There’s even a post of Swan-Upper , charged with looking after these swans.
(Quiz Answers: 1.Charles; 2. Boris Swan 15 Johnson; 3. Four; 4. 16; 5. Prince of Wales; 6. Buckingham Palace; 7. Wessex; 8. Peter; 9. Greece; 10. Mountbatten; 11. Antigua & Barbuda; 12. George VI; 13. Princess Charlotte; 14. Claire Foy; 15. Silvio Berlusconi; 16. Car Mechanic; 17. Elizabeth Underground Line; 18. Winston Churchill; 19. Liz Truss; 20. Corgis).
7. SHE USED HER HANDBAG TO SEND SECRET SIGNALS TO HER STAFF
If the Queen was at dinner and placed her handbag on the table, her staff knew that she wanted the event to end in the next five minutes.
And if she put her bag on the floor, it signalled that she would like to be rescued from her current conversation.
8. SHE HAD A VERY LONG OFFICIAL TITLE
The Queen’s full title was “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.”
9. SHE HAD A POET WHO’S PARTLY PAID IN ALCOHOL
The Poet Laureate is the monarch’s personal poet charged with putting every royal event into verse.
For this they receive a yearly salary of £5,750 (about $7,000) plus an entire barrel of sherry.
10. THE QUEEN WAS OFTEN WOKEN UP BY BAGPIPES
As an interesting version of the wake up call the Queen would wake up to “Piper to the Sovereign” played outside her window at 9am.
Quite the alarm call….