7 stuff you won’t know concerning the late Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch

London — As the United Kingdom, and its Commonwealth nations and the world mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth II after her document 70 years on the throne, listed here are seven issues you might not have recognized concerning the British monarch. 

1. Longest reign in British historical past

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II grew to become the longest reigning monarch in British historical past on September 9, 2015, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. (She had the second-longest reign in world historical past, behind solely France’s King Louis XIV, who gained his title on the age of simply 4 years previous, in 1643.)

2. Presidential conferences

Queen Elizabeth met 13 of the 14 presidents of the United States who’ve served throughout her reign. She didn’t meet President Lyndon Johnson. 

3. Generations of corgis

Elizabeth was given a corgi pup named Susan on her 18th birthday in 1944. She owned greater than 30 corgis and dorgis throughout her reign — most of them descendants of Susan. 

4. Military service

Elizabeth joined the ladies’s department of the British Army — the Auxiliary Territorial Service — throughout World War II, changing into the primary feminine member of the royal household to function a full-time, energetic member of the navy. During her service, she discovered to drive and preserve automobiles.

5. Early emailer

Then-Princess Elizabeth despatched her first piece of email on March 26, 1976. The message — which might later develop into often known as an e mail — was despatched to the U.S. Secretary of Defense to formally open collaboration between the 2 international locations on a navy laptop programming language. She was the primary British royal, and among the many first folks exterior high secret navy circles, to ever use the know-how.

6. Windsor Castle house

Windsor Castle, which was Elizabeth’s major residence till her passing, is the most important and oldest palace on the planet nonetheless in use by a royal household. William the Conqueror ordered development to start in 1070, and his citadel was prepared 16 years later. It has been a house to Britain’s kings and queens ever since.

7. Historic broadcast

Elizabeth’s formal coronation ceremony in 1953 — about 4 months after she truly took the throne upon the loss of life of her father, King George VI — was the primary to be broadcast on stay tv. Some 27 million folks watched it within the United Kingdom alone.