10 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II is Great Britain’s longest reigning monarch, and the queen of 16 of 53 member states in the Commonwealth of Nations. There are, however, so many more interesting facts we don’t know about Her Royal Highness. Check them out…
1. Fluent in French
image via www.timesofisrael.com
Queen Elizabeth II has to travel the world on royal duties, and whilst she cannot speak the native tongue of all the nations she visits, she is fluent in French. She often uses the language for French-speaking audiences and on state visits, and so does not require an interpreter.
2. No Passport
image via www.quazoo.com
The Queen might regularly travel the world but she does not have a passport. Despite the fact she has travelled to 116 countries during her reign, she does not need one. Why? Because all British passports are issued in her name. She also doesn’t need a driver’s license.
3. Truck Driver
image via www.pinterest.com
Queen Elizabeth II was once a truck driver. True story! When she was just 18 years old, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War, after her begging her father to join the war effort. She was known as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor and trained as a military truck driver and mechanic. She is the only female member of the royal family to have entered the armed forces, and the only living head of state to have served in World War II.
4. Third Cousins
image via www.telegraph.co.uk
Royals like to keep things royal, which is why they often marry from within the family. When she was known as Princess Elizabeth, she married her third cousin, Philip Mountbatten, who was formerly the Prince of Greece and Denmark, on 20th November 1947.
5. Ration Coupon Wedding Dress
image via www.nydailynews.com
The post-war years were tough for most families – including the royal family. The wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip was quite understated, with the Queen even saving up ration coupons to purchase material for her ivory satin wedding gown, which was designed by Norman Hartnell and featured 10,000 encrusted white pearls. She must have saved a lot of coupons!
6. House of Mountbatten
image via britishspeak.blogspot.com
The royal family might be based on tradition – but the marriage between Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was anything of the sort. Why? Because the Queen did not take her husband’s surname. The Queen’s father, King George VI, might have been born into the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but the family changed their name to Windsor during the First World War due to anti-German sentiment.
When the Prince and Queen chose to wed, Prince Philip dropped his Germanic surname of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, and so adopted the his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten. However, when the Queen was ascended to the throne, the Queen Mother and Prime Minister Winston Churchill prevented the Queen and her descendants from becoming the House of Mountbatten. Once several years had passed, the Queen announced that some of her descendants would carry the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
7. First Head of State to Email
image via www.history.com
Queen Elizabeth is considered the first head of state to have sent an electronic email, which. Back on 26th March 1976, Queen Elizabeth II took part in a network technology demonstration at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, which was an English research facility. The message was delivered via the ARPANET, which was the predecessor of the internet we love today.
8. Attempted Assassination
image via www.history.com
On 13th June 1981, a 17-year-old teenager fired six blank shots at the monarch as she rode her horse in a parade near Buckingham Palace. The teen was reportedly fascinated by the assassins of John F. Kennedy and John Lennon, but was quickly subdued by police when he attempted to assassinate the Queen. He went on to spend three years in a psychiatric prison. Composed as ever, the Queen calmed her startled horse and resumed her procession.
9. Stalker Scare
image via www.telegraph.co.uk
It’s not the first time the reigning monarch has had a fright. Just over one year later from the attempted assassination, the Queen awoke to find a stalker sitting on the edge of her bed on 9th July 1982. He was also dripping with blood as he had cut his hand whilst wandering Buckingham Palace’s corridors. The man was 31-year-old psychiatric patient Michael Fagan. Rather than running scared, the monarch conversed with Fagan for roughly 10 minutes, and listened as he talked about his personal issues and his relationship with his four children.
A footman later arrived to the bedroom and seized Fagan, who was later ordered to spend an additional six months in a mental hospital. It turned out that this wasn’t the first time he had visited the Queen’s royal residence, as he had also crept into the palace weeks earlier, and even stole a bottle of Prince Charles’ white wine.
10. 90,000 Christmas Puddings
image via royalista.com
The Royal Family’s staff must love Christmas puddings, as the Queen has given out approximately 90,000 of them during her reign. She has continued the custom continued by King George V and King George VI. She also provides her entire staff with gifts at Christmas time.
Love the royal family? Click here to learn about the Queen’s Guards.
