Queen Elizabeth II’s 95th birthday: facts and curiosities of a life of service

This April 21, 2021, Queen Elizabeth II turned 95 years old. This will be an atypical year traversed by the pandemic, so there will be no official events for its celebration. In addition, she will be the first as a widow, after the recent death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

During these almost seven decades in power, the British monarch, who was not destined to be queen, had an incredible life with momentous historical moments.

Isabel II, who became queen after the death of her father George VIOn February 6, 1952, he has been in power for 69 years and 75 days.

Although she was born in April, the “Trooping the Color in June is the official date to honor her. That day he leaves it is customary for him to go out to greet members of the royal family from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The change of date that promoted this tradition was initiated by Con George II in 1748 and is due to the famous English bad weather. Since then, the kings of England have been given the option of having an official birthday in addition to the private one.

One of the last times that he celebrated the day of his birth was with a spectacular concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London for which stars such as Sting Y Tom Jones. That same day at Windsor Castle the traditional salvo of 21 cannon shots in his honor.

In these almost seven decades he worked with 15 successive British Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to current Boris Johnson and enacted more than 3,500 laws voted in Parliament. That means that 83% of people living in the UK have not met another monarch.

More fun facts

The queen is not required to pay income taxes. He does it – voluntarily– since 1993 for his private income, due to discontent caused by the high cost of renovating Windsor Castle, devastated by a major fire the previous year.

The monarch does not pay instead any fee for the “sovereign grant”, an annual endowment that seeks “provide the annual resources used by the royal family in support of Her Majesty’s official duties”.

She does not have a passport, because she does not need one since the passport is issued by “Your Majesty” (that is, by herself), although she has accumulated more than 1.6 kilometers traveled around the world. Since 2016 he has not flown abroad.

The grandmother of Princes William and Harry is known to be a fan of animals. Throughout his life he has had a few 30 corgis, his favorite breed of dog. He was even the architect of the creation of a new breed, the “dorgi”, a cross between corgi and dachshund (“dachshund” in English). He also owns thoroughbred horses, the former he inherited from his father George VI, who throughout his reign won more than 1,600 races.

That is not all, by tradition, all the white swans in the country belong to him.

Elizabeth II, who worked as a mechanic during World War II, always felt comfortable with new technologies.

He sent his first email in 1976, during a visit to a military base, long before the democratization of the internet. He also launched the first website of the royal family in 1997.

Queen Elizabeth II has attended all the openings of Parliament except in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with her children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Elizabeth II responded during all these years more than 3.5 million letters and sent almost 180 thousand telegrams in the UK and overseas territories.

For Christmas, next to Philip of EdinburghHe used to send cards (over 45,000) and regulate the classic English pudding (about 100,000), a custom he inherited from King George VI.

The queen presides over 600 charities and charities. In his reign he has delivered more than 405,000 awards and honors to subjects of the crown.

Since 2014 he has an active Twitter account, the year he made his first tweet. Later, in March 2019, he adopted Instagram where he communicates news and State activities.