Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 96th birthday: 10 interesting facts from the life of the most famous monarch

On April 21, the most famous and longest-reigning monarch on the planet, British Queen Elizabeth II, celebrates 96th birthday. This year will be a milestone for Her Majesty as both the UK and the world will celebrate the platinum jubilee of the Queen, who has ruled for 70 years. Фокус.

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For millions of Britons, and for more than one generation, the queen is a symbol, a guarantor of the traditions and stability of the country, as well as invincibility and fortitude. Films, programs, books are made about her. Here are 10 interesting facts from the life of Her Majesty.

reluctant queen

As a child, Elizabeth did not even think that she would become a queen. She was the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York (who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) and was third in line to the British throne after her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) and father, the Duke of York.

However, when Elizabeth's uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 to marry the divorced Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth's father ascended the throne and she became first in line for the British throne.

Five years after the wedding, Elizabeth, along with her husband, Prince Philip, went to Kenya on vacation. According to historians, the couple rested at the Treetops Hotel, located in the Aberdare National Park. It is located 165 km from Nairobi, and the hotel rooms were located in trees and were equipped in the form of houses connected from poles.

It was in such a treehouse that Elizabeth became queen at one point after her father died in his sleep on February 6, 1953.

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“For the first time in world history, a girl climbed a tree as a princess and, according to her, having received the most vivid impressions, came down from the tree the next day as a queen,” wrote British hunter Jim Corbett, who stayed at this hotel at the same time as Elizabeth.

The future queen did not immediately learn about the death of her father, whom she adored, because the messengers needed time to bring the tragic news to a distant place. She bore the news stoically, as well as the awareness of the burden of responsibility that now fell on her.

Elizabeth returned to the UK almost as a queen. Her coronation took place on June 2, 1953 and became a real event in the life of the country, since for the first time such an event was broadcast on TV.

Cabbage and Lilibet

Queen Elizabeth has two main nicknames. The first is Lilibet, and it appeared because as a child the little princess could not pronounce her full name, but pronounced it in her own manner. Soon the household picked it up, and it stuck tightly to the future queen. Her father, King George VI, often said of his daughters: “Lilibeth is my pride. Margaret is my joy."

It was with this name that she signed the farewell note that was placed on the coffin with the body of her husband, Prince Philip, on the day of his funeral.

The monarch's second nickname is Cabbage. This is what her late husband often called her. This moment is depicted in the film “The Queen” (2006). When Philip went to bed, he said to his wife, “Move over, Cabbage.” The creators of the cult series “The Crown” about the life of the royal family also paid attention to the nickname. In one of the episodes of the fourth season, Philip calls someone over the speakerphone with the words “Sweetie, sweetie!” The maid, looking fearfully at the queen, who was calmly working with papers, heard in response: “Sweet is Anna, and I am dear or Cabbage.

The exact origin of this nickname is unknown. However, there is an assumption that it came from the French phrase Mon petit chou (“sweetheart”). In English, it sounds like My little cabbage (“my little cabbage” or “my cabbage”).

But the list of the queen’s nicknames does not end there. For example, Prince William's 7-year-old son George calls his great-grandmother Gan-Gan. According to American biographer Kitty Kelly, Prince Charles and both of his sons called their great-grandmothers the same way. Since they found it difficult to pronounce great-grandmother (“great-grandmother”), they shortened the word in their own way.
In addition, there is evidence that Prince William, when he was very young, called his grandmother Gary.

Records of Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II is the 40th monarch since William the Conqueror received the crown of England on Christmas Day 1066. She is also the oldest monarch to have celebrated her golden jubilee (in 2002 at the age of 76). Elizabeth became the first British monarch to celebrate her diamond wedding anniversary on November 20, 2007 and her platinum wedding anniversary on November 20, 2017.

Only five other kings and queens in British history have reigned for 50 years or more. These are Victoria, who ruled for 63 years, George III (59 years old), Henry III (56 years old), Edward III (50 years old) and James VI of Scotland, aka James I of England (58 years old).

During her reign, Elizabeth II found 15 US Presidents, 16 British Prime Ministers and 7 Popes. In 2016, she became the world's longest-reigning monarch after the death of King Rama IX of Thailand, who reigned for 70 years. The British Queen will be able to break this record in October 2022.

The 95-year-old Queen of Great Britain is the oldest participant in the Second World War who has not yet retired, and the only queen to have completed military service.

Annus horribilis, or Queens also suffer

The year 1992 is called by royal biographers one of the most difficult in the life of Elizabeth II. This year, the marriages of three of her children failed, which dealt a serious blow to the monarch, who has always opposed divorce and making family problems public.

On March 19, the Queen's second son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, separated from his wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, who was seen in the company of other men and was allegedly convicted of inappropriate behavior. However, after the official divorce in 1996, the couple now live in Andrew's house at the Royal Lodge. The mansion is quite large so as not to intersect unnecessarily, and the former spouses are quite satisfied with such a neighborhood.

Just a month later, on April 23, the Queen's daughter Princess Anne divorced her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, whom she had been married to since 1973.

But what really frayed the queen’s nerves was the ending of the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, which was considered doomed from the very beginning. On June 8, 1992, Andrew Morton's revealing book, Diana: Her True Story, was published, written with the participation and collaboration of the princess herself, from which the public learned the most incredible secrets from the life of the royal family. Later there were several more public scandals, until in December 1992, British Prime Minister John Major publicly announced that the Prince of Wales and his wife had “separated.” The couple filed an official divorce only in 1996, a year before the death of Princess Diana.

The second blow crippled the monarch even more: on November 20, a large-scale fire broke out at Windsor Castle, which was extinguished only after 15 hours. The fire completely destroyed 9 halls and seriously damaged more than 100 rooms. The water used to extinguish it also caused considerable damage.

To raise money for the restoration of the castle in Windsor, part of Buckingham Palace was opened for tourists.

The restoration work took five years and cost $48 million, with workers only restoring half of the rooms.

Despite all her restraint, in a public speech on November 24, Elizabeth called 1992 a “difficult year.”

Bridge to the New World: Elizabeth II property in New York

According to The Real Deal, in 2015 the Queen of Great Britain acquired a three-bedroom apartment in Manhattan in New York. Her Majesty bought a modern penthouse of almost 280 square meters at 50 United Nations Plaza for nearly $8 million. The Zeckendorf Development building was designed by architect Norman Foster, knighted by the Queen herself in 1990. It is directly across the street from the north end of the United Nations compound, which sprawls along the East River between East 42nd and East 48th Streets.

The Queen's last official visit to the United States was in 2007, but she most likely bought the property in order to pass it on to her heirs so that they could stay there if necessary.

Queen of purses

The portrait of Elizabeth II, more often than any other ruler, was depicted on coins and banknotes in the entire history of issuing money. The profile of Her Majesty is minted on the coins of 35 countries around the world. Although most of these coins are commemorative copies, there are also enough countries where the portrait of the monarch is still on popular banknotes. In addition to the UK, these are Canada, the Fiji Islands, New Zealand and other states.

mistress of the seas

The Queen launched 23 ships in her lifetime, the first of which was HMS Vanguard on 30 November 1944 at Clydebank, Scotland, when she was Princess Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's first ship launched as queen was on April 16, 1953, the royal family's favorite yacht, Britannia. She was built at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank. Other ships blessed by the monarch include Elizabeth 2 in 1967 and Queen Mary 2 in 2004.

On December 7, 2017, the Queen, together with her daughter Anna, launched one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world and the largest ship in the history of the Royal Navy - Queen Elizabeth. During the celebration of the launch of the aircraft carrier, the queen was shown a giant cake made in the shape of a ship.

Following @RoyalNavy tradition, the cake is cut by the Captain's wife and the youngest member of the Ship's company. pic.twitter.com/qtbBtVJQPL

- The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) December 7, 2017

Secrets of the royal handbag

Royal biographers, as well as all those who have been working with Her Majesty for many years, know that the handbag on her hand is not only an accessory, but also a means of non-verbal communication. According to insiders, when Queen Elizabeth II puts her bag on the table, it means she wants to leave within 5 minutes. If she puts the bag on the floor, then she shows that she does not like the conversation, and she wants to be taken away. If the monarch shifts the bag from one hand to the other, then it's time to end the conversation, and the interlocutor delays her.

As for the choice of bags, for more than half a century the queen has preferred the trapezoidal bag made of calfskin Traviata from the Launer brand, the dimensions of which are 23x20x10. Rumor has it that there are more than 200 of them in the Queen's wardrobe. One such handbag costs about $2346.

Crocodile, elephant and 7 kg of shrimp: the most unusual gifts for the monarch

The Queen has received many gifts in her life, and some of them cost very decent sums. In 2017, Buckingham Palace even hosted an exhibition where they presented 200 gifts to the monarch from world leaders.

Thus, the Japanese emperor Hirohito presented the queen with a lacquered box inlaid with a silver heron. South African President Nelson Mandela presented Elizabeth II with a silk scarf with a pattern depicting Bushmen hunting for a herd of antelopes. Rwandan President Paul Kagame presented the Queen with her portrait made of dried and woven banana leaves, and the Canadian Indians presented her with a totem pole.

Repeatedly, Elizabeth received animals as a gift. According to The British Monarchy website, they were a crocodile from the Gambia in 1961, two turtles given to her during a tour of the Seychelles, and a seven-year-old elephant named Jumbo from the President of Cameroon in 1972 on the occasion of the Queen's silver wedding, two black beaver - during a royal visit to Canada, six kangaroos presented in Australia in 1977. All animals were transferred to the care of the London Zoo.

In addition, she was presented with about 20 horses, one of which is porcelain - from French President Francois Hollande. He presented the sculpture to the Queen in 2014 during her state visit to that country.

The gift that made the longest journey before ending up at Buckingham Palace was made by Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to take a space walk from the International Space Station. Peake wore the British flag badge during a space mission in 2016 and later presented it to the monarch.

Other interesting gifts received by the Queen include a pair of cowboy boots (during a visit to the US), sunglasses, pineapples and 7kg of shrimp.

Unconditional love of Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II is credited with the birth of a new breed of dog - the dorgi, a cross between a miniature dachshund and a corgi. The monarch is known as an avid dog lover who loves corgis. For her 18th birthday, she was given a Welsh Corgi bitch named Susan, and since then, Elizabeth has not parted with these cute dogs. There are more than three dozen descendants of Susan alone, and they were all purebred corgis. The last member of this dynasty, named Willow, died of cancer in 2018.

As for the breeding of a new breed of dogs, the Queen's Welsh Corgi allegedly walked with her sister's dachshund Pipkin, Princess Margaret, and a cross between the two breeds was born, called Dorgi. The two resulting puppies were named Vulcan and Candy. Last December, Vulkan died, and the queen swore off having puppies because she didn't want the animals to get bored after her death.

Last year, after Prince Philip's hospitalization and Meghan Markle's scandalous interview, which hit the queen hard, two puppies, a corgi and a dorgi, were given to comfort her. Elizabeth named Dorgi Fergus and Corgi Muick.

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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales (1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960), Duke of York, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (1964). Her Majesty is the grandmother of 8 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Recall: Buckingham Palace presented a new portrait of the Queen in honor of her 96th birthday, the American company Mattel created a collectible Barbie in honor of the platinum anniversary.

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