The Queen is one amazing lady.
At 93 years old she is still working hard continuing with Royal duties – and that’s not to mention her duties as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother with the arrival of Prince Louis and Master Archie!
These quirky facts about our monarch are the reason we still love Queen – read on to discover them…
She sent her first email back in 1976
Back in the 70s, the Queen proved she was more than happy to move with the times, sending her very first email from a computer at a British Army base. In doing so, she became one of the very first heads of State to ever send an email!
Her Majesty proved once again that she was at ease with technology in 2014 too, when she sent her first Tweet, from the official royal family Twitter account (then called @BritishMonarchy), from the Science Museum. It read, ‘It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting’, before singing it off, ‘Elizabeth R’. We love a tech-savvy Queen!
She owns a Primark
And a McDonalds! Did you know that the Queen’s privileges even extend to a share in some fabulous budget shops? According to the Independent, The Banbury Gateway Shopping Park in Oxford falls under the Crown Estate, meaning that the monarch owns the land. And sitting on that land?A branch of the budget shop, Primark!
Also sitting on the land is a branch of the fast-food chain McDonald’s, and Ed’s Easy Diner, which means she technically owns the two restaurants too. Technically, the land does not personally belong to the Queen herself, but is owned by the Soverign, so will be handed on to whoever is monarch. The profits of the land also go to the Treasure – not to the Queen.
She’s not got a licence to drive
According to Time, Her Majesty can hit the road without a driving licence. She also doesn’t need a passport to travel. We wonder if Prince Philip ever suggests a spontaneous weekend to Paris or a romantic drive along the UK’s coastline? We can live in hope. She also doesn’t need a license plate to drive!
Credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)
She has her own personal poet
Carol Ann Duffy currently holds the honorary post of poet laureate and will continue to create sonnets, haikus and all other manner of poetic literature until 2019. Her annual salary? A barrel of Sherry. Sounds good to us!
Her old house is now a Chinese restaurant
The Queen was born on April 21 in 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in London, which was her parent’s home but is now a Chinese restaurant. Who’d have thought!
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She once confronted an intruder
Do you remember when Irishman Michael Fagan broke into her bedroom at Buckingham Palace in 1982? Apparently the Queen sat on her bed for 10 minutes as she engaged him in conversation before help arrived!
She likes to party till 3am
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The Queen joined crowds in London to celebrate VE day on May 8, 1945. In her diary it was noted she wrote: “Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Pall Mall, walked simply miles. Saw parents on balcony at 12.30am – ate, partied, bed 3am!”
She’s only ever missed one Christmas message
The only year she failed to deliver her traditional Christmas message was in 1969 and it was because she felt the public had seen enough of her in a TV documentary that had aired that year! How thoughtful!
She had a sweet childhood nickname
Lilibet was her childhood nickname because she couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth properly. Cute!
She’s a fully-trained mechanic
Credit: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
When she was a young Princess, the Queen signed up to the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service and worked as a mechanic and truck driver during the Second World War. She is supposedly the only British monarch in history properly trained to change a spark plug!
She created a new breed of dog
One of the Queen’s Corgis once mated with a dachshund belonging to her sister Princess Margaret and produced a new breed called a Dorgi. She now has three Dorgis which are called Cider, Candy and Vulcan!
She speaks several other languages
The Queen speaks fluent French and often uses the language for audiences and state visits which means she doesn’t require an interpreter.
Pretty impressive! Did you know any of these interesting facts about the Queen?