AT 70 years and 214 days on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-serving British monarch and had the second-longest reign in history.
Louis XIV of France, who holds the world record, reigned for 72 years and 110 days.
His accession took place in 1643 when he was four after his father ‘sensing death and putting his affairs in order’ put a regency council in place to rule on his son’s behalf. He took full control of the Government in 1661.
As facts and figures have played an important role in The Late Queen’s life, we thought it would be interesting to look at her life in numbers.
4 – The Queen had four children – Charles, Anne, Edward and Andrew.
007 – The Queen gave us all a chuckle during the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony when she took part in a comedy scene with then James Bond Daniel Craig.
8 – Elizabeth II had eight grandchildren, including Princes William, next in line to the throne after King Charles III, Harry and Princesses Eugeine and Beatrice.
12 – The number of great-grandchildren The Queen had when she died. Among them are three of the top five heirs to the throne – Prince George (third), Princess Charlotte (fourth) and Prince Louis (fifth).
14 – There have been 14 American Presidents during The Queen’s life – 13 during her 70 years on the throne. She met Harry Truman when she was a Princess but the first one she met as Queen was Dwight D Eisenhower. She met current President Joe Biden in June last year.
15 – The number of Prime Ministers who served during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The first one was Winston Churchill and the 15th was Liz Truss, who was invited to form a government just two days before the monarch’s death.
21 – The number of FIFA World Cups The Queen lived through (every one ever played) from the inaugural tournament in 1930 in Uruguay to Russia 2018. This year’s Qatar World Cup was moved to November and December because of the heat. Had it been held elsewhere (and in June / July) she would have seen 22. She also presented the trophy to England captain Bobby Moore during the Three Lions’ only tournament win in 1966 and knighted him in 1967.
The Queen presented the World Cup to England Captain Sir Bobby Moore in 1966 and knighted him a year later. s22 – There have been 22 Olympics (summer games) during Elizabeth’s life. The first one was in Amsterdam in 1930 and the last one she saw was Tokyo in 2021 (postponed from 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic). Of those, she was Queen for 18 of them. Three Olympic Games have been held in London. One in 1908 before she was born, one in 1948, four years before she became Queen and one during her reign in 2012. There have also been 22 Commonwealth Games during The Queen’s life – from the first in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, to Birmingham 2022. The first four (1930 to 1950) were under the ‘British Empire Games’ banner.
25 – The age then Princess Elizabeth took the thrown following the death of her father George VI at the age of 56. Her Coronation was not held until the next year when she was 26.
56 – There are 56 Commonwealth countries but The Queen – and now King Charles III – was only head of state of 15 of them. Of the others, 36 are republics and five have their own monarchs. Not all were left over from the British Empire. Gabon and Togo (the 55th and 56th) were former French Colonies and had no ties to Britain but were admitted in June this year after applying to join. Rwanda joined in 2009 and The Maldives left the Commonwealth in 2016 but rejoined in 2020.
There are 56 Commonwealth countries. The Queen was Head of State of 15 of those. Picture courtesy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. s60 – Queen Elizabeth II was the 60th English monarch in the last 1,200 years. It all began with Saxon King Egbert who reigned – considerably less than The Queen – for 12 years from 827 to 839.
70 – The number of years Queen Elizabeth II spent on the throne.
73 – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were married for 73 years – from November 20, 1947 to his death on April 9, 2021.
96 – The age Queen Elizabeth died on September 8 2022.
