Love-uh-ley Jub-ilee

Happy Diamond Jubilee!

Lizzie is a trooper. Sticking with a job for sixty years is not something to be scoffed at. I'm impressed. So if  Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor can manage to find 60 years for the good people of England, I can try to find 60 facts for the good people of blogland. These are the facts, not always in the history books... Lets go. 

1. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926 at 17 Bruton Street, May-fair, London, which was then her parents’ home and is now a Chinese restaurant.
2. The Queen was born on 21 April 1926, but her official birthday is celebrated in June.
3. Her childhood nickname was Lilibet, because she couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth properly.
4. She is the 40th monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England.
5. The Queen has seen 12 different Prime Ministers during her reign – from Sir Winston Churchill through to the incumbent David Cameron.
6. There have been 12 U.S. Presidents during her reign.
7. In 1954, Her Majesty became the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe while on a six-month tour. She was also the first to visit Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
8. The Queen made a historic visit to the Republic of Ireland in May 2011, the first visit by a British monarch since Irish independence.
9. She says her trip to Ireland was one of the highlights of her long reign
10. When her father unexpectedly became King, Princess Margaret, then six, said to her: “Does that mean you’re going to be queen? Poor you.”
11. At the beginning of her reign the Queen requested that her husband, rather than her sister, act as regent for a young Prince Charles in the event of her death.
12. The Queen has sent almost 540,000 telegrams to couples in the UK and the Commonwealth celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.
13. The Queen, and her husband The Duke of Edinburgh have sent approximately 45,000 Christmas cards during the last 60 years.
14. She has given out approximately 90,000 Christmas puddings to staff, continuing the custom of George V and George VI.
15. Many people sent the then-Princess Elizabeth clothing coupons for her wedding dress during post-war rationing in 1947. She returned the coupons as it was illegal to give them away.
16. The Queen signals to staff with her handbag. If she wants to leave a dinner in five minutes, she puts her bag on the table. She moves it from arm to arm to tell aides she is tired of talking to someone.
17. She has owned more than 30 corgis during her reign. The first, Susan, was an 18th birthday present.
18. Her robes were so heavy at her Coronation that she asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to give her a push, saying: “Get me started.”
19. She carries good luck charms from her children in her bag, including miniature dogs and horses and family photos. One picture of Andrew was taken after his safe return from the Falklands.
20. She is a patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association .
21. She was a huge fan of 70s cop show Kojak, which starred Telly Savalas.
22. A security guard denied her entry to a private stand at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1991. He later said: “I thought she was some old dear who had got lost.”
23. The Queen and Prince Philip joined the 93,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium to watch England win the 1966 World Cup Final.
24. An avid reader, she loves crime thrillers by PD James, Agatha Christie and Dick Francis.
25. One of her corgis accidentally mated with a dachshund belonging to Princess Margaret to produce a new breed called a dorgi. She now has three dorgis which are called Cider, Candy and Vulcan.
26. The Queen’s collections of art, furniture, jewels and horses are thought to be worth around £70million.
27. Irishman Michael Fagan broke into her bedroom at Buckingham Palace in 1982 and sat on her bed for 10 minutes as she engaged him in conversation. Help arrived when he asked for a cigarette.
28. She banks with Coutts & Co and there is a Coutts cash machine at Buckingham Palace.
29. The Queen costs the public purse £36.2m each year, including £359,000 paid directly by the Government to Prince Philip.
30. Britain's monarchy is the most expensive in Europe, though the Netherlands isn't far behind. Spain's royal family gets a comparatively meagre £7m allowance each year.
31. She’s very small, officially 5 foot 3 inches but most believe she’s really about 5 foot 1.
32. When she was positioned behind a high lectern at the White House in 1991, a TV man was heard shouting: “All I’ve got is a talking hat!”
33. Elizabeth was educated at home in London with Princess Margaret, her younger sister.
34. The Queen was educated by her governess Marion Crawford, to whom she gave the nickname "Crawfie".
35. The Queen sent her first email in 1976 from an army base.
36. When the Queen and Prince Philip were reunited in Portugal in 1957 after a four-month separation because of official duties, he wore a tie with hearts on.
37. Prince Philip’s pet names for his wife are said to include “cabbage” and “sausage”.
38. The Queen and duke have been married for a whopping 64 years.
39.  The Queen is the first British monarch to have celebrated a Diamond Wedding Anniversary.
40. The Queen's platinum and diamond engagement ring was made by the jewellers, Philip Antrobus Ltd, using diamonds from a tiara belonging to Prince Philip's mother.
41. She joined crowds in London to celebrate VE day on May 8, 1945. In her diary she wrote: “Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Pall Mall, walked simply miles. Saw parents on balcony at 12.30am – ate, partied, bed 3am!”
42. Should the royal chauffeur take a day off, the Queen is quite capable of driving for herself, having learnt to drive in 1945.
43. While singing Auld Lang Syne for New Year in 2000, the Queen joined hands with Prime Minister Tony and Cherie Blair and Prince Philip but she got the movements wrong and didn’t cross her arms.
44. After signing up to the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, Princess Elizabeth worked as a mechanic and truck driver during the Second World War.
45. She is the only British monarch in history properly trained to change a spark plug
46. The young princess was a Girl Guide and Sea Ranger.
47. She first flew in an aeroplane in July 1945
48. her beloved corgis have their own chef and are fed “wonderful” food including steak, poached chicken and rabbit.
49. She demoted a footman for feeding her corgis whiskey.
50. There is said to be a Billy Bass singing fish on top of the grand piano at Balmoral.
51. She loves hunting and shooting animals on her Scottish estate.
52. The Queen is the first monarch to have seen three of her children divorce.
53. The top video on Her Majesty's official YouTube Channel is a clip of Prince William and Kate leaving Buckingham Palace in an Aston Martin.
54. What gives the Queen the giggles? Ali G impressions, according to Prince William.
55. The Queen has sat for 129 portraits during her reign, painted in a variety of styles.
56. The Queen's first portrait was painted in 1933, when she was seven, and the most recent was for Rolf Harris in 2005.
57. The Queen is Godmother to 30 different children.
58. The Queen has launched 23 ships during her reign.
59. The Queen is the second monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee, previously Queen Victoria was the only, British monarch to celebrate such an occasion.
60. If Queen Elizabeth lives to hold the throne for 3 years and 8 months more, she will have replaced Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years, 7 months,  as the longest reigning monarch in British History.  

beereignful always.