Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
- Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch in history.
- She's ruled over the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarch since her 1953 coronation.
- The queen and her family are frequently in the news — but there are some facts about Queen Elizabeth II that might fly under the radar.
Queen Elizabeth II has had quite a career.
Not only is she the longest-reigning British monarch in history — she's also the longest-reigning current monarch in the world, and the longest-serving current head of state. On Saturday, April 21, she turns 92 years old.
She's the first UK monarch to ever celebrate a sapphire jubilee, which marked her 65-year reign in 2017. CNN reported that, should the queen still be reigning on February 6, 2022, she will be the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee.
Her career was recently fictionalized in the Netflix historical drama series "The Crown," and the royal family is often in the news. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few facts out there about the queen that you might not have heard before.
Here's a look at some surprising facts about Queen Elizabeth II:
Elizabeth was a favorite of her grandfather, King George V.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
In"Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II," biographer William Shawcross wrote that the monarch made for "a surprisingly playful figure" who loved to play games with his first female grandchild. British politician Winston Churchill also reportedly described her as "a character."
The queen has at least two family nicknames — "Lilibet" and "cabbage."
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Shawcross wrote in "Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II" that her grandfather coined "Lilibet." The family nickname also may have arisen from the way Queen Elizabeth II pronounced her own name as a small child.
Town and Country reported that the queen's husband Prince Philip also may affectionately refer to her as "cabbage"— possibly a twist on the popular French pet name "mon petit chou," which means both "my little cabbage" and "my little pastry puff."
Elizabeth II reportedly made the first ever royal transatlantic telephone call in 1939.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The 13-year-old called her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who were touring Canada at the time, according to"I Never Knew That About Royal Britain"
See the rest of the story at Business Insider