Today is Queen Elizabeth’s 89th birthday, so to celebrate, we’ve come up with 10 surprising facts you didn’t know about our monarch…
1. She has two birthdays
21st April 1926 is her actual birthday and her official birthday is in June.
2. She’s been Queen for 63 years
Queen Elizabeth’s been in reign since 6th February 1952, adding up to 23,085 days!
3. She’s a West Ham United fan
Although The Queen always wants to seem neutral, in 2009 she revealed she supports The Hammers.
4. She’s rather costly
Queen Elizabeth costs the public an estiimated 36.2m every year.
5. She doesn’t like you messing with her corgis
A royal footman got himself demoted and received a salary cut after putting whiskey into her corgis water bowl as a party trick.
6. She’s used Twitter
On 24th October 2014, The Queen tweeted, ”It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.”
7. She gets given animals as gifts
In 1968 on a visit to Brazil, The Queen got given two sloths. They animals she receives are usually placed in zoos.
8. She certainly does her bit for charity
She’s the patron of over 600 charities, including The Dogs Trust.
9. She knows ‘handbag talk’
If you ever get a chance to speak to The Queen, you’ll know she’s bored of talking to you when she moves her handbag from side to side. Apparently this is how she alerts her staff she’s ready to move on.
10. She’s the only monarch to see 3 of her children divorce
Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew have all divorced. Prince Edward is the only one still married to his first wife, Sophie.
We bet after reading that you feel you know the The Queen so well she’s practically a friend. No? Regardless, Happy Birthday Your Majesty!
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