Queen Elizabeth II has been the Queen of the United Kingdom for a long, long time, so of course, there are bound to be things about her that come out over time, facts and rumors about her life. I tried to gather as many facts about Her Majesty as I could and threw in a few of the random, speculative things too. The Royals are people just like us, which means they’re odd, maybe even a bit strange, and the Queen is no exception! Enough talk, here we go, this is Strange Facts about Queen Elizabeth II
8. Corgi Collection
So I thought that maybe that it was an exaggeration when I read that Queen Elizabeth has had more than thirty corgis since becoming Queen, but that’s not the case. She really had had that many since 1952, when she officially became Queen, at times, she had more than just multiple corgis at a time, too. Apparently, in 2007, she had five cocker spaniels, named Oxo, Flash, Bisto, Spick, and Span, as well as five corgis, named Emma, Linnet, Monty, Willow, and Holly. Apparently, she’s a dog person as you can see in this picture of her with four of the beasts! She has loved corgis since she was but a little girl and has owned a fantastic number in the years since she took the throne.
7. Taxes
Dear old Queen Elizabeth II isn’t required to pay taxes and is exempt due to the Crown’s legal tax-exempt status, but she pays them anyway, voluntarily. She pays out the equivalent of income tax for income that comes from the Privy Purse (basically an allowance funded by the public) and her private income. I guess that’s a pretty good example of leading by example. She can connect with the people who she rules over and shows that even the Royal aren’t exempt from laws, morally at least.
6. Long-Reigning
She became the Queen when she was young-she immediately became Queen when her father passed away in 1952, and she was crowned at age 27 on June 2, 1953, and she’s reigned ever since. Pretty crazy, right? Data from the UK Office of National Statistics show that she’s been in power for so long that 81% of the residents in the UK weren’t even alive when she was given the crown, and she is the world’s longest-reigning monarch! Crazy!
5. All Sorts of People
Alright, so the Queen has been, or has been portrayed by, a ton of different people in around a hundred different tv shows and movies! That’s so crazy. She’s been portrayed by Helen Mirren in The Queen (pictured here), Sarah Gadon in A Royal Night Out, most recently by Claire Foy in Netflix’s The Crown (seen in this picture), and by many other actresses throughout many years. It would be crazy to see more than a hundred different famous people’s take on you. I’ve got to imagine it has to feel surreal watching others portray various events and situations in your life. Sounds like something The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror would come up with.
4. Money Problems
So, it’s no secret that the Royals have a decent amount of money, I mean the Queen’s estimated private net worth according to Forbes is around 415 million Euros, which is $513,642,595 U.S.! Although she has and makes so much money, she’s nowhere near the wealthiest person in Britain; in fact, she’s nowhere close to being the richest. Brothers Gopi and Sri Hinduja (pictured here) make the top of the list and together, have a net worth of 16.2 billion Euros, or roughly $20 billion in U.S. dollars. Can you even imagine?
3. Message on the Moon
Did you know that Elizabeth II has a message on the moon that was taken there by Apollo 11? In fact, there are a bunch of world leaders from the time that wrote notes that were then transferred to a little silicon disc and transported to the moon! There, the disc was placed just below the American flag and left there for, whomever really. Hopefully, aliens, am I right? The Queen wrote a beautiful message which read, “On behalf of the British people, I salute the skill and courage which have brought man to the moon. May this endeavour increase the knowledge and wellbeing of mankind.”
2. Her and Margaret Were Party Animals
At least for one night, they were-the night the Second World War was ended on May 8, 1945. Margaret and Elizabeth snuck onto the streets in very slight disguise but still managed to go undetected to party and celebrate the war finally being over. They managed to make it to the center of London, party in the Ritz, and catch their parents appearing on the balcony from the crowd below during a night that Queen Elizabeth calls one of the most memorable nights in her life. Their infamous evening has even been adapted and dramatized in a movie called “A Royal Night Out.”
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