The sad news of the Queen's death has probably reached every corner of the planet by now. The celebrated monarch reigned from 6 February 1952 until her death last week on 8 September 2022, meaning she was on the throne for over 70 years!
Unquestionably, the Queen was on the throne for a good long time, but it's hard to compute ~exactly~ how long that was. Well, here are 15 things that show how truly astonishing and enduring her reign was.
1.The Queen was on the throne for over a quarter of America's entire modern history.*
3.The Queen's first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill and her last was Liz Truss. Churchill was born in 1874 and Truss was born in 1975, over 100 years later.
4.The Queen was the first British monarch to ever celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, which is 70 years on the throne.
6.The Queen came to power in a world where humans had never been to space before. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into space and since then, humankind has put over 600 people into space!
7.One of the most pivotal events of the last century, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, occurred 11 years into the Queen's reign in 1963. At a memorial for President Kennedy two years later, the Queen said she was in "despair" over his loss.
8.The Queen met four Popes during her reign – Pope John XXIII in 1961; Pope John Paul II in 1980, 1982, and 2000; Pope Benedict XVI in 2010; and Pope Francis I in 2014.
9.The population of the UK has grown from 50.4 million to 68.6 million during the Queen's reign.
10.The Queen has owned over 30 different corgis and dorgis in her lifetime. Most of them are descended from her first corgi, Susan, who was gifted to her on her 18th birthday in 1944. Altogether, the Queen has looked after 14 generations of corgis.
11.Barbara Millicent Roberts, AKA Barbie, was first made available in 1959, a whole seven years after the Queen came to the throne. Barbie has since gone on to become on the most iconic toys ever, with a live-action movie about her scheduled for release next year!
12.The Queen was born around the time television was invented (1928), and came to throne two years before the advent of colour TV in 1954.
14.In 1966, the Queen famously handed over a trophy to captain Bobby Moore after England won the World Cup final against West Germany. During the Queen's reign, there have been a whopping 17 World Cup tournaments – these every occur every four years.
15.And finally, the world's longest-running soap, Coronation Street, began in 1960 eight years after the Queen came to power. As of 9 September 2022 – a day after the Queen's passing – the series had broadcast a whopping 10,740 episodes.
Were you surprised by any of these? Let us know in the comments below!
