Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch who broke records for 70 years on the throne

 Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch who broke records for 70 years on the throne

Seven decades of reign for a 96-year-old monarch who went around the world 42 times. Queen Elizabeth II, whose platinum jubilee is in June, is used to breaking records.

Elizabeth II has reigned for 70 years and almost 7 months, a record in British history. The previous record was held by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days (from June 20, 1837 to her death on January 22, 1901).

At 96, Queen Elizabeth is also the world's oldest reigning monarch.

Only two kings have reigned longer than her, French King Louis XIV (more than 72 years between 1643 and 1715) and King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (70 years and 4 months, from June 9, 1946 to October 13, 2016).

As queen she visited more than 100 countries - another record for a British monarch - and made more than 150 visits to Commonwealth countries. She has been to Canada 22 times, more than any other country, and France, whose language she speaks, 13 times more than any other European country.

The Daily Telegraph estimated that she had traveled the equivalent of 42 times around the world before she stopped traveling abroad in November 2015, aged 89.

Her longest tour abroad lasted 168 days (from November 1953 to May 1954), during which she visited 13 countries.

"I declare before you that my whole life, whether long or short, will be dedicated to serving you," Elizabeth, still a princess, had promised on her 21st birthday.

During her reign, she participated in some 21,000 official acts, approved by "royal assent" some 4,000 bills and received numerous dignitaries on 112 state visits. Among them, Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia, 1954), Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1971), Polish President Lech Walesa (1991), and US President Barack Obama (2011).

Buckingham Palace has hosted more than 180 garden parties attended by more than 1.5 million people.

She has met 14 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill (1952-1955) to Boris Johnson (from 2019 to September 2022), who in normally weekly audiences have kept her informed of the main events of the moment. She recently welcomed the new Minister Mary Elizabeth Truss.

She has also met with 13 of the 14 US presidents elected during her reign, from Harry Truman (1945-1953) to Joe Biden (since 2021). Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969) is the only one missing from his list.

The queen, head of the Anglican Church, is very religious and practicing and has also met four popes on an official visit: John XXIII (1961), John Paul II (1980, 1982 and 2000), Benedict XVI (2010) and Francis (2014).

She has sent some 300,000 greeting cards to people celebrating their 100th birthday and more than 900,000 to couples celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary (60 years). She herself was married for more than 73 years to Prince Philip, who passed away in April 2021, again a record for a British monarch.

She has posed for over 200 portraits, the first of which was when she was 7 years old.

In 1996, Queen Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit China. She was also the first British monarch to address the House of Representatives in Washington, on May 16, 1991.

She sent the first email from her on March 26, 1976, during a visit to a Defense Ministry research center.

In 1997, she launched the first official Buckingham Palace website.

In 2014 she sent her first tweet, and in 2019 her first Instagram post.

She is the only monarch who has (almost) parachuted with James Bond: in a video made for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics, she is seen receiving actor Daniel Craig at Buckingham Palace before they both simulate board a helicopter, fly over London and parachute over the Olympic Stadium, where the queen's (royal) arrival was greeted with a standing ovation.