King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth, and their daughter, Princess Elizabeth, are seen in this photo taken in 1929. It was released by The Royal Collection in 2010 when the Royal Family launched its Flickr account. (Photo: THE ROYAL COLLECTION/HANDOUT)
Princes Elizabeth was at the royal hunting lodge in Kenya on Feb. 6, 1952, when she received the news – her father, King George VI, had died.
Her father became King only because his brother, Edward, abdicated the throne so he could be with his love, an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson.
He was just 56 years old, but after suffering from lung cancer, he developed a fatal blood clot to the heart and he died in his sleep at Sandringham House.
And she was now Queen.
And this year, of course, she’ll mark 60 years as monarch.
To mark to occassion, the QMI Agency graphics department asked me to come up with 60 facts about the Queen you might be surprised to learn.
Here’s a few of my favourites:
- She is fluent in French.
- She has a 6:30 p.m. meeting every Tuesday with the prime minister. No written record is ever made at those meetings and they do not discuss what is said to others.
- The Queen carries a comb, a handkerchief, a small gold compact, and a tube of lipstick in her handbag, Majesty magazine has reported. On Sundays, she carries cash for the collection plate at church.
- Her first corgi was named Susan. The dog was a gift for her 18th birthday.
- She has worn more than 5,000 hats.
- Her first visit to Canada was in 1951. As Queen, she has made 23 official visits to Canada – the most recent in 2010.