There's a lot more to Her Majesty than her colourful suits and flowery hats.
1. She backs over 600 charities and organizations.
2. Queen Elizabeth has received over 3.5 million items of correspondence over the length of her reign.
3. She speaks fluent French.
4. In 2005, the Queen claimed ownership of 88 cygnets, or young swans, on the River Thames. The swans are now looked over by a royal swan keeper.
5. She joined Facebook in 2010, through a page called The British Monarchy. It is not possible to poke her. She joined Twitter in 2009; a social media team at Buckingham Palace sends daily tweets.
6. Queen Elizabeth was the first British monarch to celebrate her diamond wedding anniversary.
7. She is the only person in Britain who can drive without a license plate on her car.
8. She has visited Australia 16 times.
9. She has received a variety of live animals — jaguars and sloths from Brazil and black beavers from Canada — as gifts. They are now in the care of the London Zoo.
10. She has sent over 540,000 telegrams to couples in the Commonwealth and the U.K. in honor of their diamond anniversaries.
11. Although her birthday is April 21, she officially celebrates it in June.
12. She hosts an average of 50,000 people every year at receptions, banquets, lunches, dinners, and garden parties at Buckingham Palace.
13. She and the Duke of Edinburgh have sent out over 37,500 Christmas cards throughout her reign.
14. There have been six Roman Catholic Popes during the Queen Elizabeth's reign (Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI).
15. She learned to drive in 1945, when she, along with Winston Churchill's daughter, joined the women's branch of the British army.
16. She used the London Tube for the first time in May 1939, accompanied by her sister Princess Margaret and her governess Marion Crawford.
17. Queen Elizabeth has 30 godchildren.
18. She has sat for over 129 official portraits; two with the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1933, she was 7 years old when she sat for her first portrait, painted by the Hungarian artist Philip Alexius de Laszlo.
19. In 2003, the Queen sat for a hologram portrait, made up of 10,000 layered images.
20. She has opened Parliament every year except 1959, for Prince Andrew's birth, and 1963, for Prince Edward's birth.
21. She was the first British monarch to visit China, in 1986.
22. She sent her first email in 1976 from a British army base.
23. She loves corgis, and has owned over 30 during her reign. Her first corgi, Susan, was a gift for her 18th birthday in 1944. She currently owns four: Emma, Willow, Linnet, and Holly.
24. She introduced a new breed of dogs, dorgis, when one of her corgis mated with Princess Margaret's dachshund, Pipkin. The Queen has four dorgis: Cider, Berry, Vulcan, and Candy.
25. She owns the largest pink diamond in the world.
26. To celebrate her Golden Jubilee in 2002, the Queen hosted the first-ever public concerts in the Buckingham Palace gardens. The show, Party and the Palace, was one of the most-watched pop concerts in history, attracting over 200 million viewers.
27. She demoted a footman for giving whiskey to her corgis.
28. In March 2004, she hosted Buckingham Palace's first women-only event, "Women of Achievement."
29. She received her first pony, a Shetland named Peggy, from her grandfather King George V when she was 4 years old. She still rides at Windsor, Sandringham, and Balmoral.
30. The Queen breeds horses, and has about 25 horses training at the royal studs every season.
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