Imitated the sound of an airplane: unknown facts about the deceased Elizabeth II

Buckingham Palace has officially announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She died at the age of 96 in her Scottish castle of Balmoral. Prince Charles became king.

Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in the world. Even though the Queen has spent most of her life in the public eye, there’s probably a lot you didn’t know about Her Royal Highness. We’ve rounded up 15 little-known facts about Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth II had personal poets. The position of the Queen’s Poet Laureate was a special honor bestowed on British poets whose work is of national importance. The poetess Carol Ann Duffy and the poet Simon Armitage were particularly prominent in this position.

Queen Elizabeth II became the first head of state to use email. It happened in 1976 – she sent an email from a military base. In 1997, the tech-savvy Queen launched the official website of the British monarchy, followed by a Royal Twitter site with news, videos, photos and recordings of the Queen’s speeches.

Elizabeth II received strange gifts throughout her reign, and some of them were live animals. Among them are two black beavers from Canada, jaguars, sloths from Brazil and a bull elephant. These animals were transferred to the care of the London Zoo.

After World War II, on November 20, 1947, Princess Elizabeth II tied the knot with Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh. Due to the severe impact of the war on the British economy, Elizabeth II had to save up food stamps and add 200 coupons from the government to them to buy fabric for her wedding dress – an ivory satin dress encrusted with 10,000 white pearls.

Queen Elizabeth II was a passionate fan of horse racing, was fond of horses and their breeding. She had many thoroughbred horses to race. Every year in Windsor Park, the Queen hosted the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

During her reign, Queen Elizabeth II posed for more than 129 portraits. This first happened in 1933 when she was only 7 years old. The portrait was commissioned by her mother and painted by a little-known Hungarian artist.

Elizabeth II traveled all over the world, visiting over 116 countries in total during her reign. But she never had a passport. Since all of her British passports were officially issued in the Queen’s name, she didn’t technically need a passport.

During World War II, Elizabeth II joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army. There she trained as a mechanic and military truck driver and enjoyed driving heavy vehicles. She was the only woman from an English noble family who joined the National Defense Forces and helped them during the Second World War.

In 1940, 14-year-old Elizabeth created a radio program that addressed other children and teenagers evacuated from the cities of England during the Second World War. During one of them, the princess reassured the audience: “I can sincerely tell all of you that we children are full of vigor and courage. We are trying to do our best to help our valiant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we, too, are trying to bear our share of the danger and sorrow of war.”

Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh were third cousins, both sharing the same great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Elizabeth II was actually born on April 21, 1926, but April is considered too cold in England, and the birthday could fall on a rainy day. So instead, her state-recognized birthday fell on a Saturday at the end of May, or more typically in June, so that the celebration could be held on warmer days. The specific date in the UK varied from year to year, and usually coincided with the annual British military pageant.

On July 9, 1982, a man named Michael Fagen managed to climb over the barbed wire fence of Buckingham Palace, climb through a drainpipe, and eventually enter the Queen’s bedroom. Fagen and the queen had a long conversation before he was detained by the palace guards. However, Fagen said, “She walked past me and then came back, but we didn’t talk for a long time.”

At the time of Elizabeth II’s birth, her paternal grandfather George V was king and her father was his second son. This meant that she was third in line to the throne and could hardly ever come close to it.

However, fate decreed otherwise. On December 10, 1936, Elizabeth was taking notes on what she had learned in a swimming lesson when she heard people outside chanting “God Save the King.” She asked the servant what was going on and he told her that her uncle, Edward VIII, had abdicated and that her father was now King of England. So she became first in line for the throne.

Elizabeth II has been using the same nail polish since 1989, and it’s very cheap. The Queen loved the classic pale pink nail polish, which currently retails for just $7.

Elizabeth II had a great sense of humor and a talent for imitating sounds. The Queen’s chaplain, Bishop Michael Mann, once said that “the Queen imitating the sound of a Concorde jet landing is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”

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