The Queen’s 1.5 million garden party guests and 90,000 Christmas puddings
The monarch was patron of over 500 charities, hosted some 50,000 people a year and received 3.75 million items of correspondence during her reign.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Here is a look at the Queen in numbers.
1 – Ranking she held in the list of world’s longest-serving current monarchs. She moved to first place after the death of the King of Thailand in 2016.
2 – Corgis. The Queen had two corgis left- one called Muick and another called Sandy.
3 – Dogs the Queen had left – one older dorgi called Candy, and her two corgis.
4 – Children – The Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.
8 – Grandchildren – Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn.
12 – Great grandchildren – Isla and Savannah Phillips, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Cambridge, Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall, Archie and Lili Mountbatten-Windsor, August Brooksbank, and Sienna Mapelli Mozzi.
- 21 - Age when she married the Duke of Edinburgh
- 25 - Age when she became Queen
- More than 30 - Corgis owned by the Queen over the years
- 73% - Proportion of her life she spent as monarch by the time of Platinum Jubilee
- 599 - Charities, organisations and military regiments of which she was patron
- More than 45,000 - Christmas cards sent out by the Queen during her reign
- Over 90,000 - Christmas puddings given to staff
- More than 3.75 million - Items of correspondence the Queen received during her reign
15 – Prime ministers in office since the start of her reign. The first was Winston Churchill (1951-55), the latest is Liz Truss.
14 – US presidents since the start of her reign.
15 – Countries of which she was monarch – the UK and 14 Commonwealth realms.
21 – Age when she married the Duke of Edinburgh in November 1947.
24 – Waxworks Madame Tussauds has created of the Queen.
25 – Age when she became Queen on February 6 1952.
30 – Godchildren.
More than 30 – Corgis owned by the Queen over the years.
70 – Years on the throne.
73 – Years of marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh.
73% – Proportion of her life that Elizabeth II spent as Queen when she reached her Platinum Jubilee.
94 – Queen’s age when the Duke of Edinburgh died in 2021.
599 – Charities, organisations and military regiments of which the Queen was patron in her Blue Sapphire Jubilee year, more than 400 of which she had held since 1952.
Over 660 – Investitures personally held by the Queen since the start of her reign.
23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes – Time on the throne when she passed Queen Victoria’s record to become the nation’s longest-reigning monarch in 2015.
More than 45,000 – Christmas cards sent out by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during the Queen’s reign.
50,000 – People the Queen hosted in an average year at banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and garden parties at Buckingham Palace. The figure for Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh was more than 8,000.
Over 90,000 – Christmas puddings given to staff, continuing the custom of King George V and King George VI.
404,500 – Honours the Queen had conferred by the time of her Diamond Jubilee.
1.5 million – Approximate number of people who have attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse since 1952.
More than 3.75 million – Items of correspondence the Queen received during her reign.
£370 million – The Queen’s wealth, according to the Sunday Times’ Rich List.
Other facts and figures about the Queen:
– Her 15 prime ministers were Winston Churchill 1951-55, Sir Anthony Eden 1955-57, Harold Macmillan 1957-63, Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963-64, Harold Wilson 1964-70 and 1974-76, Edward Heath 1970-74, James Callaghan 1976-79, Margaret Thatcher 1979-90, John Major 1990-97, Tony Blair 1997-2007, Gordon Brown 2007-2010, David Cameron 2010-2016, Theresa May 2016-2019, Boris Johnson 2019 to 2022, Liz Truss 2022 to present.
– The Queen undertook 266 official overseas visits, including 100 state visits, to 116 different countries.
– She had also launched more than 20 ships and sat for more than 200 official portraits.
– The Queen visited Australia 16 times, Canada 22 times, Jamaica six times and New Zealand 10 times.
– She sent more than 300,000 congratulatory messages to people celebrating their 100th birthdays and around 900,000 to couples celebrating their diamond (60th) wedding anniversaries.
– The Queen’s real birthday was April 21, but she celebrated officially in June.
– Until her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen took the salute in every Trooping the Colour ceremony since the start of her reign, with the exception of 1955, when a national rail strike forced the cancellation of the parade.
A mini Trooping was held at Windsor in both 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic. The Prince of Wales took the salute on the Queen’s behalf in June 2022 during the Jubilee celebrations.
– The first “royal walkabout” took place during the visit by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Australia and New Zealand in 1970.
– The Queen sent a message of congratulations to Apollo 11 astronauts for the first moon landing on July 21 1969. The message was micro-filmed and deposited on the moon in a metal container.
– By the time of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Queen had attended 63 Royal Maundy services in more than 40 different cathedrals during her reign.
– History was made in 1982 when Pope John Paul II visited Britain, the first Pope to do so for 450 years. The Queen, titular head of the Church of England, received him at Buckingham Palace. Pope Benedict XVI made the first official Papal visit to the UK in 2010.
– The Queen visited a mosque in the UK for the first time in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in July 2002.
– The Queen’s first corgi was Susan, who was a present for her 18th birthday in 1944, and she introduced a new breed called the dorgi – a cross between a corgi and a dachshund.
– The Queen visited the sets of a number of British soap operas including Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale.
– The first football match she attended was the 1953 FA Cup Final.
– She learnt to drive in 1945.
– With the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960, the Queen became the first reigning sovereign to have a child since Queen Victoria, who had her youngest child, Princess Beatrice, in 1857.
– The Queen sent her first email from an Army base in 1976.
– In 1997, she launched Buckingham Palace’s first official website.
– In June 2002, the Queen hosted the first ever public concerts in the garden of Buckingham Palace – to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, one classical and a pop one.
– She was the first member of the royal family to be awarded a gold disc from the recording industry. A total of 100,000 copies of the CD of the Party At The Palace, produced by EMI, were sold within the first week of release.
– The Queen hosted the first women-only event “Women of Achievement” at Buckingham Palace in March 2004.
– The Queen’s racing colours were a purple body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves and black velvet cap with gold fringe. They were adopted from those used by King Edward VII.
– The Queen sent her first tweet on October 24 2014, to declare a new Science Museum gallery open. The pre-written message, which she posted on the official @BritishMonarchy account , read: ”It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.