Queen Elizabeth II birthday: 5 times late monarch made history

April 21, 2025 marked what would’ve been the 99th birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s historic Queen that served the monarchy for seven long decades before passing away in September 2022.

Elizabeth, mother of the current British monarch King Charles, was the face of stability in Britain and of monarchy at large around the world, and as such, her historic reign meant that she was also chalked up several records of her own before handing over the torch to her eldest son, some of which may never be broken or replicated again.

To put things in perspective, when Queen Elizabeth died, it is said that 9 out of 10 living human beings had never known another British monarch, and so, to commemorate her birthday, we’ve compiled a list of record-breaking moments and stats from the late Queen’s reign.

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch

Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the British throne when she was just 25 in 1952, became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch in 2015, surpassing Queen Victoria, and the longest-reigning female monarch in world history — she was Queen for 70 years and 214 days!

She also held the record of the second-longest-reigning monarch of all time, being just one of four other monarchs to rule for seventy or more years; Louis XIV of France holds this record with 72 years of reign under his belt, but he also became King when he was just five.

Elizabeth’s rule lasted so long that it also made her eldest son, now-King Charles, the longest-serving heir apparent in British history.

Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip’s record-making marriage

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s love story and marriage was also one for the history books, literally!

The couple tied the knot in 1947, with Prince Philip passing away at age 99 in 2021, which means that the Queen and Philip were married for 73 long years, also a record for a British monarch.

Queen’s historic coronation

Elizabeth’s 1953 Coronation was also a record-making event, as it was the first major royal event to be fully broadcast on television around the world; before this, the TV was not in wide use, and even the Queen’s marriage to Prince Philip was broadcast on BBC Radio and on film reels.

Queen Elizabeth’s record-breaking travels

The late Queen was quite the frequent traveler, thanks to her role as, well, the Queen of England!

As per GQ, Queen Elizabeth is said to have travelled to more than 100 countries during her reign, making more than 150 visits to Commonwealth nations since 1952, another mind-boggling record for a British monarch.

According to experts, her global travels would roughly amount to travelling the whole world a total of 42 times! She, however, stopped international trips in 2015, at the ripe age of 89.

Queen Elizabeth as a record trail blazer

The Queen, though aged for the times, was a record trail blazer, especially during the advent of the internet.

In 1976, she sent her first email while on a visit to a Ministry of Defence research facility, and by 1997, she spearheaded the launch of the official Buckingham Palace website. In 2014, at the age 88, she joined popular microblogging website Twitter (now X) and even sent her first tweet! Obviously, all firsts for a British monarch.

The Queen also made history as the first British monarch to visit mainland China and also the first to address the House of Representatives in Washington.

She even has a particularly impressive record to her name: she’s the only monarch to star alongside James Bond for a sequence! For the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, the Queen made a cameo alongside Bond star Daniel Craig, before appearing to jump out of a helicopter with him! (That was a stunt double, though).