Record broken: since Wednesday, September 9, Elizabeth II is the monarch who has reigned longer on the British throne, to Victoria (63 years seven months and two days to post)
. Queen does not count celebrate the event, including respect for his great-great-grandmother. Here are all the same 10 things to know about the record holder.
1 Francophile
When the queen wants to confide in his sister Margaret, she resorts to the French, learned little tongue with his nannies and she likes to practice. The Presidents of the Fourth and the Fifth Republic can attest. She met them all. France is the European country most visited it during his reign.
2 Sieg Heil royal
“Their Royal Heilnesses”, as the “Sun” in mid-July. Under this cruel pun combining “Heil Hitler” and “Highness”, Highnesses in English, the tabloid published a photo showing the future Queen, 7 years old, and his mother, his right arm raised in the Nazi way.
This image taken from an amateur film shot in 1933 at Balmoral Castle, recalls the troubles links of some of the British royal family with the Third Reich. The man who encouraged the Princess to do the Hitler salvation is none other than his uncle, the Duke of Windsor, who will meet with the Führer in Berchtesgaden in 1937.
Edward VIII and Hitler, an old story
3 Fortune
In 1990, she was the first wealth of the kingdom. The latest ranking of “Sunday Times” in April, up only at the 302nd place with a wealth valued at 340 million pounds (475 million euros). A tumble due to a change in accounting. Since 1994, there are personal property of those it has on behalf of the State. The heritage of the crown that includes a set of properties is itself estimated at 8 billion pounds ($ 10 billion).
The Windsor costly to taxpayers. With a budget of 35.7 million pounds ($ 50 million) is the best in Europe with the Royal Family
(AFP / Leon Neal / Files)
4 Undocumented
It has no passport or voter card. It is also the only resident of the UK to be able to drive without a license and without registration. His car, an armored Bentley, is itself devoid of license plate. It has however to an ATM inside Buckingham Palace.
5 Strike
In April last, the 200 Windsor Castle employees went on strike. A first in history. In question ? Overtime. Staff who do not report directly to the Queen but an organization, the Royal Collection Trust, also complained of low wages. Less than 20,000 euros per year for a new recruit, well below national standards. Elizabeth II is as stingy with 250 employees it pays from his pocket. A footman average earns 13,000 pounds a year.
6 The Empire Swan
All the swans in the kingdom belong to him, under a 1324 law enacted under Edward II. Also according to this edict, she owns all the sturgeons, whales, porpoises and dolphins caught in British waters.
7 Great dumb
According to the formula, “she reigns but does not govern.” Politically neutral (does not vote), it nevertheless has the power to influence. Disagree with Margaret Thatcher, including South Africa in 1986, it said in the press that she feared an explosion if the Commonwealth Government does not sanctioned apartheid.
8 Diana
At the announcement of the death of Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997, she had a strange reaction. “Someone must have greased the brakes”, she exclaimed would, according to his biographer Ingrid Steward.
the 17th anniversary of his death in August 2014. (Justin Tallis / AFP)
9 hooks
If Elisabeth measuring his words, her husband is the king of the gaffe. “If you stay here much longer, you’ll all have slanted eyes,” joked one day Prince Philip to British students living in China. Faced with other expatriates in Papua New Guinea, he was surprised: “So you managed not to make you eat …” When visiting a factory near Edinburgh, he exclaims before a crank machine: “Looks like an Indian labor.”
10 Hobby
She only reads detective novels, preferably by Agatha Christie, PD James, and especially Dick Francis, whose intrigues are held in horse circles. Riding is his main hobby with hunting.
Christophe Boltanski
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