{"id":194275,"date":"2026-04-12T11:24:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194275\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T11:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:24:42","slug":"25-things-you-dont-know-about-queen-elizabeth-in-honor-of-what-wouldve-been-her-100th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194275\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Things You Don\u2019t Know About Queen Elizabeth in Honor of What Would\u2019ve Been Her 100th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GettyImages-1241053062<\/p>\n

Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

On April 21, we celebrate what would have been the late, great Queen Elizabeth<\/a>\u2019s 100th birthday, and in honor of the occasion, we\u2019re looking back at some interesting facts about the royal.<\/p>\n

For instance, did you know that Elizabeth \u2014 who reigned from 1952 to 2022 \u2014 trained as a car mechanic during World War II?<\/p>\n

Or that she bought her own wedding dress with ration coupons in the wake of the second World War?<\/p>\n

Keep scrolling for more royally fun facts, as seen in the latest issue of Us Weekly<\/a>, on newsstands now:<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s Evolution From Princess to the Longest-Reigning British Monarch<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Queen Elizabeth II was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor in London on April 21, 1926.<\/p>\n

2. She wasn\u2019t originally expected to be queen, but her life shifted dramatically when her uncle, Edward VIII (later the duke of Windsor), abdicated the throne in her father\u2019s favor in 1936.<\/p>\n

3. Elizabeth took the crown in 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI.<\/p>\n

\"GettyImages-1479782538<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth at her coronation in 1953 Illustrated London News\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

4. She made her first radio broadcast at just 14 years old, speaking on the BBC\u2019s Children\u2019s Hour.<\/p>\n

5. She helped usher in the modern iteration of monarchy. For example, her 1953 coronation made history as the first to be televised.<\/p>\n

6. During World War II, Elizabeth rolled up her sleeves and trained as a driver and mechanic in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. (Yes, she could literally fix a car.)<\/p>\n

7. She married Prince Philip<\/a> in 1947, and the pair were together for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n

8. The queen bought her own wedding dress with ration coupons due to post-WWII austerity.<\/p>\n

\"GettyImages-2202265272<\/p>\n

Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth in 1952 Central Press\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

9. Elizabeth and Philip welcomed King Charles<\/a> in 1948, Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.<\/p>\n

10. Elizabeth\u2019s 70-year reign made her the longest-serving monarch in British history.<\/p>\n

11. She met 13 sitting U.S. presidents during her reign, from Harry Truman to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

A Look Back at Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s Coronation Ahead of King Charles III\u2019s Royal Ceremony: Photos<\/a><\/p>\n

12. She didn\u2019t need a passport (since the official document is issued in the queen\u2019s name), but still traveled the globe extensively, reportedly visiting 116 countries during her reign.<\/p>\n

13. She also didn\u2019t require a driver\u2019s license \u2014 and was the only person in the U.K. allowed to drive without one!<\/p>\n

14. The queen had a lifelong love affair with corgis, and owned more than 30 over her lifespan.<\/p>\n

15. She is even credited with helping to create a new breed: the \u201cdorgi,\u201d a cross between a dachshund and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.<\/p>\n

\"GettyImages-51952328<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth with her corgis in 1969 STF\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

16. Elizabeth sent her first email in 1976 \u2014 and her first tweet in 2014.<\/p>\n

17. She celebrated two birthdays each year: her actual birthday in April and her official birthday in June.<\/p>\n

18. Her signature nail polish color was Essie\u2019s \u201cBallet Slippers,\u201d which she reportedly wore exclusively for over 30 years.<\/p>\n

19. She logged hundreds of official engagements per year, even toward the end of her life. In 2016 alone, she reportedly carried out over 330 engagements.<\/p>\n

20. She held weekly audiences with her prime ministers, starting with Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n

21. She had eight grandchildren: Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall; Prince William and Prince Harry; Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie; and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex.<\/p>\n

\"GettyImages-995178586<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth with her grandsons Prince Harry and Prince William and their spouses, Meghan Markle and Princess Kate, in 2018 Paul Grover for the Telegraph<\/p>\n

22. She lived to see the birth of 12 of her great-grandchildren \u2014 now a grand total of 13!<\/p>\n

23. Following Elizabeth\u2019s death at 96 in 2022, King Charles ascended the British throne, making Prince William the heir apparent.<\/p>\n

24. On the day of the Queen\u2019s funeral, flights over London were canceled to ensure quiet as a mark of respect.<\/p>\n

25. London will mark the centenary of Queen Elizabeth with several events including a fashion exhibition at Buckingham Palace and the opening of a new memorial garden in Regent\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool\/Getty Images On April 21, we celebrate what would have been the late, great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[22017,43473,77460,9580,77461,9,24,63,3994,9492,1312,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-194275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-100th-birthday","9":"tag-elizabeth","10":"tag-elizabeth-and-philip","11":"tag-getty-images","12":"tag-harry-truman","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-prince-philip","17":"tag-prince-william","18":"tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","19":"tag-queens","20":"tag-queens-headlines","21":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}