Queen Elizabeth II's reign by numbers: 15 Prime Ministers, 120 countries and 175,000 telegrams to centenarians

The Queen And Prince Philip waving from on board Royal Yacht Britannia in 1979. Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library.

(Image credit: Tim Graham / Getty)

published 10 September 2022

Her Majesty became so woven into the fabric of our lives that we simply took her existence for granted. We seldom stopped to think about such things as the sheer number of people she met each day, let alone each year, and how that already staggering figure accumulated decade upon decade and continued well past the point at which most of us would have wanted to put work aside.

In her later years, royal commentators began to tally up the people met, the miles travelled, the honours bestowed, the records broken and the incomparable set of ‘firsts’, from visits to China and Russia to technological changes, such as websites and emails, and societal changes. The results seem impossible for one person to have achieved, especially for someone who had huge responsibility thrust on her at such a young age.

In 1952, she declared: ‘My Father, and my Grandfather before him, worked hard all their lives to unite our peoples ever more closely, and to maintain its ideals which were so near to their hearts. I shall strive to carry on their work.’ Not once did she fail them, but carried out that work in ways of which they could never have conceived.

Here, we shine a spotlight on some of the facts and figures that have underpinned the many decades The Queen devoted to us ungrudgingly. The Second Elizabethan Age will surely go down in history as a truly golden period.

1... ...husband: Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she fell in love as a teenager and stayed with for three-quarters of a century.

7... ...Archbishops of Canterbury: Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Donald Coggan, Robert Runcie, George Carey, Rowan Williams and Justin Welby.

7... ...Popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis I.

14... ...US presidents: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

15... ...Prime Ministers of the UK: Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Holme, Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Her first, Winston Churchill, was born in 1874; the last, Liz Truss, in 1975.

Sir WInston Churchill opens the door of Queen Elizabeth's car as she leaves after dining with him and the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen, when asked about her favourite Prime Minister admitted that it was, 'Winston, of course, because it was always such fun.' Photo: Alamy

120... ...countries visited in total. The Queen made 82 state visits and received 150 inward state visits.

135... ...portraits sat for, the first of which was in 1933 when she was seven.

2,500... ...Wedding presents received when she married Prince Philip, coming from all over the world. There were also some 10,000 telegrams of congratulation.

20,000... ...cards received on The Queen’s 80th birthday.

45,000... ...Christmas cards sent by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

56,000... ...miles travelled to celebrate her Silver Jubilee The Queen carried out six tours in three months that took her through 36 counties with the Duke of Edinburgh.

90,000... ...Christmas puddings given to their staff.

130,000... ...messages of congratulation and goodwill were received in the Diamond Jubilee.

175,000... ...telegrams were sent to centenarians, although only one — that to the Queen Mother — was signed Lilibet.

400,000... ...honours and awards conferred.

540,000... ...telegrams sent by The Queen to couples celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

1,032,513... ...miles travelled by The Queen on state or Commonwealth tours, as an absolutel minimum, according to Daily Telegraph calculations. That’s 42 times around the world — yet the number leaves out travel within each country. One one journey to Australia alone she took 35 internal flights and is estimated to have covered 13,000 miles.

3,500,000... ...items of correspondence were received and answered.

27,000,000... ...people estimated to have watch The Queen’s coronation on television. For many it was the first time they had ever watched television.

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