45 Unforgettable Times When Queen Elizabeth II Reminded Everyone Who Was in Charge

A young couple in Manchester had a wedding arranged at the town hall, and were told by the venue that another very important guest would be there the same day. Assuming it was the queen, they jokingly sent her an invite.

They never expected her to actually show up, yet she did, shocking the bride and groom. She not only learned their names but had even added them to her schedule. It just goes to show how much she valued her people!

We tend to imagine royals as being very clean and tidy with a lot of staff to do tasks for them, but that wasn’t the case for Queen Elizabeth. She wasn’t scared to get her hands dirty.

She trained as a mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service in the British Army, and she would even do her own mechanical work on her car when she stayed at Balmoral Castle. She even drove an ambulance during World War II!

Queen Elizabeth was always big on supporting public services, and that included the railways. In 2014, Reading station was redeveloped in order to “remove one of the worst bottlenecks on the network,” and the queen visited for the official opening.

That’s where she took this photo with over 100 railway workers to show her appreciation. The best part is that she also opened the original station in 1989, showing just how long her reign was!

The Changing of the Guard is an important ceremony where the Old Guard hands over the responsibility for protecting the king (and in the past, the queen) to the New Guard. A variety of music accompanies this, but on September 13th, 2001, a particularly special song played.

The queen ordered that they play the Star Spangled Banner as a show of support for the events of September 11th, 2001 in the United States. It was deeply moving to many Americans around the world.

Remember how the queen was a trained mechanic and looked after her own vehicles? Well, she also loved to drive, and went for frequent drives in her black Range Rover… like a true boss woman.

She didn’t let old age keep her from driving, and didn’t let appearances stop her from rolling down the windows, as evidenced by her very stylish silk scarf protecting her hair. Everyone likes to go for a nice countryside cruise — even the queen!

If you know anything about the late Queen Elizabeth, it’s that she loved two things — beautiful outfits and Balmoral Castle. In this photograph, she managed to combine the two into an absolutely stunning photograph.

This photo was part of a book to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation, and it is the definition of the world regal. Everything in the photo — from her robe to the countryside — is beautifully Scottish (except for her tiara).

You may have noticed that Queen Elizabeth was more likely to be caught in a bright-colored outfit, coordinated from head to toe, than in something drab. That’s because bright colors made it easier for people to spot her.

She even has a collection of clear umbrellas trimmed with tons of different colors, so that even in rainy British weather, people can see as much of her as possible. She always put a ton of thought into her outfits!

Queen Elizabeth was a monarch for a long time, which means she saw technology change and grow a lot. Thankfully, she had a team of family and staff to keep her up to date on everything — including video games!

One year she saw her grandson playing and she wanted to try. She loved it so much that she had this golden Nintendo Wii commissioned! Even Queen Elizabeth agreed that the Wii was one of the best consoles out there!

Speaking of changes in technology, here’s a crazy shower thought for you! Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953. That’s around the same time color televisions were introduced to the world and 30 years before the internet’s “birthday.”

Yet when she passed away, technology had grown and changed so much that her death was announced on social media platforms like Twitter. She saw so many changes, and yet managed to keep up with no issues!

Some of the greatest photographs of the queen are photos of her with a big smile on her face. It shows her “human” side, and it was even better when those smiles were caused by her husband, Prince Philip.

In this case, although it’s hard to tell, both of them were having a giggle after a swarm of bees messed up a formal event. There’s nothing better than having a partner you can have a laugh with.

As the Queen of England, Her Majesty wasn’t exactly allowed to go around shouting her opinions. That didn’t stop her from finding ways to express how she felt, though. This incident with the Saudi Arabian crown prince was a great example.

Saudi women at the time weren’t allowed to drive, but that didn’t stop the queen from using her grade-A driving skills, which she learned in the military, to rapidly take the prince for a ride around Balmoral estate. She showed that women can do anything.

Queen Elizabeth had a great sense of humor, as some American tourists wandering around Balmoral estate learned the hard way! They ran into the queen and a protection officer and asked if she had ever met the queen, to which Queen Elizabeth replied no.

She said her officer had, though, so the tourists took pictures with both of them, even having the queen take a photo of them with the officer first. They were shocked when they showed friends at home and they explained who that “little old lady” really was!

It turns out that all of us normal citizens of the world aren’t the only fans of James Bond. The queen was, too — so much so that she agreed to be in a London Olympics 2012 video where she appeared to jump out of a helicopter!

She only had one condition, and that was that she should get to say, “Good evening, Mr. Bond.” The best part is that she kept it a secret, so her family was just as shocked as everyone else to see her appear in the video.

As a royal, part of your job is meeting with officials from other countries. But that doesn’t always mean that you want to see them, especially if they’re a problematic person.

They say that one time, the queen went as far as to literally hide in a bush with her corgis so that she didn’t have to talk to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife. It shows that even the queen will go to great lengths to avoid people she doesn’t like.

Not many people can say that they spent 73 years with their soulmate, but Queen Elizabeth could. She and Prince Philip had a long, happy marriage — and you can tell from the love displayed in both the older and newer photos.

The queen wore the same brooch in both photos, which, knowing her, definitely wasn’t a coincidence. We love that the queen and her husband joined in on the whole “then and now” trend that’s been popular for years.

Queen Elizabeth was a true dog lover, spending many years responsibly breeding corgis which she loved to pieces. However, as she got older, she recognized the possibility of her beloved dogs outliving her.

That’s why she chose to stop breeding them in 2015, so that her dogs could live out their days with her at their sides. The last corgi that she bred passed away in 2018, and while she did have other dogs, they were gifts that now live happily with Prince Andrew.

When we think of Marilyn Monroe, we tend to think of old Hollywood glamor and times past. Yet she and Queen Elizabeth were born in the same year, and in 1956, the two met at a movie premiere in London.

The look they’re sharing in this photo feels so powerful, as if they both recognize what it’s like to constantly be observed by the public and have their every move scrutinized. In addition, they’re both gorgeous!

Elizabeth was queen for so long that it’s easy to forget when exactly she even took on the role. She was crowned in the year 1952, at the young age of 27, and it was announced in newspapers everywhere.

It’s so cool that this person managed to find a little piece of history like this with such a beautiful photo of the queen. It’s easy to see why she captured the hearts of so many people over the years!

The queen passed away at the ripe old age of 96 years old, and she wasn’t one to let age stop her from doing the things that she loved. One of those things was horseback riding.

She was 93 years old in this photo, yet still enjoying going for a horseback ride on the grounds of Windsor Castle. It just goes to show that people of all ages deserve to indulge themselves in things that they love.

The ending of World War II was a big deal for many, and caused lots of celebrations in various countries, including the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth, or Princess Elizabeth at the time, didn’t want to miss out.

She and her sister secretly left Buckingham Palace so that they could join in on the celebrations on the streets of London. She wore her ATS uniform and was recognized by many, and even said it as one of the “most memorable nights of [her] life!”

In 2017, fans at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England had a terrifying experience after the concert was attacked. It was devastating, and the queen took it upon herself to visit some of the victims in the hospital.

Here she’s visiting a 15-year-old girl, who was stunned and said she was so kind. The concertgoers should have never gone through what they did, but hopefully, a visit from Her Majesty herself helped ease their pain a bit.

Apparently, there’s a tradition in Britain that when one ascends the throne, they take a new name. Elizabeth wasn’t having any of that, so when they asked her what her name would be, she responded, “My own, of course. What else?”

Her son, King Charles III, decided to do the same thing after her passing, even though Charles isn’t the luckiest name. We kind of wish he had used his given name of King Arthur, though. That would have been epic.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip met each other when they were quite young, and they were smitten with each other from the get-go. When discussed with King George, her father, he insisted that a formal engagement wait until they were both 21.

They both felt the same way once they reached 21, so their engagement was approved by the king, and they married. They were together for 73 years, which is longer than a lot of us will even be alive!

There are many perks to being a queen, and one of those is having experiences that many likely would never be able to have, like meeting an elephant up close. An English zoo was opening up an elephant care center, and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were there.

They got to feed Donna the elephant bananas, which is much more exciting than feeding her corgis every day must have been. We’re not sure who’s cuter, though — Donna or the corgis?

When you’re a monarch for as long as Queen Elizabeth was, it means seeing a lot of other world leaders come and go. During her reign, she saw 14 U.S. presidents in power and met 13 of them.

To give you an idea, there have been 45 U.S. presidents, so that means that she met nearly one-quarter of all of the leaders of the United States! We wonder how much small talk about baseball and nice weather she must have had to do.

The queen, then Princess Elizabeth, had her first broadcast speech at the young age of only 14 years old. Due to the events of the early 1940s, many British children were evacuated to other countries.

Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, sent a message of hope and well wishes about the future to all of those children far away from home, which many have reported gave them a lot of comfort to listen to as children at the time.

The G7 Summit is an event where leaders from around the world get together to discuss important worldly things like economics and the environment and other boring mumbo jumbo. The queen clearly recognized this as she made a slightly snarky remark while posing for a photo.

She asked the group, “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourself?” She could have asked this for any number of reasons, but it got a good laugh out of everyone.

There were a lot of rules that didn’t apply to Queen Elizabeth when she was in power. She had sovereign immunity, for example, meaning that she “could not commit a legal wrong and was immune from civil suit.”

She could also drive without a driver’s license, which the rest of us definitely can’t get away with. It’s a good thing she was a trained mechanic and driver since she presumably didn’t have to go through a driver’s test!

The queen had even more privileges than sovereign immunity and driving without a driver’s license. She could also travel without a British passport! Why, you ask? Well, it’s pretty simple, really.

Both British driver’s licenses and passports are issued in the name of Her Majesty. And if she’s the one issuing them, it doesn’t really make sense for her to have one herself, does it? We sure wish we didn’t have to deal with border control, either!

Many of us nowadays are accustomed to seeing photos of the queen in her old age, but she was crowned when she was only 27 years old, and she was quite the sight to behold.

Queen Elizabeth was so much more than just a beautiful woman. Even so, it’s hard to deny or look past her beauty when you see this stunning photograph of her on her coronation day… dressed to the nines and holding that scepter with a whopping diamond.

We’ve already seen several examples of how the late Queen Elizabeth embraced new forms of technology throughout her reign. Email was just another example of how she got ahead of the curve, sending her first in 1976.

It was only a few years after email was developed, and a couple of decades before the rest of the world jumped on the email bandwagon. It’s not surprising, though, since she was ever the modern monarch. Keep in mind — hers was the first televised coronation, after all!

When it comes to being a figure in power, chances are you’re going to make some silly mistakes during a speech at some point or another. That’s what happened to a former U.S. president, who accidentally said the queen had celebrated the U.S. bicentennial in 1776.

That would have made the queen a lot older than she actually was, but she took it in stride and they both had a good laugh about it.

Many countries have the tradition that the wife in a marriage will take on her husband’s last name. Whether the tradition is a bit outdated and unnecessary is a whole other discussion, but many women opt not to do so, including Queen Elizabeth.

She decided to keep her own house name, Windsor. In the 1960s, her and Prince Philip compromised on Mountbatten-Windsor because he wasn’t too happy with her decision. Meghan and Harry even used Mountbatten-Windsor as the last name for their son.

When it comes to wartime, most leaders want to help their country in any way that they can. Queen Elizabeth, who was just a teenager when World War II began, was no exception to this pattern.

She begged her father to let her join the efforts despite her young age, wanting to show her people that she was there to support and encourage them through dark times. She was always a present and caring monarch, that’s for sure.

India was under British rule from 1858 to 1947 — meaning that Queen Victoria, and later, Elizabeth, ruled over India like many of the other British colonies. And while the rule may have ended in 1947, Britain still had many ties to the country.

That’s likely what prompted this visit from Queen Elizabeth in 1961, where she can be seen addressing a gathering of over a quarter of a million people! Thank goodness the queen didn’t seem to have any sort of stage fright.

Thanks to the 2012 Olympics, we already know that Queen Elizabeth wasn’t one to shy away from a fun opportunity on camera. She surprised the world again in 2016 for the Invictus Games, a sports event for wounded servicemen and women.

The queen appeared in a promotional video with Prince Harry, where she responds to a message with “Oh, really? Please” and Prince Harry drops a mic. If only the queen herself had mic-dropped!

When it comes to being the queen and doing a million-and-one promotional events, sometimes you’ve just got to have a little bit of fun with it. So when she went to cut a cake at a reception, she didn’t opt for any old knife.

Instead, she borrowed a ceremonial sword from one of her guards, and snarkily replied “I know there is” when told there was a normal knife. She commented that the sword was “something more unusual.” We mean, she wasn’t wrong.

Speaking of cutting cakes, which is apparently something the queen had to do often, we can see why she opted for the sword at that reception in 2021. It’s because knives weren’t always her friend.

In 2015, she tried to cut the first slice of cake at the 100-year celebration of the Women’s Institute, only for the knife to get stuck in the cake. Princess Anne managed to get it out eventually, and at least it gave us this really great photo.

We’ve all heard of Guinness World Records. During her lifetime, the queen held a whopping seven of them. Unfortunately, none were as cool as “longest breath held underwater” or “longest plank,” but still.

Her records included the longest reigning queen, oldest current monarch (at the time), oldest British monarch, oldest British queen, featured on the most currencies, the wealthiest queen, and the largest parade of boats. We’ve got some questions about that last record.

The British royal family is known for being careful about the image they give off, which means being careful about their facial expressions, especially if they’re displeased. One particular royal wedding seems to have been an exception, though.

The queen and Prince Philip were both looking pretty displeased at Bishop Curry’s sermon at Harry and Meghan’s wedding, while Prince William was trying hard not to laugh. We suppose some things are just worth reacting to, royal or not.

In the year 2016, Queen Elizabeth took her final visit to Northern Ireland. She turned 90 that year, enjoying a much longer life than many people get to have. She wasn’t afraid to joke about her old age, either.

When the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness greeted the queen, he asked, “Hello, are you well?” — to which she responded, “Well, I’m still alive, anyway.” Talk about a funny way to dodge a question.

Ask any grandparent, and they’ll likely tell you how much they adore their grandchildren and how proud of them they are. Queen Elizabeth was no exception to the “loving grandmother” rule as she beamed at her grandson.

It was at a parade where Harry was commissioned as an Army officer, and her smile was so big that Prince Harry couldn’t help but blush and grin back at her. So much for keeping his composure!

Being a powerful leader comes with potential safety risks. In 1981, Queen Elizabeth was riding her horse in a parade when six shots rang out, which were assumed to be aimed at the queen herself. Yet she didn’t panic.

She managed to calm down her panicking horse and continue riding on as if nothing happened, which is impressive. Sweetly, Prince Philip broke ranks to ride up to her and make sure she was okay before going back to his place.

The role of grandmother always comes with moments where you have to scold your grandchildren, even if you’re the queen. On the balcony at Buckingham Palace, the queen had to gripe at Prince William during a fly-past.

He was supposed to stand, but was dealing with his children. The queen gave him a queenly whack on the shoulder to remind him to get on his feet, as only a loving grandmother and composed monarch can do.

Selfies and photobombing are modern trends created by cameras now being such a large part of our lives. During the Commonwealth Games, two Australian hockey players decided to take a selfie to commemorate their win against Malaysia and also mark the memory of getting to meet the queen after the match.

To their surprise, the queen herself actually photobombed their photo! And not only that, but she brought out her best smile. Who knew the queen kept up with the trends?