--- title: Queen Elizabeth II 90th Birthday: See Surprising Facts description: As Queen Elizabeth II turns 90, some of the most surprising, unusual facts about her personality and her reign canonical: https://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-20T21:36:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:57:07.665Z og:title: 12 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II og:description: For her 90th birthday og:url: https://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ee2a708f77176da/698862b4f887dc4026e9240f/queen-elizabeth1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on September 9, 2015 in Tweedbank, Scotland. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 12 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II twitter:description: For her 90th birthday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ee2a708f77176da/698862b4f887dc4026e9240f/queen-elizabeth1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 12 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. For her 90th birthday_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 20, 2016 9:36 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 20, 2016 9:36 PM UTC In honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, TIME has rounded up some of the most surprising facts about the personality of [Britain’s longest-reigning monarch](http://time.com/4024855/queen-elizabeth-longest-monarch/) and her reign in general: • She became the first reigning Sovereign to have a child since Queen Victoria when she gave birth to Prince Andrew in 1960. • She created a new dog breed—the “dorgi”—when Princess Margaret’s dachshund Pipkin mated with one of her corgis, according to the British Royal Family’s [website](https://www.royal.uk/50-facts-about-queens-reign): “There have been 8 dorgis—Tinker, Pickles, Chipper, Piper, Harris, Brandy, Cider and Berry.” • [Photography](https://twitter.com/BritishMonarchy/status/717709295060697088) is one of her hobbies. • Some of the most unusual gifts she has received during her reign include: two live tortoises and a 7-year-old bull elephant named “Jumbo.” • She [has](https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4zQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93&lpg=PT93&dq=%22queen+elizabeth%22+and+%22show+tunes%22&source=bl&ots=Mnb%5FlKwXWb&sig=WtYXGwRUxTkAvnF3yYQDJAke0TU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-2NbL2pvMAhUIXD4KHUR8CBsQ6AEIQjAJ#v=onepage&q=%22queen%20elizabeth%22%20and%20%22show%20tunes%22&f=false) about 200 racing pigeons. • A 116-year-old Canadian man was the oldest person she has ever written a letter to, and that was in December 1984. • In 1982, an intruder scaled Buckingham Palace and entered her bedroom. They had a 10-minute conversation before she called up security. Initially charged with burglary for drinking a bottle of Prince Charles’s wine, he was [acquitted](http://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/24/world/palace-intruder-is-acquitted-by-london-jury.html) by a London jury. • A “gin and Dubonnet” has been her cocktail of choice, former personal chefs to the Queen told [_The Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/11845020/Food-fit-for-royalty-what-does-the-Queen-really-like-to-eat.html)_._ • There is a practical reason for her monochromatic outfits. “You have to be able to see that figure in a lemon coat and hat from far away,” Hugo Vickers, author of _Elizabeth, The Queen Mother_, told the [New York](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/fashion/queen-elizabeth-ii-sets-a-style-standard.html)[ _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/fashion/queen-elizabeth-ii-sets-a-style-standard.html)_._ • She loves watching _Downton Abbey_ and revels in spotting historical errors on the show on occasion, biographer Brian Hoey, who wrote _At Home With The Queen_, [told ](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222%5F20950045,00.html)_People._ • And the Queen’s favorite Broadway show tune is “People Will Say We’re in Love” from _Oklahoma!,_ Hoey says in the [_LIFE_ ](https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4zQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93&lpg=PT93&dq=%22queen+elizabeth%22+and+%22show+tunes%22&source=bl&ots=Mnb%5FlKwXWb&sig=WtYXGwRUxTkAvnF3yYQDJAke0TU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-2NbL2pvMAhUIXD4KHUR8CBsQ6AEIQjAJ#v=onepage&q=%22queen%20elizabeth%22%20and%20%22show%20tunes%22&f=false)magazine book commemorating her 90th birthday. • She had a way of imitating the sound of the Concorde, the now-defunct supersonic jet, royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith [told _People._](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222%5F20950045,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/"},"headline":"12 Surprising Facts About Queen Elizabeth II","datePublished":"2016-04-20T21:36:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:57:07.665Z","description":"For her 90th birthday","url":"https://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/","keywords":["Newsfeed","World"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ee2a708f77176da/698862b4f887dc4026e9240f/queen-elizabeth1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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