--- title: Queen Elizabeth II Is Now World's Longest-Reigning Monarch description: Queen Elizabeth II is now the worlds longest reigning monarch, following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-13T14:35:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:37.283Z og:title: Queen Elizabeth Is Now the World's Longest-Reigning Monarch og:description: Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadejh og:url: https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40ae0a5b9b287552/6988a9df196cf42aeb03d8d5/gettyimages-547485986.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-ROYALS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Queen Elizabeth Is Now the World's Longest-Reigning Monarch twitter:description: Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadejh twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40ae0a5b9b287552/6988a9df196cf42aeb03d8d5/gettyimages-547485986.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Queen Elizabeth II Is Now the World's Longest-Reigning Monarch by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Oct 13, 2016 2:35 PM UTC  Britain's Queen Elizabeth II speaks to guests during a reception for the winners of The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2016 at Buckingham Palace in central London on July 14, 2016. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II speaks to guests during a reception for the winners of The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2016 at Buckingham Palace in central London on July 14, 2016.HANNAH MCKAY—AFP/Getty Images by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Oct 13, 2016 2:35 PM UTC Queen Elizabeth II is now the world’s longest-reigning monarch, following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday. The Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth has reigned for 64 years since the death of her father on Feb. 6, 1952 and is now the world’s longest reigning monarch, [the BBC reports](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37628230). Other monarchs that follow the Queen’s long period of rule include the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, according to the BBC. Last September, Queen Elizabeth surpassed her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria as the [longest-serving monarch in British history](http://time.com/4026275/queen-elizabeth-tributes/?iid=sr-link1), and is now 90 years of age. Bhumibol held the crown in [Thailand for 70 years](http://time.com/4043989/thailand-king-dead-obituary-bhumibol-adulyadej/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ffacebook) and died at the age of 88 after ailing health. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37628230)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/"},"headline":"Queen Elizabeth II Is Now the World's Longest-Reigning Monarch","datePublished":"2016-10-13T14:35:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:37.283Z","description":"Following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadejh","url":"https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/","keywords":["Newsfeed","King Bhumibol Adulyadej","Queen Elizabeth II","Queen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40ae0a5b9b287552/6988a9df196cf42aeb03d8d5/gettyimages-547485986.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40ae0a5b9b287552/6988a9df196cf42aeb03d8d5/gettyimages-547485986.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-ROYALS","caption":"BRITAIN-ROYALS","creditText":"HANNAH MCKAY—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4529695/queen-elizabeth-longest-reigning-monarch/","name":"Queen Elizabeth II Is Now the World's Longest-Reigning Monarch"}}]}] ```