Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

The queen has travelled to more than 100 countries since 1952: 8 landmarks notched up Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II has notched up a number of landmarks in her record-breaking 70 years on the throne

The queen has travelled to more than 100 countries since 1952: 8 landmarks notched up Queen Elizabeth II

Longevity

Elizabeth has reigned for 70 years and nearly four months -- longer than any other monarch in British history.


The previous record was held by her great-great-grandmother queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years, seven months and two days until 1901.

At 96, Elizabeth is the oldest current monarch and head of state in the world.

Only two kings have ruled for longer: France's Louis XIV -- more than 72 years between 1643 and 1715 -- and Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej -- 70 years and four months, until his death in October 2016.

Globetrotter

The queen has travelled to more than 100 countries since 1952 -- another record for a British monarch -- and made more than 150 visits to Commonwealth nations.

She has been to Canada 22 times -- more than any other country. In Europe, she has visited France the most -- 13 times -- and speaks the language.

The Daily Telegraph calculated that she travelled the equivalent of 42 times around the world before stopping overseas trips in November 2015 aged 89.

Her longest foreign trip lasted 168 days from November 1953 to May 1954 during which she visited 13 countries.

Busy

As a 21-year-old princess, Elizabeth pledged her life to the service of the Commonwealth.

As queen, she has carried out some 21,000 engagements, given royal assent to 4,000 pieces of legislation, and hosted 112 state visits of foreign heads of state.

Among those she hosted were emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1954), Japan's emperor Hirohito (1971), president Lech Walesa of Poland (1991) and US president Barack Obama (2011).

More than 180 garden parties have been hosted at Buckingham Palace, attended by more than 1.5 million people.

Politics and religion

A total of 14 British prime ministers have served under the queen. Her first was Winston Churchill (1952-1955) and the latest is Boris Johnson, since 2019.

She holds regular private meetings with her prime minister of the day, usually at Buckingham Palace on a weekly basis.

Elizabeth II has met 13 out of the last 14 US presidents with the exception of Lyndon B Johnson. Her last visitor from the White House was Joe Biden in 2021.

The queen is the supreme governor of the Church of England, a position dating back to the creation of the church under Henry VIII in the 16th century.

She has met four popes on official visits -- John XXIII (1961), John Paul II (1980, 1982 and 2000), Benedict XVI (2010) and Francis I (2014).

- Cards -

The queen has sent some 300,000 cards of congratulation to centenarians and more than 900,000 to couples celebrating 60 years of marriage.

She was married for 73 years -- another record for a British monarch. Her husband, Prince Philip, died aged 99 in April last year.

Portraits

The queen has posed for more than 200 portraits since the age of seven. Most were painted in a traditional style.

But Lucien Freud's in 2001 proved controversial: one critic said it made her majesty look like one of her corgi dogs.

Pioneer

In 1996, the queen became the first British monarch to visit mainland China. She was also the first to address the House of Representatives in Washington.

She sent her first email on March 26, 1976 during a visit to a Ministry of Defence research facility.

In 1997, she launched the Buckingham Palace website and in 2014 sent her first tweet. Three years ago, she made her debut on Instagram.

007

The queen is the only monarch to have jumped out of a helicopter with James Bond and parachuted into the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Kind of.

She and her beloved corgis made a cameo appearance at the 2012 London Games with 007 actor Daniel Craig, before a stuntman made the leap.

More For You

Amanda Anisimova

The last American woman remaining in the draw

Getty Images

Amanda Anisimova stuns Aryna Sabalenka to reach maiden Wimbledon final

Highlights

  • Amanda Anisimova defeats world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets
  • The American advances to her first Grand Slam final
  • Sabalenka’s run of Grand Slam finals ends
  • Anisimova will face either Swiatek or Bencic on Saturday
  • With the win, Anisimova is projected to reach world No. 7

American tennis star Amanda Anisimova produced the biggest win of her career by defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the semi-finals of Wimbledon on Thursday. The result sends the 23-year-old into her first Grand Slam final, where she will face either Iga Swiatek or Belinda Bencic on Saturday.

The contest on Centre Court lasted two hours and 37 minutes and was interrupted twice during the first set due to spectators feeling unwell in the heat. Despite the stoppages, both players maintained their focus in a match marked by intense rallies and shifting momentum.

Keep ReadingShow less
HYBE Cine Fest 2025
HYBE Cine Fest 2025: How HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is India’s K-pop soft launch
Instagram/pvrpictures

HYBE Cine Fest 2025: BTS, TXT, and SEVENTEEN light up screens; here’s what it really means

You step into your local PVR today. The smell of popcorn hits you, but instead of previews for the latest Bollywood hit, the lobby is a sea of ARMY Bombs and CARAT Bong light sticks. Fans in TXT tees are swapping photocards. Someone’s already belting out a LE SSERAFIM chorus into a mic at the pop-up Noraebang station. Inside Screen 3? It isn’t a film, but a full-blown K-pop concert. Thousands of voices scream every word of BTS’s Dynamite, and tears well up during Jungkook’s solo. But this isn’t Seoul. It’s Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, all this weekend. And HYBE? They’re taking notes, big ones!

What is Hybe Cine fest?

HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is a three-day cinema event (from 10 to 12 July) that brings some of the biggest K-pop concert experiences to the big screen across India. Organised by South Korean entertainment giant HYBE in partnership with PVR INOX and Trafalgar Releasing, the fest features full-length concert films from BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, ENHYPEN, ILLIT, and Katseye. Expect stadium-level production with cinematic visuals, surround sound, and collective fan chants, everything fans love about a K-pop concert, recreated inside a cinema.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk

The launch of Grok 4 comes amid criticism of the previous version

Getty Images

Elon Musk claims new Grok 4 AI is ‘smarter than PhD graduates’

Highlights

  • Elon Musk unveils Grok 4, calling it “the smartest AI in the world”
  • Grok 4 reportedly trained 100 times more than Grok 2
  • Musk says it performs at PhD-level across nearly all subjects
  • The launch follows controversy around Grok 3’s offensive responses

Musk launches Grok 4 AI model with bold claims of intelligence

Elon Musk has launched Grok 4, the latest artificial intelligence model developed by his xAI company, claiming it surpasses PhD-level intelligence across all academic fields.

Speaking at the launch, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said Grok 4 had been trained using 100 times more data than Grok 2, which was replaced by Grok 3 in February this year. Musk described the new model as “the smartest AI in the world” and said it could achieve near-perfect results in graduate-level exams in almost every subject.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pakistan rejects claim of China’s role in border clash

Asim Munir

Pakistan rejects claim of China’s role in border clash

PAKISTAN’S army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday (7) rejected Delhi’s allegation that his military received active support from longtime ally China in its conflict with India in May.

The Indian Army’s deputy chief, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, said last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.

Keep ReadingShow less