Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday evening, aged 96.
For many Brits, she has been the only monarch we’ve ever known, meaning her death is the end of an era for both royalists and republicans alike.
It’s hard to comprehend just how much her reign was the backdrop to many significant historical events, but here are just a few historical events that put her time on the throne into context.
1. She was on the throne for slightly more than a quarter of the United States’ entire history, as the US officially became a country 243 years ago.
2. Interracial marriage in the US became legal in 1967 – the Queen would have been 41.
3. When she became the monarch, Britain still had 70 overseas territories.
4. She welcomed 15 prime ministers, including Liz Truss just two days before the monarch’s death.
5. She saw 10 Speakers in the House of Commons and witnessed 18 General Elections.
6. The Queen saw 13 US presidents enter the White House and met them all bar one – Lyndon B. Johnson.
7. She witnessed the Second World War start and end, as with the Cold War.
8. The Queen was the first British monarch ever to visit the Chinese mainland, back in 1986.
9. She made the first sovereign visit in a century to the Republic of Ireland, in 2011.
10. The Queen was the 40th monarch since William the Conquerer obtained the crown of England.
11. She had been on the throne for five years when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into orbit in 1957, and 14 and a half years when Neil Armstrong became the first human on the moon in 1969.
12. The Queen was born the same year Winnie the Pooh was published for the first time (1926).
13. Mars Bars went on sale for the first time in 1932, when the Queen was just eight years old.
14. She was only 10 when BBC Television started its regular broadcast in 1936.
15. She was the first British monarch to ever celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, 70 years on the throne. Her reign outlasted her ancestor, Queen Victoria, by seven years.
