About Me
The Royal Channel: http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel
I was born 21 April, 1926. I am the Queen regant of sixteen independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though I hold each crown and title separately and equally, I am a resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, my oldest realm, over parts of whose territories my ancestors have reigned for more than a thousand years. I ascended the thrones of seven countries in February, 1952.I am the elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, I was born in 1926. I became Queen at the age of 25, and have reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development.I am 38th in direct line of descent from Egbert (775-839), King of Wessex from 802 and of England 827 to 839.I am the fortieth monarch since William I (William the Conqueror), and also the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.In addition to the United Kingdom, I am also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antiqua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which I am represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which I am Queen are known as Commonwealth Realms, and their combined population (including dependencies) is over 129 million.I hold a variety of other positions, among them Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. During my reign I have seen sweeping changes in my realms and the world at large, perhaps most notably the final dissolution of the former British Empire (a process that began in the last years of my father's reign) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations.Since 1947, I have been married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, born a prince of Greece and Denmark but after naturalisation known as Philip Mountbatten and subsequently created Duke of Edinburgh. To date we have four children and seven grandchildren.
