10 Lesser Known Facts About Queen Elizabeth II

4. I Name This Ship...

JULIAN SMITH/epa/Corbis
JULIAN SMITH/epa/Corbis

During her reign the Queen has launched over 20 ships. The first was in 1944 in Clydebank, Scotland HMS Vanguard which she launched when still a princess. The first ship she launched as Queen was Her Majesty€™s Yacht Britannia also in Clydebank.

She has opened 15 bridges. There probably exists somewhere a list of things opened by the Queen and it will be a long one, In her time she has opened hospitals, air terminals, schools, sporting venues, factories, tube lines, tunnels, offices, libraries, shopping malls, motorways and everything in between, not forgetting the Olympic Games (twice). This list however would be dwarfed by the number of establishments and places named after her and not just in the United Kingdom.

Countries where she is Queen or Head of State have honoured her by naming buildings, highways, bridges, streets, trains, stations, educational establishments ,gardens, observatories and various other places after her . It is not only former colonies and Commonwealth countries that have a Queen Elizabeth II something or other. Brazil, Mexico, France, and Chile are just a few of the many other countries who felt she was worthy of recognition.

There is even a pink floribunda rose, especially grown in her year of coronation, called The Queen Elizabeth II Rose.

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