Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Timeline of Events

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Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis...

Timeline of Events

1945

3.4.1945

In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver.

1947

11.20.1947

The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London.

1952

2.6.1952

Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

2.8.1952

Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the UK.

1953

4.16.1953

Queen Elizabeth II launches the Royal Yacht Ship HMY.

4.24.1953

Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1956

10.17.1956

The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.

1957

10.14.1957

Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada.

1958

6.9.1958

Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW) in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.

12.5.1958

Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.

1960

2.8.1960

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".

7.1.1960

Ghana becomes a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom ceases to be its Head of state.

1966

9.8.1966

The Severn Bridge is officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

1976

3.26.1976

Queen Elizabeth II sends the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.

1977

6.7.1977

500 million people watch on television as the high day of Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begins.

1981

6.13.1981

At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.

7.17.1981

The opening of the Humber Bridge by HM The Queen in England.

1982

4.17.1982

Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.

1986

10.12.1986

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China

1994

5.6.1994

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

1999

7.1.1999

The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.

2004

1.8.2004

The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

2007

12.20.2007

Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.