Queen Elizabeth is the longest-reigning British monarch. However, she recently quietly reached another milestone as the head of state and the ruler of an institution.
An eagle-eyed royal fan shared on Twitter that Queen Elizabeth actually "moved up a notch" in the list of World's Longest Reigns. Adrian Hilton also included a screenshot of the list's data, which was culled from Wikipedia.
On the list, Queen Elizabeth is ranked as the 5th longest-reigning monarch with 67 years and 357 days so far. This puts her directly behind K'inich Janaab' Pakal, who ruled the Mayans in the seventh century from 615 to 683.
In the third, second and first ranking respectively are Johann II, who was the Liechtenstein monarch from 1858 to 1929, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who reigned from 1946 until his death in 2016, and Louis XIV of France who reigned from 1643 to 1715.
Hilton said that Queen Elizabeth surpassed Austria's Franz Joseph I by a day. She'll also likely surpass the Mayan ruler, whose total reigning duration was 68 years and 33 days. Queen Elizabeth is also the longest-reigning monarch alive followed by Brunei's Hassanal Bolkiah. He has been king for 52 days and 107 days so far.
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth didn't have any special celebrations to mark this new milestone. Instead, she was seen in church in Sandringham with her daughter, Princess Anne.
Days before, the 93-year-old ruler was forced to cancel her annual visit to the Women's Institute in Norfolk because she was suffering from a cold, per Daily Mail. Usually, the Queen has tea and cake with the ladies of the WI and she would stay awhile to listen to some of the speeches. She has been joining the WI events since 1943, when she took over the patronage from her mother.
For 2019, the ladies of WI hosted a special live version of Pointless, a TV quiz show, which is said to be one of the Queen's favorite programs. Her team with the WI actually won the contest.
But, reports revealed that Queen Elizabeth canceled 30 minutes before this year's event started. Buckingham Palace said, however, that the cold is no cause for alarm as Her Majesty remains in good health.
Last year, Queen Elizabeth went to 295 engagements. Despite her age, the British monarch is showing no signs of slowing down despite rumors that there are plans for her to retire and pass on the throne to her son, Prince Charles.
