Queen Elizabeth II,

The head of state in the UK is Queen Elizabeth II.

She has been the queen for 69 years and you can see her picture
everywhere: on stamps, on coins, mugs, tea towel etc.
Her full name is Elizabeth, Alexandra Mary Windsor and she was born on
21st April 1926 (her real birthday).
She lives in Buckingham Palace, London, from Monday to Friday; the palace
is huge and in 1993 the Queen decided to open it for visitors. A lot of people
visit it every year. The flag over the palace tells them if the Queen is there.
When the Queen is at home, the Royal Standard flies above the Palace,
when the Queen is out, the Union flag flies there.
She often spends her weekends at Windsor Castle, at Christmas she goes to
Sandringham House in Norfolk and she likes spending her summers in
Scotland at Balmoral Castle.
She works as queen of the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other 12
places.
She speaks two languages: English and French.
Her interests are horse-riding and horse-racing, she has loved horses and
dogs since she was a child. Horse-riding is one of the Queen’s favourite
hobby and she owns several race horses.
Her favourite dogs are corgis, she received her first dog as an 18th birthday
present in 1944. Now she has 4 corgi dogs.
In 1937 she met, for the first time her husband, Prince Philip, who was her
third cousin. They fell in love and started writing letters to each other. They
got married in November 1947 and had four children, three sons, Charles,
Andrew and Edward and one daughter, Anne. Prince Philip died on 9th April
2021 and now the queen is a widow.
When the queen dies, Prince Charles will be the future king because he is the
eldest son.
He father was King George VI, he became king on 12th May 1937 and died in
1952.
She became queen in February 1952, when her father died, but she wore the
crown, for the first time, on 2nd June (her official birthday) 1953.
She wears the crown every year when she opens Parliament. The crown is
made of gold and silver, it has got a lot of precious stones and weighs 1.25
kg.
You can see the crown on display in the Tower of London.
2012 was a special year for the Queen: it was her Diamond Jubilee, it meant
60 years as Queen!
British people celebrated with street parties across the country,there were
thousands of boats on the river Thames with flags on them, a music concert
at Buckingham Palace, three nights of dancing and music at Windsor Castle
with 800 performers from around the world.
The next Jubilee will be the Platinium Jubilee in 2022, when the Queen will be
96.
CURIOSITIES
Food
At official events,the Queen has the finest food,but at home she has simple
tastes: she likes cornflakes for breakfast and she loves jam sandwiches and
chocolate cakes.
The handbag
The Queen doesn’t need to carry keys, ticket or money, but she never leaves
home without her Launer handbag. It cost £ 1,000 and is an essential part of
her outfit. Why? Because the Queen uses the bag to signal her ladies-in-
waiting. When she places the bag on the table in front of her, it means she is
ready to leave the events.
The questions
1-Who is the head of state in the UK?
2-What is her full name?
3-When was she born?
4-Where does she live?
5-How can visitors know if the queen is at home ?
6-Where does she spend her summer hoildays?
7-What countries is she the queen of ?
8-What are her hobbies?
9-When did she receive her first dog?
10-Who was her husband? When did they get married?
11-How many sons and daughters has the queen got ?
12-Who will be the next king ?
13-Who was her father ?
14-When did she become the Queen ?
15-When is her official birthday?
16-What is her crown like ?
17-Why is 2012 an important date for the UK?
18-How did the British celebrate it ?
19-When will the next Jubilee be?
20-What food does the queen like ?
21-What about her handbag ?