Elizabeth about to pass milestone

Next month Queen Elizabeth will become Britain’s oldest monarch, reports A.N. Wilson writing in the Daily Mail:

In fact, it will be on December 22 that Queen Elizabeth II passes the age at which Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, aged 81 years, seven months, four weeks and one day.

However, according to my own results, achieved with a Word macro that calculates elapsed time, not by years, months, weeks, and days as Wilson has done, but by the exact number of days between any two dates, Victoria, born May 24, 1819, was 29,828 days old when she died on January 22, 1901. Elizabeth, born April 21, 1926, will be 29,830 days old on December 22, 2007. So it appears that the date on which Elizabeth becomes Britain’s oldest monarch will be December 21, when she will be 29,829 days old, not December 22, when she will be 29,830 days old. Though to be absolutely sure when Elizabeth passes Victoria in age we would need to know the hour and minute of each Queen’s birth and the hour and minute of Victoria’s death, not just the dates.

I find it surprising that in the 941 years since the Conquest, there have not been (until now) any monarchs who have lived longer than 81 years.

Thinking about the date of Elizabeth II’s birth also made me realize a passing bit of historical trivia. England has had two reigning Queens Elizabeth, and they were both 25 years old when they became Queen. And they were both beautiful.

Elizabeth I was born September 7, 1533 and became Queen on the death of her half-sister Queen Mary I on 17 November 1558. (Her coronation was the following January 15.)

Elizabeth II was born April 21, 1926 and became Queen on the death of her father King George VI on 6 February 1952. (Her coronation was on June 2, 1953.)

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Stuart S. writes:

From where do you get the idea that Elizabeth I was, as you say, beautiful?

My impression has been she was closer in looks to Joan of Arc than, say, Princess Diana.

LA replies:

When she was young, she had that great head of curly red hair, fine complexion. The famous portrait of her at the linked Wikipedia article gives an idea of her in her younger years. Was she literally beautiful, in the way that Queen Elizabeth II really was beautiful in her twenties? Maybe not 100 percent, but, as a 25 year old Queen, she gets extra points.

Also, a personal view, I don’t consider Princess Diana beautiful. She was great looking, incredibly photogenic, but not what I consider beautiful.

Stuart replies:

Great stuff, Lawrence. I threw Diana in there, and got the response from you I expected. That said, I do take your point on photogenic versus beauty.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 03, 2007 02:08 PM | Send