On this day, her 87th birthday, Queen Elizabeth will enjoy a relaxing break from attending official engagements, after a new study says she has completed 15,000 official engagements.
The figure has been calculated by Tim O’Donovan who has studied the court circular – the official list of Royal engagements – every day since 1979, producing an annual survey.
Mr O’Donovan, a retired insurtance broker, said: “She is just a wonderful person who has dedicated herself to service and has carried it out without blemish. I don’t think there is any doubt that she is the hardest working head of state in the world.”
Buckingham Palace said The Queen would have a day off for her birthday, which she marks privately.
Her first solo public engagement as a royal was in April 1943, when she was 17.
The practice of circulating a report of the sovereign’s official daily engagements was begun by King George III in 1803.
BLESS HER. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.