As the national anthem itself dictates; The Queen is “Long to reign over us”. Today, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest ever reigning British monarch, as the previous record which belonged to Queen Victoria, passes on. Today, Her Majesty will have been on the throne for over 23, 226 days,16 hours and 23 minutes – which is a long time considering she was never even supposed to ascend the throne! We take a look at what else our Queen has achieved during her 63 year reign.

First Ever Long Distance Call

In 1958 The Queen was the first person ever to make a long distance call. The call took place on December 5th, from the central telephone exchange in Bristol, to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. The Queen opened it by saying “This is The Queen speaking from Bristol. Good afternoon, my Lord Provost”.

First Ever Monarch to Send an Email

Given how technology has so widely shaped our current world, it’s crazy to think that The Queen was the first ever monarch to send an email, back in 1976. Over 30 years later and The Royal Family now have active Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr accounts. The Queen posted her first ever tweet at 11:35 on October 24th 2014 and it read: “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age Exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.” The tweet was seen by her 724,000 followers; she now has 1.25 million followers (and rising).

First in Line to the Throne

The Queen has witnessed a change of law relating to the Succession to the Crown Act, and in 2013 the automatic right of a prince to take precedence over a sister in being heir to the throne was removed. Therefore, The Queen’s great granddaughter Princess Charlotte will remain fourth in line, regardless of whether or not her parents go on to have another son. Versions of this act were also adopted by all 16 Commonwealth realms over which The Royal Family reign.

64 Christmas Messages

The tradition of the annual Christmas Day broadcast was started by The Queen’s father, George V, and has been something she has continued. Since her coronation on June 2, 1953 The Queen has delivered 64 Christmas messages from her home to the living rooms of the people in the UK and The Commonwealth.

A Costume Change

Madame Tussauds in London is marking this rare occasion with a dress change for The Queen. Visitors to the waxwork museum will be dazzled by The Queen’s new crystal covered dress which is a replica of an actual gown she wore in 2012 for her official Diamond Jubilee photographs.

Take a Selfie with the Queen

Blippar, the image recognition and augmented reality app are giving you the chance to take a selfie with The Queen and be a Royal for the day to commemorate this momentous historical moment. Well, virtually you can and that’s almost as good as meeting Her Royal Highness in the real world. Simply scan The Queen’s head on any Bank of England bank note and watch the magic happen, although be quick as the chance to blipp The Queen is only around for the next five days!