On September 8, Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, had “died peacefully at Balmoral.” The nation has now entered a period of mourning, both grieving for and celebrating the remarkable life and reign of Her Majesty.
Throughout her lifetime, the Queen achieved some incredible things. Not only did she provide inspiration to a post-war Britain and undertake a host of Royal duties in the UK; she also took her Royal visits further afield. With a prime focus on visiting countries in the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II is thought to have visited at least 117 countries in her lifetime. This incredible feat makes her, by far, the most-traveled monarch in Britain’s history.
Even before she became Queen, Her Majesty traveled abroad when she was known as Princess Elizabeth, with her iconic 1947 tour seeing her visit South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana with her parents: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. And, after her coronation, the 1950s saw her take a huge amount of trips as monarch, traveling to everywhere from Kenya to Canada.
As the Head of the Commonwealth, the Queen made it her duty to ensure she regularly visited commonwealth countries. In fact, throughout her reign, the Queen made 200 visits to Commonwealth countries, making one third of her total overseas visits to Commonwealth states.
It wasn’t just the Commonwealth countries that the Queen visited, either. She visited the USA to meet Presidents, traveled to European countries with her children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, and was the first ever British monarch to visit China on a state visit in 1986.
These are 25 of Queen Elizabeth’s most iconic travel moments, reflecting her remarkable life…