With Queen Elizabeth II celebrating 70 years on the throne, let’s take a look at all the titles she uses as Monarch.
Upon her accession on 6 February 1952, then-Princess Elizabeth became Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, having decided to keep her given name as her regnal name (her purported reply when asked what her regnal name would be: “My own, of course—what else?”). With that style came a host of titles, but the full style and title of The Queen is currently: Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
At the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in 1952, it was decided that The Queen would adopt a different style relating to each particular country where she reigns as head of state. The Queen holds 15 different regnal styles. For example, in Canada, her current style is: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
In Australia, The Queen is: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. In the Bahamas, she is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.
A fun bit of trivia is that The Queen has been recognised as Elizabeth II in all of her realms, but in Scotland, there had never been an Elizabeth I for her to follow. A court case was brought forward for The Queen to style herself as Elizabeth II but it was thrown out, with the court deciding that regnal names are a Royal Prerogative and not governable by the Act of Union. Churchill suggested that future monarchs use the numbering of whichever previous-named monarch is higher.
Other titles that The Queen is entitled to use include Duke of Lancaster in her own right, as the Duchy is an estate held for the benefit of the monarch and is used exclusively by whoever is reigning. In the Channel Islands, The Queen is referred to as the Duke of Normandy; in England she is also the Seigneur of the Swans; in the Commonwealth she holds the title Fount of Honour; while in the United Kingdom, she is Fount of Justice.
Her Secret Service code names in the United States have reportedly been Kittyhawk and Redfern. Her Māori title is Te Kotuku Rerengatahi (Rare White Heron of Single Flight); her nicknames in Jamaican Patois are Missis Queen and The Queen Lady; and in British Columbia, Canada, she is called Mother of All People.
At birth and until her father’s accession on 11 December 1936, The Queen was styled simply as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York.
From her father’s accession to her wedding day on 20 November 1947, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth and Baroness Greenwich.
