Nine little-known facts about the Queen and the incredible powers she holds

She reigns over 16 Commonwealth realms across the globe and it seems that with great responsibility comes great perks for Queen Elizabeth II.

Not only does the monarch, 92, live in one of the most famous palaces in history, ride in gold-plated carriages and own some of the most precious jewels in the world, but she also holds a number of incredible powers that not many people may know about.

From having two birthdays to not needing a passport to travel abroad, here are some of the amazing benefits and little-known facts about the Queen:

She has two birthdays

While the Queen, like anyone else, celebrates the day she was born each year, she actually has another official royal birthday too.

According to the royal family’s official website: “The Queen celebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday on April 21 and her official birthday on (usually) the second Saturday in June.”

The official birthday is a tradition for every British monarch and is timed in the UK summer to raise the chances of good weather for the Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, which the Queen and members of her family attend every year.

She usually spends her actual birthday privately, but it’s marked publicly by gun salutes in central London at midday.

She participated in World War II

When Britain entered the Second World War in September 1939, the Queen – still a princess then – was only 14 years old and remained in the UK with her family at the time.

However, as she approached her 18th birthday, the young princess enrolled in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (the women’s branch of the British army). While ATS women took part in important supporting roles, they rarely saw the front-line.

For the then-Princess Elizabeth, it meant she trained as a mechanic and a truck driver and it’s often claimed that’s where her love of driving started.

She doesn’t need a driving licence or passport

She’s travelled right round the world for decades, but unlike other tourists travelling abroad, the Queen doens’t require a passport.

On the royal family website, it explains: “When travelling overseas, The Queen does not require a British passport.

“Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

“As a British passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one.”

It’s not the only official document she doesn’t need, as Queen Elizabeth is also the only person in the UK who can legally drive a car without a driving licence, as they are also issued in the name of Her Majesty.

She is the longest reigning British monarch

Elizabeth officially became Queen on February 6, 1952, on the death of her father King George VI. She was 25 at the time and on tour in Kenya with Prince Philip. She was later crowned in a lavish coronation ceremony — the first in history to be broadcast on television — on June 2, 1953.

She became the longest-serving British monarch on September 9, 2015, surpassing Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years, seven months and two days.

Meanwhile, she is also now the world’s longest-reigning monarch following the death of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

She sends secret signals to her staff through her handbag

She’s known for her incredible collection of handbags and purses, but it seems the Queen’s accessories serve a much more important purpose than simply completing her outfits.

According to royal historian Hugo Vickers, she actually uses her bag to send secret signals to her staff to indicate when she’s ready to move on from a conversation.

In an interview with People magazine, he previously claimed the Queen will move the bag from one hand to the other to signal the end of the chat, or put it down on the table when she’s ready to leave a room.

She owns ‘all the swans in the River Thames’ and ‘all the dolphins in UK waters’

It’s long been rumoured that the Queen owns every swan in the UK, and it seems the claim is almost entirely true.

According to the royal family’s official website, the monarch co-owns all unmarked mute swans on “certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries”.

Meanwhile, Reader’s Digest previously claimed: “As early as the twelfth century, the Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans in the country because the birds were highly valued as a delicacy at banquets and feasts.”

Elsewhere, according to Time, a 1324 United Kingdom statute set out that “the King shall have… whales and sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm,” with the statute extending to dolphins too. Essentially, it would mean the Queen now owns any of the dolphins found in the immediate waters surrounding the UK.

She once partied incognito in the street with sister Margaret

Before she officially became Queen, Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret got their parents’ permission to join the crowds in the streets outside as they celebrated the end of World War II on May 8, 1945.

“I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief,” she said in 1985, according to the BBC.

It’s claimed the sisters were barely recognised by the people around them and were able to blend completely into the crowd.

Her tiara snapped on her wedding day

There are many things that can go wrong on your wedding day, but the last thing the Queen needed before she married Prince Philip in front of crowds of people was for her to tiara to break. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

The tiara was made in 1919 for the Queen’s grandmother, Queen Mary, and according to The Telegraph, it snapped on the morning of the wedding and had to be rushed to royal jeweller Garrard’s workshop to be mended. Luckily, it was returned in time.

Read more: ‘Faith, family and friendship’: Queen’s Christmas Day speech unveiled

She has her own personal ATM in Buckingham Palace

It’s hard to imagine popping to an ATM in the UK to get some cash out, only to see the Queen queueing up. And that scenario will actually never happen, as she has her own cash machine installed in Buckingham Palace for the royals to use.

In 2001 former head of Coutts bank, Gordon Pell, confirmed the claims to The Standard, revealing it’s safely stored in the basement of the palace.

Did you know the Queen held all of these powers?