Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom.Julian Calder for Governor-General of New Zealand

The late Queen Elizabeth II was always somewhat of a closed book in terms of her public figure.

Great Britain's longest-serving monarch Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II was notoriously private and rarely let personal information about her or her family slip out into the public sphere. In recent years, as the Royal Family has grown, we have seen the family become celebrities of sorts and plenty of personal information has leaked out about the family.

This information being made available rarely does any good for the Royals, and often leads to even more intense media scrutiny. We have seen time and time again that the media will be ruthless with the Royal Family, so it is best avoided.

Queen Elizabeth, however, has always been immune to this. The longest-reigning monarch managed to keep personal information about her private life relatively air-tight and has largely avoided any real scandal throughout her whole career. The same certainly cannot be said for other members of the Royal Family...

Scandal and controversy have plagued the family in recent years, and we've learned things about them all that they probably would prefer to be kept private.

Despite this, however, British Pathé has composed a video with eight lesser-known facts about Queen Elizabeth that you may never have heard of. For example, did you know about the three crises that occurred on Her Majesty's wedding day? Some of them might surprise you!

The video contains some stunning black-and-white footage and provides us with real insight into Royal Life in times long gone. Anyone interested in the rich history of the Royal Family, as well as Queen Elizabeth's fascinating life, should certainly take a look!

Have a look at the video below, and let us know if you think any are missing!

* Originally published in Nov 2019. Updated in 2023.