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Congratulations to HRH Queen Elizabeth II, who becomes the longest reigning British monarch in history today. As of a few minutes ago, she had been queen for 23,226 days and 16 hours (63 years and 215 days), beating the previous record held by Queen Victoria. However, Elizabeth is a mere 89, and her mother lived to 101, so she may yet break the record by quite a bit—and she’ll need every bit of that if she wants to break the all-time European record of Louis XIV, who reigned for 72 years. The longest reign of a British king remains America’s favorite, George III, at a bit over 59 years.
