h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This week marks a milestone in English history, as the longest reign is finally superseded.

The previous, much respected holder served the country during an age when it was more dominant in world affairs. The modern record holder wasn't always popular at the beginning, but the people have grown to love them. There's plenty of life in them yet, and I wonder how long they can go on, and whether they can set a new record which will never be beaten.

Or, having broken Bobby Charlton's goal-scoring record, is Wayne Rooney over the hill now, and should Hodgson be looking to develop younger talent like Harry Kane?

I thought you meant Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned one day less than Queen Victoria, according to Wikipedia. But that day may have come and gone.

Yes, that was the intention, Paul. Nobody here has the least interest in football!

I think Liz sets the new record if she survives until Thursday.

I have some interest in feet, including the balls of my feet....

Given the lifespan of her mother, I would bet on this Queen being around for a while to come.

I have a significant interest in football and none in the monarch.

PP.

I thought it was great news coverage – she officially re-opened the 12-mile Edinburgh-Borders railway route that Evil Axman Dr Beeching in 1969 in style with an A4 Class (sister of Mallard) steam train. The best publicity for re-opening criminally closed railways you could ask for.

<BB<

Nice for her also to not only invite Ms Sturgeon along to a huge royalist celebration, but to listen her to make a gushing deferential speech.

"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong"

Well, the "imperial family" is smaller than it was on her 21st birthday, but she seems to really mean it when she thinks of her life as one of service. I've seen criticism of her parenting skills, which probably means that no one can be all things to all people. Not that this wasn't already widely known.

Do 'parenting skills' extend to choosing the right nanny?

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"Meanwhile royalty’s own patriotism bears scant inspection:
It being revealed in 1915, in World War One,
That when millions were dying in Flanders for King and Country,
The King himself was tobogganing in St Moritz.

He returned to set a record for shooting Sandringham pheasants
As he cut his annual swathe through its wildlife;
Similarly, in 1939, George VI determined that the war
Shouldn’t “interrupt the grouse season at Balmoral.”

[Maria / the Sex Pistols]

It's not clear to me what the King should have been doing in 1915 when those soldiers were dying in Flanders. Is the Sex Pistols' point that he should have been leading the charge? If this is a verdict on the Royal Family in general, or on Queen Elizabeth in particular? Would it be asking too much for them to restrain themselves when it comes to finding fault? For example: how does Queen Elizabeth's ancestors' alleged lack of patriotism sully her own record? She did, after all, repair military vehicles during the Second World War. This does sound particularly bloodthirsty to me, so what gives? If she wanted to show her patriotism now, what could she do? The job was pretty much foisted on her from birth....

Also, not that it's going to affect anyone's opinion, I'm not even sure what the Sex Pistols are. They aren't on the list of best selling performing artists of all time. To be on the list, one would have to sell 50 million or more albums. I'm not going to rush out and buy their CDs.

Sorry, line 6 should have been

"This does *not* sound particularly bloodthirsty to me."

If you want to rid the world of the evils of monarchy, the best place to start is in your own back yard. All European monarchs except the Netherlands are descended from Queen Victoria. In Spain, Felipe and his father Juan Carlos are descended from her as well. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to pull this off.

This wasn't about what I expected it to be.

I thought it was about the longest rain, which is due to happen about midday today.

Are the scandinavian royal families really related to Queen Victoria?

They're all related, yes.

We're all celebrating by eating different types of sandwiches this week.

Anything in-bread.

Related but not descended from I should think.

she had 437 children, or something (Queen Vic, I mean) and they married 437 Royals of a European persuasion. It's unlikely that the current crop of Royals anywhere in Europe aren't descended from her.

At least she had a hobby

Victoria was the great-great-grandmother of the current King of Sweden. The line goes through Leopold, Charles Edward and Sibylla.

Although Victoria survived into the 20th Century, she had her children much early, and there were lots of them, so plenty of time for them to produce a vast collection of descendants.