Can you spot the link between Tony Blair, the 1953 FA Cup Final, 7 kilograms of prawns and a Shetland pony called Peggy?

If the answer is yes, you are perhaps the world's most ardent royal-watcher. Or you have paid a recent visit to the Buckingham Palace website, where 80 facts about Queen Elizabeth have been posted in honour of her imminent 80th birthday.

The answer to the question above is that all four have featured in her life to date.

Blair was the first Prime Minister to be born during her reign, which has already seen nine different incumbents in both Downing Street and the White House.

The 1953 FA Cup Final was the first football game she attended, and Peggy was the first horse that the young Elizabeth ever owned, a gift from her grandfather George V when she was 4.

The prawns were given by an unnamed seafood enthusiast, and rank alongside sloths, pineapples and a box of snail shells as some of the more bizarre presents.

Queen Elizabeth has sat through 91 state banquets, posed for 139 official portraits and perhaps more onerous still attended 34 royal variety performances.

In return she has given the nation a Christmas message every year except 1969. She has distributed 78,000 Christmas puddings to her staff, 100,000 telegrams to centenarians and 280,000 messages to couples celebrating their diamond weddings throughout the Commonwealth.

She has sent more than 3 million items of correspondence, although it is unlikely that they all made her personal in-tray.

When not replying to post, Queen Elizabeth has made 256 official overseas visits, endorsed 620 charities and organizations, and entertained 1.1 million people at garden parties at Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse.

She has opened 15 bridges, launched 23 ships and become godmother to 30 children.

She has performed the State Opening of Parliament every year except 1959 and 1963, when she was expecting Prince Andrew and Prince Edward respectively. With the birth of the former in 1960, she became the first reigning Sovereign to have a child since Queen Victoria, who had her youngest child, Princess Beatrice, in 1857.

She was also the first British monarch to visit China, in 1986.

She is no slouch when it comes to technology, either. Queen Elizabeth sent her first e-mail from an army base in 1976, and in July 1969 her message of congratulations to the Apollo 11 astronauts was microfilmed and deposited on the moon in a metal container.

The official Buckingham Palace website was set up in 1997.

Queen Elizabeth first used the Underground in May 1939, when she travelled with her governess Marion Crawford and Princess Margaret.

Source:China Daily