The whole world paused on 8 September when Bucking Palace confirmed that Queen Elizabeth II died. Her Majesty was the UK’s longest reigning monarch, marking 70 years on the throne with her platinum jubilee this June.
During her long and eventful reign, she has travelled to 117 different countries on state visits to the Commonwealth and the rest of the world. Not counting the journeys she made before becoming Queen in 1952, she went on 290 state visits, cumulating to at least 1,032,513 miles (~1,661,669 km). She was the most well-travelled monarch in the world and received the nickname of “million mile Queen” for the distance she travelled, which equivalates to 42 journeys around the entire circumference of the Earth.
She was, in fact, on a state visit when she became Queen. She was meeting the governor of Kenya, Sir Philip Mitchell, on 6 February 1952, when her father, King George VI, died. Her last trip was taken with the Duke of Edinburgh in 2015 to Malta, one of the dearest places to their hearts, where they even lived for a few years after getting married in 1947.
Travelling was an important part of the Queen’s reign, who used it to show her devotion to the people. She found herself at home in many places, which she made clear during her first Christmas broadcast made from abroad in 1953. “I have travelled some thousands of miles through many changing scenes and climates on my voyage here. Despite all that, however, I find myself today completely and most happily at home”, Her Majesty told the world from Auckland, New Zealand.
I want to show that the Crown is not merely an abstract symbol of our unity, but a personal and living bond between you and me.
Queen Elizabeth II during the 1953 Christmas Broadcast
She was the first British Monarch to visit China, in 1986, the first to visit the Republic of Ireland in over a century, in 2011, and the first to address the United States House of Congress, in 1991. On one of her visits to Australia, she even opened the Sydney Opera House, in 1973.
Her longest overseas tour lasted for 168 days, beginning in Bermuda in November 1953 and ending in Gibraltar in May 1954. She went to 13 countries on that visit, but managed to travel to even more on a shorter tour to the Caribbean, in 1966, during which she went to 14 countries.
She was and always will be an icon, but she was also a trendsetter when it comes to travelling, many people being eager to visit the places the Queen had been to, from African safaris to Brazilian beach trips.
There are still many stories to be told about Her Majesty’s travels, but for the time being, here are all the countries Queen Elizabeth II visited during her 70-year reign:
- Algeria (1980)
- Antigua and Barbuda (1966, 1977, 1985)
- Australia (1953, 1963, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2011)
- Austria (1969)
- Bahamas (1966, 1977, 1985, 1994)
- Bahrain (1979)
- Bangladesh (1983)
- Barbados (1966, 1977, 1985, 1989)
- Belgium (1966, 1993, 1998, 2007)
- Belize (1985, 1994)
- Bermuda (1953, 1975, 1983, 1994, 2009)
- Botswana (1979)
- Brazil (1968)
- British Virgin Islands (1966, 1977)
- Brunei (1998)
- Canada (1957, 1959, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2010)
- Cayman Islands (1983, 1994)
- Chile (1968)
- China (1986)
- Cook Islands (1974)
- Cyprus (1961, 1983, 1984, 1993)
- Czech Republic (1996)
- Denmark (1957, 1979)
- Dominica (1966, 1985, 1994)
- Estonia (2006)
- Ethiopia (1965)
- Fiji (1953, 1963, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1982)
- Finland (1976, 1994)
- France (1957, 1972, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2014)
- Gambia (1961)
- Germany (1990, 1992, 2004, 2015)
- Ghana (1961, 1999)
- Grenada (1966, 1985)
- Guyana (1966, 1994)
- Hungary (1993)
- Iceland (1990)
- India (1961, 1983, 1997)
- Indonesia (1974)
- Iran (1961)
- Ireland (2011)
- Italy (1961, 1980, 2000, 2014)
- Jamaica (1953, 1966, 1975, 1983, 1994, 2002)
- Japan (1975)
- Jordan (1984)
- Kenya (1952, 1972, 1983, 1991)
- Kiribati (1982)
- Kuwait (1979)
- Latvia (2006)
- Liberia (1961)
- Libya (1954)
- Lithuania (2006)
- Luxembourg (1976)
- Malawi (1979)
- Malaysia (1972, 1989, 1998)
- Maldives (1972)
- Malta (1954, 1967, 1992, 2005, 2015)
- Mauritius (1972)
- Mexico (1975, 1983)
- Morocco (1980)
- Mozambique (1999)
- Namibia (1991)
- Nauru (1982)
- Nepal (1961, 1986)
- Netherlands (1958, 1988, 2007)
- New Zealand (1953, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1990, 1995, 2002)
- Nigeria (1956, 2003)
- Norway (1955, 1981, 2001)
- Oman (1979, 2010)
- Pakistan (1961, 1997)
- Panama (1953)
- Papua New Guinea (1974, 1977, 1982)
- Poland (1996)
- Portugal (1957, 1985)
- Qatar (1979)
- Russia (1994)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (1985)
- Saint Lucia (1966, 1985)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1966, 1985)
- Samoa (1977)
- Saudi Arabia (1979)
- Seychelles (1972)
- Sierra Leone (1961)
- Singapore (1972, 1989)
- Solomon Islands (1982)
- South Africa (1995, 1999)
- South Korea (1999)
- Slovakia (2008)
- Slovenia (2008)
- Spain (1988)
- Sri Lanka (1954, 1981)
- Sudan (1965)
- Sweden (1956, 1983)
- Switzerland (1980)
- Tanzania (1979)
- Thailand (1972, 1996)
- Tonga (1953, 1970, 1977)
- Trinidad & Tobago (1966, 1985, 2009)
- Tunisia (1980)
- Turkey (1971, 2008)
- Turks and Caicos Islands (1966)
- Tuvalu (1982)
- Uganda (1954, 2007)
- UAE (1979, 2010)
- USA (1957, 1976, 1983, 1991, 2007)
- Vatican City (1961, 1980, 2000, 2014)
- West Germany (1965, 1978, 1987)
- Yugoslavia (1972)
- Zambia (1979)
- Zimbabwe (1991)
