Trivia reigns for Queen's 80th birthday

LONDON - The Queen owns all the whales and dolphins in British waters and has been given a string of exotic gifts from Brazilian jaguars to a grove of Maple trees.

She speaks fluent French, has sent 78,000 Christmas puddings to her staff and is the first member of the royal family to be awarded a gold disc for a best-selling album after a pop concert at Buckingham Palace marked her Golden Jubilee.

Courtiers have compiled a list of 80 offbeat and quirky facts on www.royal.gov.uk to celebrate her 80th birthday on April 21.

After the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, she sent the US astronauts a note of congratulation that was micro-filmed and deposited on the moon in a metal container.

Back on earth, she learnt to drive in 1945 when she joined the army. She even joined her subjects on the underground railway when taking a "trip on the tube" with her nanny.

The Queen sent her first email as long as 30 years ago, according to the list. No details of the email were included, except that it was sent from a British army base in 1976.

The 40th monarch since William the Conqueror, she has undertaken over 256 official visits overseas during her 54-year reign and has received some bizarre gifts, the list revealed.

They included jaguars and sloths from Brazil, two black beavers from Canada, a grove of maple trees and 7 kg of prawns.

The queen travelled on the London underground for the first time in 1939 and attended her first FA soccer cup final in 1953, two experiences she never showed much appetite for repeating.

The animal kingdom has always played a prominent part in the life of the feisty octogenarian, who is in rude health and shows no signs of abdicating in favour of her eldest son Charles.

She owned her first pony at the age of five, has a string of 25 racehorses and doted on more 30 corgi dogs that have been her constant canine companions in every royal household. She even owned a champion racing pigeon.

Thanks to a 14th century statute, she technically owns all the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters around her island realm.

The statute is still valid today and they are officially recognised as "Fishes Royal."

She also lays claim to 88 cygnets on the River Thames who are officially cared for by the Royal Swan Marker.

That, one day, could be a dubious privilege - Bird Flu hit the country last week when a swan found dead in Scotland was discovered to be infected with the deadly H5N1 virus. 

- REUTERS