Personality and image of Elizabeth II

Some of her other favourite foods were fish and chips, chocolate perfection pie, scones with jam and clotted cream, salmon from the River Dee and Morecambe Bay potted shrimp.

[6] Similarly, Michael Hood, aide-de-camp to Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, remembered the Queen and her husband driving their guests to picnics on the grounds of Sandringham House and helping serve food and drink.

[16][17] Despite not being a football fan and instead enjoying horse-racing, Elizabeth stated to the former England men's manager Sven-Göran Eriksson in the past that her favourite player was ex-Liverpool striker Michael Owen.

[18] Elizabeth did not explicitly express her own political opinions in a public forum, and it is against convention to ask or reveal the monarch's views.

"[4] While the Queen never spoke publicly on the matter of apartheid, in 1961, the year in which South Africa held a Whites-only referendum that narrowly rejected the South African monarchy and, along with it, Elizabeth as queen, she was photographed dancing with President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah at a banquet in Accra celebrating Ghana's establishment as a republic (also removing Elizabeth as head of state) the year before.

"[20] When The Times journalist Paul Routledge controversially asked Elizabeth for her opinions on the miners' strike of 1984–85, she replied that it was "all about one man", a reference to Arthur Scargill.

"[22] After the constitution was patriated to Canada in 1982, with amendments the cabinet of Quebec refused to agree to, the Queen, at a reception at Rideau Hall, privately conveyed to journalists her regret that the province was not part of the settlement.

[23] Elizabeth later, on 22 and 23 October 1987, publicly expressed her personal support for the Meech Lake Accord, which attempted to bring Quebec governmental backing to the patriated constitution.

She received criticism from opponents of the accord, which failed to attract the unanimous support from all federal and provincial legislators required for it to pass.

[24] Elizabeth was, in October 1995, tricked into a hoax call by Montreal radio host Pierre Brassard impersonating Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

Elizabeth, who believed that she was speaking to her Prime Minister, said she supported Canadian unity and agreed to make a national, televised statement encouraging such in the days ahead of that year's referendum on Quebec's independence.

[27] She had arguably issued a public coded statement about the referendum by telling one woman outside Balmoral Kirk that she hoped people would think "very carefully" about the outcome.

[30][31] At Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977, the crowds and celebrations were genuinely enthusiastic;[32] however there was a significant shift over the next twenty years with her popularity sinking to a low point in the 1990s.

[37] In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of state.

In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted that there was a "deep affection" for Elizabeth in Australia and another referendum on the monarchy should wait until after her reign.

[39] Gillard's successor, Malcolm Turnbull, who led the republican campaign in 1999, similarly believed that Australians would not vote to become a republic in her lifetime.

Though some of the traditional rules for dealing with the monarch were relaxed during her reign (bowing was no longer required, for example, although it is still frequently performed), other forms of close personal interaction, such as touching, are discouraged by officials.

The third was Canadian cyclist Louis Garneau, who did the same thing ten years later when posing for a photograph with Elizabeth at Rideau Hall (her official residence in Canada).

It was remarked at the time as unprecedented and described afterwards by a palace spokeswoman as "a mutual and spontaneous display of affection and appreciation between The Queen and Michelle Obama.

[67] In 1997, she and other members of the royal family were perceived in the tabloid press as cold and unfeeling when they did not participate in the public outpouring of grief at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

[68] Her family came under scrutiny again in the last few years of her life due to her son Andrew's association with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre amidst accusations of sexual impropriety, and her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan's stepping-down as senior members of the royal family and subsequent move to the United States.

She had a more jovial on-camera exchange with the painter Andrew Festing while sitting for a portrait in the 1992 BBC documentary Elizabeth R, directed by Edward Mirzoeff on the 40th anniversary of her accession.

The BBC, along with RDF Media Group, became the target of the Queen's lawyers, Farrer & Co, after the broadcaster aired a documentary trailer for Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work (2007), which was edited in such a way as to make it appear as though Elizabeth had stormed out of a photo shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz.

In 1977, The Sex Pistols issued "God Save the Queen", which became a controversial hit single, inspiring the punk rock movement with its lyrics suggesting "She ain't no human being", and there was "no future" and comparing England to a "fascist regime.

In 2006, she was portrayed by Helen Mirren in the Golden Globe- and Academy Award-nominated Stephen Frears film The Queen, a fictional account of the immediate events following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

[86][87] The Queen's Diamond Jubilee attracted some controversy after campaigner Peter Tatchell criticised Elizabeth for inviting "royal tyrants".

[102] Jan Ravens was the voice for a latex puppet caricature of her in Spitting Image (1984–1996), and gave radio and television comedy impressions of her in Dead Ringers.

Luba Goy gave a recurring impression of Queen Elizabeth II on Royal Canadian Air Farce and Cathy Jones in This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

The image of Queen Elizabeth has appeared on the banknotes of at least 35 countries, making her the Guinness World Record holder for the "Most Currencies Featuring the Same Individual".