The woman who owns every dolphin in Britain

Do you know the REAL Queen? You might think so… but our celebratory list of everything you didn’t know about our longest-serving monarch might force you to think again. The gamekeeper gave a final polish to his shoes. He was looking forward to the evening’s reeling and some delicious food. But best of all would be the sight of his hostess: the Queen. The fact that the Queen gives an annual ball at Balmoral for estate workers and locals is one of the lesser-known things about her. There are plenty of others: 1. Game of thrones The Queen has nine royal thrones – six at Buckingham Palace, two at Westminster Abbey and one at the House of Lords. She also has two birthdays. 2. Pigeon fancier The Queen loves dogs, particularly corgis. She also loves racehorses, and hers have won four of the flat racing classics. More surprisingly, she keeps racing pigeons: one won the famous Pau race. 3. Name game The Queen holds three male titles: the Lord of Man in the Isle of Man, the Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands and the Duke of Lancaster. In Papua New Guinea she is known more informally as "Missis Kwin". 4. Doyenne of dolphins The Queen owns all the dolphins and whales in British waters: they are officially known as "fishes royal". 5. Dizzying diplomat Her yacht Britannia travelled over 1 million miles before it was decommissioned in 1997. 6. Sovereign’s silver The Queen has her own currency: silver coins known as Maundy money, which she donates to the elderly on Maundy Thursday.  7. Military mechanic During World War Two, as Princess Elizabeth, she trained as a driver and mechanic with the ATS. 8. Messaging the Moon A message from the Queen to the Apollo 11 astronauts was micro-filmed and left on the Moon’s surface in a metal container. 9. Sole survivor A woman with the same sized feet as the Queen is employed to wear her new shoes in.  10. Royal embroidery She has a cushion in her sitting-room at Balmoral inscribed with the words "It's good to be Queen".   Do you know the REAL Queen? Regal reality Yes: Nobody in history has lived longer in the public eye. Journalists follow her everywhere, she has met many thousands of people, and we have all seen her on TV – so of course, we know her. No: The people close to the Queen are chosen for their loyalty and discretion. There is no way that anybody else can really know that goes on behind the palace walls – or in her mind. Or… A monarch exists as two different people – one public, representing her royal position, and the other private. The public one is well known to her subjects, the private one only to friends and family. KeywordsReeling - Scottish dancing. Famous reels include the Dashing White Sergeant and Hamilton House.