Last year, in 2023, the longest reigning monarch in British history passed away. That monarch was Queen Elizabeth II, and she reigned for over 70 years. That, by the way, is the second longest of all the monarchs we have record of, that is, if you don’t count the Sumerian List of Kings, which we mentioned back in Episode 2, which was about the Creation narratives of the ancient world. The longest reign was of Em-Men-Lu-Ana, who reigned for 43,200 years, according to the Sumerian list. According to modern history, the longest reign was Louis XIV of France, who reigned 72 years. But we digress.
Elizabeth II was the longest reigning queen of Great Britain, but the second longest reign belonged to Alexandrina Victoria, who is better known as Queen Victoria. She reigned for 63 ½ years, from May 1, 1837 – January 22, 1901. So she became Queen just about a year after the Battle of the Alamo, and also Texas declaring independence from Mexico, both of which happened in 1836. And Great Britain recognized Texas’ independence in 1840, so we can thank Queen Victoria for that.