The British monarch is also a great-grandma and a wife, which is why the queen doesn't only have official names and titles, but also different unsuspected nicknames.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/J. Barlow
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High Five: 5 odd nicknames for Queen Elizabeth
The British monarch is also a great-grandma and wife, which is why Queen Elizabeth doesn't only have official names and titles, but also different unsuspected nicknames.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS.com/Yui Mok
Lilibet
The English pronunciation of "Elizabeth" is a tongue-twister not only for Germans. Even the future Queen found it hard to pronounce her own name when she was a child. That's why she called herself "Lilibet." Her family kept on calling her that way until she had ascended to the throne in 1952.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress
Shirley Temple
Elizabeth's uncle Edward discovered an amazing similarity between her as a young girl — with her chubby face and curly hair — and Shirley Temple. That's why he chose the name of the US child star as his favorite nickname for his niece. By abdicating the throne in 1936 to marry American socialite and divorcee Wallis Simpson, Edward made it possible for Elizabeth to become Queen.
Long before this picture was shot, when Prince William was still a small child, he wasn't able to pronounce "Granny" and found it easier to call her "Gary" instead. A male name, and a rather ordinary one at that? It's likely that the Queen only allowed her beloved grandson to call her this way.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Gan-Gan
Prince William's son George also had difficulties with "Granny." When he was two years old, he used to call his great-grandma "Gan-Gan." That's at least what Duchess Kate claimed in a documentary about the royals. Chances are that the little prince has already overcome this stage. He will turn five in July.
Image: Reuters/S. Wermuth
Cabbage
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth have been married for more than 70 years. It would be odd indeed if he called her "Queen" or "Her Majesty." The nickname he uses for his wife was only revealed recently: Apparently, he affectionately calls her "Cabbage." There's room for speculation about the reasons behind this peculiar choice.
Image: Getty Images/C. Jackson
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Commonly known as Queen Elizabeth or the queen, her full name is Her Majesty Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor.
Elizabeth is also her mother's name; her second name pays tribute to her great-grandmother, Alexandra of Denmark, and her third name to her two aunts, Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, and Lady Mary Elphinstone.
Her family name combines her royal house, Windsor, and the family name of her husband, Prince Philip.
Until 1917, the royals didn't use family names and they still aren't very common today. While they were serving in the military, Prince Harry and William used "Wales," a name based on their father's title, Prince of Wales.
If you're a normal person and want to address the queen, there are strict protocol rules to follow. When you meet her, you must keep quiet until she talks to you first. You are to correctly address her with "Your Majesty" and subsequently "Ma'am."
Of course, the etiquette doesn't apply to her family members. Like in most families, they use their own nicknames for the queen. Our High Five ranking above reveals them, while the gallery below explores five unusual gifts given to the British monarch.
5 things you probably never would have guessed were presents to Queen Elizabeth II
Birthdays, jubilees or official visits - the queen is constantly showered with presents. Elizabeth II has been on the throne so long, her collection of gifts contains some oddities indeed.
Image: Imago/Steffen Schellhorn
Travel option
In 2013, the London Underground celebrated its 150th anniversary. Of course, the queen came to congratulate, too — and received a little something as a gift, just for Her Majesty: a commemorative Oyster Card, the electronic ticket used for public transport in London. The queen said thank you, but hasn't been spotted riding the tube since.
Image: Getty Images/P. Macdiarmid
Yee-Haw!
Ever since she was a girl, Queen Elizabeth has been very fond of horses. She's also a gifted rider, so her shoe collection is sure to include riding boots. This gift by a Texas governor, however, is unlikely to have brought a sparkle to her eye: During a US visit 1991, she and her grandchildren received hand-tooled cowboy boots. No one ever saw her wear the boots.
Image: Imago/All Canada Photos
Fruit shortage
Looking at this gift today, you might think Queensland authorities were making a bad joke when the Australian state sent Elizabeth and her husband Philipp 500 crates of canned pineapple as a wedding gift in 1947. In fact, the food situation was still dire after the war, so the canned fruit ended up being a much-welcome donation for schools and hospitals.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
The queen and the king
The painting the queen received in Berlin in 2015 is entitled "Horse in Royal Blue." It's by a German painter, and portrays the monarch as a young girl on a pony with her father, King George VI. The German and the British press mocked the artwork. A pro after 63 years on the throne, the queen kept her opinion to herself.
Image: picture-alliance/Bundespresseamt/J. Denzel
Idle tree-dwellers
Similarities with living persons are purely coincidental, one would hope, in view of this gift by the Brazilian government in 1968: a cute but quite inert pair of sloths. Off they went to London Zoo, home to a few other "live" gifts: a jaguar, an elephant and two beavers from Canada.
