Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Her Diamond Jubilee as Monarch (PHOTOS)

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 86th birthday today. She is the fortieth monarch since William the Conqueror, she has visited Australia 15 times, Canada 23 times, Jamaica six times, and New Zealand 10 times. She has sent 100,000 telegrams to centenarians in the U.K. and the Commonwealth, launched 23 ships, and met five astronauts. Also, thanks to her wartime experiences working for the army, she is the only British monarch in history trained to change a spark plug.

See the story of her life in photos.