The Saturday briefing

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

- by CAROLINE FORD

How many 100th birthday congratulations were sent out by Queen Elizabeth during her reign.

The monarch sending messages to mark significant birthdays and anniversaries is a tradition that dates to 1917 and the reign of King George V, when those celebrating their 100th birthday or 60th wedding anniversary were sent a telegram of good wishes from His Majesty.

Since then it has expanded significantly, with thousands of cards sent to mark people’s 100th and 105th birthdays and every year thereafter, as well as messages of congratulations for couples celebrating their Diamond (60th), 65th and Platinum (70th) wedding anniversaries.

From the start of her reign in 1952 until 2022, it is estimated that the late Queen Elizabeth II sent around 1.3 million cards to mark birthdays and anniversaries across the UK, Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories.

Of those, approximately 307,000 telegrams were sent to people in the UK celebrating their 100th birthday, and 927,000 to couples celebrating their Diamond wedding anniversary.

With an ageing population, the number of recipients has grown — in 1917 King George V sent out 24 telegrams to centenarians and 273 were sent in 1952 when Elizabeth II became monarch. By 2014, the office responsible for sending out the cards had to hire extra staff as the annual tally topped 7,500.