1. There are two different types of queens. A Queen Regnant is a monarch who rules a country in her own right with full political power (like Queen Elizabeth II did). A Queen Consort is the wife of a reigning king!

2. Queen Elizabeth II was a trained army truck mechanic. During World War II, when she was still a princess, future Queen Elizabeth II joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, where she learned to drive military trucks, dismantle engines, and change heavy tires!

3. Ancient Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut wore a fake beard. To show her supreme authority as a powerful Pharaoh in ancient Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut wore traditional male royal garments and tied a fake ceremonial wooden beard to her chin!

4. Queen Victoria survived seven assassination attempts. Queen Victoria of Great Britain ruled for over 63 years during the 1800s, and during her long reign, she safely survived at least seven separate attempts on her life!

5. Queen Elizabeth II used her handbag to send secret signals. Whenever Britain's queen wanted to end a conversation or leave a dinner, she would move her handbag from one arm to the other or place it on the table to secretly alert her bodyguards!

6. The Queen in chess is the most powerful piece on the board. When chess was played over 1,000 years ago, the piece next to the king was a weak counselor that could only move one square. By the 1400s in Europe, players transformed it into the powerful Queen piece, which can move any number of squares in any direction!

7. Queen bees are born from eating a special jelly. In a beehive, the queen bee starts out as a normal worker egg. Worker bees choose a few larvae and feed them exclusively Royal Jelly—a thick, nutrient-rich food that causes the bee to grow twice as big and develop the ability to lay thousands of eggs!