Queen Elizabeth II: Which countries did the world’s most-travelled monarch visit the most during her reign?
During her long reign, Her Majesty made almost 300 state visits around the world
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The late Queen Elizabeth II was one of the most well-travelled people in the world, thanks to her record-breaking 70 years on the throne.
She was such a frequent globe trotter, in fact, that it would be quicker to list the countries she never visited during her historic reign.
If Her Royal Highness had needed to hold a passport, it would be easy to imagine how quickly each one would be filled with stamps from her state visits totalling almost 300.
Queen Elizabeth II stopped making state visits in 2015 – seven years before her death at the age of 96 at Balmoral on Thursday afternoon.
As she was the head of the Commonwealth of nations, she visited every member country and island nation – except Cameroon and Rwanda – at least once, making at least 180 trips in total among this group. She visited some countries far more fequently than others, however.
The Independent has tallied up the hundreds of state visits she made from when she was crowned in her mid-twenties until her late eighties to determine which countries were her “favourites”.
Canada
Canada, a country she headed until its independence in 1982, was the nation she visited the most – making up to 24 separate trips there.
Australia, New Zealand and Fiji
Australia was her next most-visited country, with at least 19 recorded trips. While down under, she also went to New Zealand at least 10 times and Fiji six times.
The Caribbean
In the Caribbean, the islands she visited the most were Barbados (six trips), Jamaica (six), the Bahamas (five), and Bermuda (five).
The rest of the Commonwealth
Elsewhere in the Commonwealth, most of her visits were to Malta (six), Malaysia (five), Cyprus (four), Kenya (four), Singapore (four), India (three), and Papua New Guinea (three).
The US
Outside the Commonwealth, the US (five) tops the list of her most-frequented places. She visited another two times while representing Canada, taking the total to seven.
France, Italy and Belgium
Next on the list is France, which she visited six times. She has also been to Belgium four times. Each of the four times she had been to Italy she made sure to visit the Pope in Vatican City.
Germany
Her number of visits to Germany would have exceeded those to the US, but many of her journeys were made when Germany was split by the Berlin Wall before the fall of the Soviet Union.
She visited West Germany three times, the political enclave of West Berlin once, and reunified Germany four times, according to records.
The Netherlands and Norway
Next on her list of most-frequented countries are the Netherlands and Norway – both of which she visited three times apiece.
Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Nepal, Oman, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the UAE
She has also twice visited Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Nepal, Oman, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
Queen Elizabeth II did not make any state visits to about 60 countries – which are not mentioned in the list of nations that she visited once.
Africa
In Africa, she visited Algeria, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia once.
Asia
In Asia, she went once to China, Indonesia, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, and South Korea.
Europe
In Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia all received Her Majesty once.
Middle East
In the Middle East, she visited Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia once each.
South America
In South America, she went to Brazil, Chile and Panama once during her reign.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments