How Tall Is Queen Elizabeth?

Queen Elizabeth II might not be of great physical stature, but she definitely is a woman who has made a huge significance as the queen of England both for the British monarchy and for her generation. After all, her reign has been well over 70 years, and while others in a position like hers would have taken a much needed break by now, she keeps going.

In an interview with the Smithsonian Channel in 2018, the queen opened about perhaps the most difficult part of her job: making sure her crown stays in place on top of her head. "You can't look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did, your neck would break and it [the crown] would fall off," she said, adding, "So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they are quite important things. It's sort of, I suppose, the beginning of one's life, really, as a sovereign."

And while making sure the queen's jewels stay in place at all times is a task that not everyone can take, a lot of people can't help but wonder what this monarch, and larger-than-life person, really looks like in the flesh. That, and royal fans are also likely curious about how tall she really is, seeing how she almost always garners the most attention when she is front and center.

Queen Elizabeth's tall illusion

What Queen Elizabeth might lack in height, she certainly makes up for in influence, as she is considered one of the most important people of the past century, per Time. According to Celeb Heights, the queen is 5 foot and 3-and-3/4 inches tall, while some other publications list her as 5 feet 4 inches.

Her late husband Prince Philip was 6 feet tall, which was the reason he always looked like he was towering over her. Yet, the queen's height has never really been much of a concern for her. In fact, and in a rare move, Queen Elizabeth did defend herself back in 1983 when she was criticized for looking as though she always had a serious expression on her face. According to Reader's Digest U.K., the queen responded with, "I simply ache from smiling. Why are women expected to beam all the time? It's unfair. If a man looks solemn, it's automatically assumed he's a serious person, not a miserable one."

Not wanting to constantly smile for the camera is one thing, but also losing inches from your height is another. In fact, some reports have indicated that the queen has gotten shorter over the years.

Queen Elizabeth is still working harder, faster, stronger

A lot of royal fans have noticed that Queen Elizabeth actually looks much smaller than she really is. And that's not because there's anything wrong with her health, but rather because her age. Dr. Robin Chatterjee put it this way in an interview with Express back in 2019, that women tend to shrink more than men with age. He explained, "We all shrink over time. We lose between a quarter and half an inch every decade after the age of 40."

With that said though, Queen Elizabeth is still considered one of the most active people on the planet for her age. After all, back in 2018, the queen took on 283 engagements, which was less than Prince Charles' 398, but much more than the work Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle did that year, as detailed by CNBC. Smiling or solemn, short or tall, there's no doubt that the queen is still the biggest person in the room, if not also the planet.