London - Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit the states of Slovenia and Slovakia for the first time next month, Buckingham Palace announced in London Thursday. The queen, 82, and her husband, 87, will travel to Slovenia on October 21 for a two-day trip at the invitation of the country's president, Danilo Turk.
The couple will then travel to Slovakia on October 23 for a meeting with President Ivan Gasparovic.
(From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom) - Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary;[1] born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of 16 independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, she is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, her oldest realm; part of her lineage traces through the royal houses of England, Wessex, and Scotland for over fifteen hundred years. She ascended the thrones of seven countries in February 1952, on the death of her father King George VI. (See Context below.) In addition to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth realms, and their combined population, including dependencies, is over 129 million. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice (and in accordance with convention), she rarely intervenes in political matters.
Since 1947, Elizabeth has been married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren; the eighth (Viscount Severn) was born on 17 December 2007.
