In May 2011, Queen Elizabeth became the second-longest reigning British monarch in history overtaking which monarch?
Queen Victoria replaced him. Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria's reign. On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee, which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain. The prime ministers of all the self-governing Dominions were invited to London for the festivities. One reason for including the prime ministers of the Dominions and excluding foreign heads of state was to avoid having to
Elizabeth II the longest-reigning British monarch and longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in the world on 9 September 2015. She is also the "longest-reigning sovereign in Canada's modern era". (King Louis XIV of France reigned over Canada (New France) for longer than Elizabeth.) She became the oldest current monarch after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died on 23 January 2015. She later became the longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state following the death of King Bhumibol of Thailand on 13 October 2016, and the oldest current head of state on the resignation of Robert Mugabe