Queen Elizabeth II In Forbes’ Top 30 Most Powerful Women List

Queen Elizabeth II figures in the list of top 30 Forbes’ most powerful women in the world in 2016. The longest reigning British monarch, who celebrated her 90th birthday in April, has risen from 43rd place last year. The queen’s cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson has revealed that the former has got “great rhythm.”

According to the royal’s cousin, music has always been part of 90-year-old Elizabeth’s life. The royal is particularly a big fan of theatre and musicals. Anson said that her cousin was very fond of musicals “Show Boat”, “Oklahoma!” and “Annie Get Your Gun”. “We did a lot of singing at Kensington Palace. Nobody thought it was odd after dinner if we put on a record and all sang ‘Doing the Lambeth Walk’, so music has always been part of her life,” she said.

Anson said that Elizabeth was a great dancer and has got great rhythm. She added that if one watches the queen during Trooping the Color, she would be seen tapping her toes. Elizabeth had lots of knowledge about military music and loved massed bands, and especially pipe bands.

Queen Elizabeth II also will present the new documentary, “Our Queen: 90 Musical Years,” which will be aired on Sunday at 7 p.m. on BBC Radio 2. For the documentary Anson and a host of the queen’s friends and family were interviewed about her musical tastes. Elizabeth has a great fascination for hymns, military music and show tunes.

According to royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, the queen and her husband Prince Philip, who will turn 95 on Friday, never hold hands in public due to the "stoic values" of their generation. Though the couple are very close to each other, Philip claimed to be a "pragmatic", rather than a "Romantic." Brandreth revealed this in his book "Portrait of a Marriage" in 2004.

Brandreth is part of the BBC team covering the weekend’s celebrations of the queen’s official 90th birthday. He said after Trooping The Color on Saturday, Elizabeth and Philip would appear on the balcony to acknowledge the crowd. But, they are not "a loveydovey, touchy-feely couple," he added.

In another related development, one of Elizabeth’s favorite Royal Yachts, "Britannia," will form the central feature of her 90th birthday parade in London on Sunday. The yacht was decommissioned in the late 1990s after carrying the royal family on 968 official voyages. Elizabeth reportedly shed a tear at its decommissioning ceremony in 1997.

It will now figure among the floats that travel down the Mall as part a carnival parade being organized on Sunday.

The parade has been designed by Ala Lloyd, who was involved in the production of the 2012 London Olympics. It will be thematically divided into the decades of the queen’s reign, with clothes, designs, dances and music from each period evoking the spirit of the era, from the 50s. Besides, the finale has not yet been revealed, but it is thought that it will focus on the charities supported by Elizabeth.

The Patron’s Lunch with 10,000 guests from the queen’s charities will line up on the Mall and feast on a hamper style lunch with picnic hampers from Marks and Spencer (M&S).