Google’s Pegman, the small adventurer you can drag around Maps and drop to show where you want to explore in StreetView has gotten an upgrade overnight, and is now showing up as small queen, at least around Buckingham Palace in London.
The change is all in fun, and is limited to an area around Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional London residence and official workplace. The change is to celebrate the milestone reached by Queen Elizabeth II after she became the longest serving monarch in the UK yesterday, beating the previous record holder Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria reigned officially from the 20th of June 1837 when the previous monarch, King William IV passed, until her death on the 22nd of January 1901 when her son and successor, Edward VII took over, a reign of 63 years and 217 days. Queen Elizabeth the II ascended to the throne on the 6th of February 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI.
According to the BBC, the Queen became the longest serving monarch at ’17:30 BST’ at which point she had officially reigned for ‘23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes’.
The BBC also reports that the Queen was not planning any special events for the day, though the House of Commons in the UK parliament apparently postponed business for half an hour to pay tribute to the Queen. In a statement, Queen Elizabeth said
Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones – my own is no exception – but I thank you all and the many others at home and overseas for your touching messages of great kindness.
The change to Google Maps is quite evident when you head to Buckingham Palace in Google Maps, showing the Pegman figure now changed to the Queen:
There’s no date on how long this change will be in effect, so if you want to check it out, head to Google Maps and check it out.
