Queen Elizabeth II today (9 September) becomes聽the longest reigning British monarch.
The 63 years that Queen Elizabeth has reigned have been ones of immense change and there have been 12 Prime Ministers, the same number of American presidents and 7 popes during this time.
The University,聽which has grown from the nineteenth-century Hartley Institution,聽has the distinction of being the first higher education institution to be granted university status in this reign, receiving its royal charter on 29 April 1952.
Read more on a about the University’s Special Collections at the聽Hartley Library.