The emperor of Japan has 125+ mil subjects.

States that recognize the British monarch as head of state: 67 mil (UK) + 38 mil (Canada) + 26 mil (Australia) + 5 mil (New Zealand) + others less than mil people = 136+ mil

So pretty close, but this appears to be a correct statement.

Technically the Pope is a monarch and every Catholic a subject but it doesn't quite play out the same way.

The Pope is the monarch of a tiny city state, not of all Catholics. The idea that the Pope has any temporal authority whatsoever is the stuff of anti-Catholic fever dreams.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't. Does QE get credit for former colonies like Canada though? If so that might help.

If you start counting what we'd usually call dictators, there definitely are bigger ones. The monarch/dictator line gets a little blurry and subjective/political I believe.

Elizabeth was the Queen of England, the Queen of Canada, the Queen of Australia, etc., etc., it's the definition of being a Commonwealth Realm. So, at the time of her death, she had about 150 million subjects.

Given that all the countries with more population than that have a constitution and not a sovereign, it's safe to say yesterday she was the most prolific monarch alive.

> Commonwealth Realm

Might be worth pointing out that not all Commonwealth countries are part of the Commonwealth Realm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm

> Elizabeth was the Queen of England, the Queen of Canada, the Queen of Australia, etc., etc., it's the definition of being a Commonwealth Realm.

India has been a republic since 1947 and is a member of the Commonwealth.

Today I learned about the distinction between being a member of the Commonwealth and being a Commonwealth Realm.

Is there another monarch in history with this many subjects in a single reign?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_heade...

I don't think there is another Royal family of the same prestidge. There are other royal families in Europe but you don't hear much about them.

Eh, it's also because the British royal family is basically a reality show.

The Dutch royal family, by contrast, have a bit more privacy.