Royal Watch News

Queen Elizabeth named 26th most powerful woman

Aug 23, 2012, 12:01 GMT

Queen Elizabeth

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has been named the 26th most powerful woman in the world.

The 86-year-old monarch is the oldest person to appear in Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women List and it would seem her Diamond Jubilee celebrations and appearance alongside Daniel Craig at the Olympics opening ceremony have contributed in helping her jump 23 places from last year.

Duchess Catherine - who was known as Kate Middleton prior to her wedding to Prince William last year - has been tipped as a woman to watch by the magazine over the coming year as she embarks on work with a number of charity projects and royal engagements, but she was not included in the current list.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the list with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just behind her in second place and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was in third place once again.

Jennifer Lopez has appeared in the top 100 for the first time, making her debut at number 38 in the annual list, while Shakira and Sofia Vergara were 40th and 75th respectively.

Moira Forbes, the head person at ForbesWoman, said: 'This year's Power Women exert influence in very different ways, and to very different ends, and all with very different impacts on the global community.'