Today if I ask you "Which is the biggest strongest superpower in the world?", you might think of USA which has a vast land area (nearly thrice the size of India), is a technology hub of all kinds, has the biggest space program under government as well as private players, and has the most expensive military budget in the world, has Wall Street and many top corporations of the world. You might think of China which has an area comparable to USA, is a major manufacturing hub, has biggest population in the world and is a formidable military power too. You might think of Russia, the superpower of Cold War era, which has area even bigger than USA or China, proportionally bigger resources, a sophisticated military which has kept USA at bay since Cold War days, formidable space power,and is still presented as a bugbear to US citizens by their government or military every now and then. You might think of Germany, the economic and industrial powerhouse of Europe. Some might even mention France as a key player in many NATO missions along with other Western powers. But there is a far bigger power than any of these, hiding in plain sight. That is the British Monarchy which officially rules over a territory far bigger and far more spread out than any of these big daddy seeming countries. And it's run by big mommy Elizabeth II.
Let us start with the Wikipedia entry on states headed by Elizabeth II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_headed_by_Elizabeth_II. During her lifetime she has headed 32 states, plus one unrecognized state that had proclaimed allegiance to her. As of today she rules 16 of these nations as Commonwealth Realms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in which Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning Constitutional Monarch and head of state. But Commonwealth of Nations is itself bigger and currently comprises of 53 sovereign states https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations. Here also Elizabeth II is the Head of Commonwealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_the_Commonwealth.
I do not exactly understand the full implications of Commonwealth of Nations, so let's focus on Commonwealth realms and territories which the queen officially rules as a monarch/head of state.
When we speak of monarchy and its Commonwealth realms, it is important to understand Royal Prerogative. On the surface they all appear to be democracies, functioning as per the Constitution, Law, with Parliament, Judiciary, etc, but the monarch can override it all by Royal Prerogative which literally means royal right or privilege. It is exercised directly or by representative of the monarch such as Governor General. Wikipedia has a good entry how it functions in United Kingdom, Britsh dependencies, Australia, Canada, and other Commonwealth realms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative.What this implies is that the show of democracy runs as per wishes of monarchy and and the rare case it doesn't, it gets overridden.
Further, the laws of the Commonwealth realms also need to be passed by the monarch or her representative such as Governor General. What laws the monarch does not want do not pass. But most importantly, the monarch or her representative are in charge of all the armed forces.
So behind facade of democracy, parliament, laws, judiciary, etc, monarch is the real boss if you really dig into it. So let's see how big a territory the British Monarchy rules over, considering only the 16 Commonwealth realms and also their overseas territories and Crown dependencies.
The 16 Commonwealth realms are Antigua and Barbadua, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm
Area (in sq.km) of total territory (Commonwealth Realms) directly ruled by the British Monarchy: ACook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and Ross Dependency.ntigua and Barbadua (440) + Australia (7692024) + The Bahamas (13878) + Barbados (439) + Belize (22966) + Canada (9984670) + Grenada (348) + Jamaica (10991) + New Zealand (268021) + Papua New Guinea (462840) + Saint Kitts and Nevis (261) + Saint Lucia (617) + Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (389) + Solomon Islands (28400) + Tuvalu (29) + United Kingdom (242495). =18,728,808 sq.km
Population of total territory (Commonwealth Realms) directly ruled by the British Monarchy: Antigua and Barbadua (96,268) + Australia (24,898,152) + The Bahamas (385,637) + Barbados (286,641) + Belize (383,071) + Canada (37,064,562) + Grenada (111,454) + Jamaica (2,934,847) + New Zealand (4,743,131) + Papua New Guinea (8,606,323) + Saint Kitts and Nevis (52,441) + Saint Lucia (181,889) + Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (110,211) + Solomon Islands (652,857) + Tuvalu (11,508) + United Kingdom (67,141,684) =147,660,694 people.
Monarchy of some of these realms also rule additional territories and islands. So we must consider those as well.
First comes British Overseas Territories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Overseas_Territories There are fourteen of them under jurisdiction and sovereignty of United Kingdom. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or voted to remain British territories. They are Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibralter, Montserrat, [Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands], [Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha],[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands],and [Turks and Caicos Islands]. Wikipedia gives their total area as 1,727,570 sq.km and total population as approximately 265000. This is to be added to the area and population of the main Commonwealth Realms.
Realm of New Zealand similarly consists of additional territories such as Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and Ross Dependency.
Area (in sq.km) of these is Cook Islands (237 sq.km) + Niue (261 sq.km) + Tokelau (10 sq.km) and Ross Dependency in the Antarctic (450,000 sq.km). =450508 sq.km
Population of these is Cook Islands (17459), Niue (1620), Tokelau (1499) and Ross Dependency in the Antarctic (1000). =21578 people
Australia also has Australian Antarctic Territory of total 5,896,500 sq km and population less than 1000.
Adding up above areas covered by Commonwealth Realms and their dependencies/controlled territories, British Monarchy officially rules over a territory of 18,728,808 + 1,727,570 + 450,508 + 5,896,500 = 26,803,386 sq.km
Population of these Commonwealth Realms and their dependencies/controlled territories. 147,660,694 + 265,000 + 21578 + 1000 =147,948,272 people.
Thus at at 26,803,386 sq.km, British Monarchy rules a huge territory, more than 50% bigger than even Russia, the biggest country which has total area of 17,098,242 Km². It is also nearly 3 times bigger than USA with area of 9,525,067 sq km. Or compare with China having land area 9,596,961 sq.km. So what we have is a hidden superpower, British Monarchy, far bigger than any superpower nation, hiding in plain sight! It's population at 147,948,272 is also comparable to Russia which is at 146,780,720. So the mightiest superpower is hidden in plain sight and doesn't even come to our mind when we think of superpowers. Since it is located throughout the world it is also in militarily better strategic situation.
And of course in addition to this British Monarchy is the head of Commonwealth of Nations. This is all official extent and power of British Monarchy without even considering that they run a hidden Deep State controlling and influencing superpowers as well as other nations.