Factbox: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigns

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accompanied by his wife Sarah and children John Macaulay and James Fraser, leaves his official residence of 10 Downing Street, May 11, 2010.

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he would resign following last week's inconclusive general election, and would ask the Queen to invite the leader of the opposition to form a government.

Here are some facts about Brown:

* Brown, 59, became prime minister in June 2007 when Tony Blair stepped down after 10 years in power and three straight general election victories.

* Before taking the top job, Brown had been Britain's longest-serving finance minister in 200 years. His first act on becoming chancellor in 1997 was to hand independence to the Bank of England, putting it in charge of setting interest rates.

* Born in Scotland in 1951, Brown is the second of three sons. His father was a minister in the Church of Scotland. Brown has described his parents as "my inspiration, and the reason I am in politics."

* He lost the sight in one eye in a rugby accident when he was a teenager. Brown dismissed suggestions last year that he was slowly losing sight in his other eye.

* He went to Edinburgh University at the age of 15, one of the institution's youngest students.

* Brown confirmed in an interview in February that he and Blair had agreed that Blair would seek the party leadership in 1994 and then stand down "at some point" and support Brown for the leadership.

* The pair clashed over public service reforms and over Blair's ambition to take Britain into the euro, which Brown effectively thwarted by setting out five economic criteria that Britain had to meet before joining.

* Relations between the two men deteriorated over Blair's reluctance to step aside and hand Brown the premiership.

* Brown's first child, Jennifer Jane, with his wife Sarah died 10 days after her premature birth in 2001. The couple have since had two sons, the second of whom has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

(Reporting by London newsroom and David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Andrew Roche)