|
 At about 5.30 p.m., Elizabeth, who now aged 89 is also the
nation's oldest ever monarch, will surpass the 63 years, 7
months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her
great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne.
"Her Majesty the Queen inspires us all with her incredible
service and her dignified leadership and the extraordinary grace
with which she carries out her duties," Prime Minister David
Cameron told parliament in London.
"The Queen is our Queen and we could not be more proud of her.
She has served this country with unfailing grace, dignity and
decency and long may she continue to do so," Cameron said.
Lawmakers cheered at the end of his tribute.
In central London, the BT Tower flashed "Long may she reign"
around its screens nearly 200 meters above the capital.
Those close to the queen say she is fairly blase about the
milestone, believing it represented little more than the fact
she has lived for a long time and that her father, King George
VI, died early.
Initially she did not even intend to mark the event publicly,
but she bowed to public pressure and undertook an official
engagement in Scotland, where she traditionally spends her
Summer holiday.
Crowds greeted her arrival accompanied by husband Prince Philip,
who has been at her side throughout her reign, at Edinburgh's
Waverley station before she began a journey on a steam train to
mark the opening of the longest railway to be built in Britain
for more than 100 years.
"It's brilliant," said May Marshall, 58, wearing a jacket and
hat covered in Britain's Union Jack flags. "No one else will
ever do it. It's testimony to her stamina."
Elizabeth smiled broadly as she boarded the train. A Buckingham
Palace spokeswoman said she might make a rare public speech
afterwards.
'LONG MAY SHE REIGN'
"It's inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to
many of you, a successor to the kings and queens of history,"
she had said in her first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957.
"I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or
administer justice. But I can do something else. I can give you
my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the
peoples of our brotherhood of nations."
[to top of second column] |
As a young princess, Elizabeth had not expected to become monarch as
George VI only took the crown when his elder brother Edward VIII
abdicated in 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
She was 25 when she ascended to the throne on Feb. 6, 1952,
following George's death.
That made her the 40th monarch in a royal line that traces its
origin back to Norman King William the Conqueror who claimed the
throne in 1066 with victory over Anglo-Saxon Harold II at the Battle
of Hastings.
The year she became queen, the Korean War was raging, Joseph Stalin
was leader of the Soviet Union and Britain announced it had the atom
bomb.
"There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors - a
noble motto, 'I serve,'" Elizabeth said in a televised speech to
mark her 21st birthday.
"I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or
short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great
imperial family to which we all belong."
Since becoming queen, she has seen 12 prime ministers, starting with
Winston Churchill, and there have been 12 U.S. Presidents, from
Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama.
Not only has Elizabeth reigned the longest but according to a poll
in the Sunday Times this week, Britons also think she is the
country's greatest monarch, ahead of her Tudor namesake Elizabeth I
and Victoria, who was queen for much of the 19th century when
Britain built up its empire.
Now, Elizabeth is queen of just 16 realms, including Australia and
Canada.
However, despite the torrent of tribute, not everyone was impressed.
Republicans said her silence on political matters was her finest
achievement, and well-known British historian David Starkey remarked
that she had never said or done anything memorable in all he years
on the throne.
"She will not give her name to her age. Or, I suspect, to anything
else," Starkey wrote in the Radio Times magazine.
(Editing by Stephen Addison and Guy Faulconbridge)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
