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 The couple married at London's Westminster
Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947, just two years after the end of World
War Two, in a glittering ceremony which attracted statesmen and
royalty from around the world and huge crowds of cheering
well-wishers.
Seventy years on, no public events are planned. Elizabeth, now
91, and her 96-year-old husband, who retired from active public
life in August, will celebrate the milestone with a private
party at Windsor Castle, the monarch's home to the west of
London.
That contrasts with their silver, golden and diamond wedding
anniversaries when they attended thanksgiving services at the
thousand-year-old Abbey, where the queen was crowned and where
her grandson and his wife, William and Kate, were married in
2011.
However, the Abbey itself will mark the occasion with a full
peal of its bells involving 5,070 change of sequences, with the
70 reflecting the anniversary, which will last more than three
hours.
"Congratulations to The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh as they
celebrate their Platinum Wedding anniversary," Prime Minister
Theresa May said on Twitter. "They have devoted their lives to
the service of the UK and the Commonwealth - my best wishes to
them both on this special occasion."
The wedding of Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, to the
dashing naval officer Philip Mountbatten was seen as raising the
nation's spirits amid an austere background of rationing and
shortages that followed the war.
"Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on
the hard road we have to travel," said former Prime Minister
Winston Churchill.
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 Five years later, Elizabeth succeeded her
father George VI on the throne and has ruled for the following
65 years, more than any other monarch in British history, with
Philip by her side throughout.
"The support he gives to my grandmother is phenomenal," Prince
Harry said in a documentary to mark her 60th year on the throne.
"Regardless of whether my grandfather seems to be doing his own
thing, sort of wandering off like a fish down the river, the
fact that he's there - I personally don't think that she could
do it without him."
While the couple's marriage has remained strong,
three of their four children have seen their unions end in divorce,
most notably heir Prince Charles's ill-fated union with his late
first wife Princess Diana.
"He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,"
Elizabeth said in a speech to mark the couple's 50th wedding
anniversary in 1997.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said the secret of their long marriage
was their mutual support and devotion to duty.
"They don't waste a jot of time wondering whether we like them or
not - they just get on with the job," he told Reuters.
"On the occasions when I have been lucky enough to see them
together, they always look incredibly comfortable in each other's
company."
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Stephen Addison and Guy
Faulconbridge)
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