Britain’s Queen Elizabeth reviewed plans for her platinum jubilee celebrations with her private secretary in Sandringham, England, as she marks 70 years since she acceded to the throne, making her Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign.
Elizabeth, 95, became the queen of Britain and more than a dozen other realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand on the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on an international tour.
She has continued to carry out official duties well into her 90s, but has been little seen in public since she spent a night in hospital last October for an unspecified ailment and was then instructed by doctors to rest.
This weekend’s low-key events are a prelude to more pomp and ceremony to mark the platinum jubilee in early June. The government has added an extra public holiday to the usual spring day off to make for a four-day weekend.
