Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (File Photo: Arthur Edwards/AFP)
Queen Elizabeth II serves record 65th year
Queen Elizabeth II has become the first British monarch to reach the milestone of 65 years on the throne
Queen Elizabeth II has become the first British monarch to reach the milestone of 65 years on the throne.
Monday’s Sapphire Jubilee is being marked with cannon salutes in London’s Green Park and at the Tower of London.
Buckingham Palace also released a photo of the queen by David Bailey to mark the occasion. In the picture, taken in 2014, the monarch wears a suite of sapphire jewelry given to her by her father as a wedding gift in 1947.
The palace says the 90-year-old queen will spend the day quietly at her Sandringham estate in eastern England.
She became monarch on the death of her father, King George VI, from lung cancer at age 56 on Feb. 6, 1952.
Elizabeth surpassed Queen Victoria as Britain’s longest-serving monarch in 2015.
6 Photos
This is a June. 2, 1953 photo of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as they wave to supporters from the balcony at Buckingham Palace, following her coronation at Westminster Abbey. London – when she took to the throne (Photo: AP /Leslie Priest)
6 Photos
This is a June. 2, 1953 photo of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as they wave to supporters from the balcony at Buckingham Palace, following her coronation at Westminster Abbey. London – when she took to the throne (Photo: AP /Leslie Priest)
This is a April 30, 1955 photo of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, right, as they attend the West Norfolk hunt point-to-point races at Sporle, England. Princess Margaret four years younger than the queen, Margaret was Elizabeth’s only sister (Photo: AP)
The Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince Philip and their three children pose, 09 September 1960 in Balmoral (Photo: AFP)
In this July 29, 1981 photo, Prince Charles and his bride Diana, Princess of Wales, and his parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London after their marriage at St. Paul's Catheral (Photo: AP)
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she awaits the arrival of the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Windsor in England, Tuesday, April 30, 2013 (Photo: AP /Kirsty Wigglesworth, pool)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 2nd right, seated on the throne in the House of Lords next to her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, right, son, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, 2nd left and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
