Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the throne aged just 25 as her exhausted country struggled to recover from the ravages of World War II, makes history as she becomes the UK’s longest-reigning monarch.
At about 5:30pm (1630 GMT) on Wednesday, Elizabeth, 89, who 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.
British Prime Minister David Cameron led the tributes to the queen.
“Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of stability in a world of constant change and her selfless sense of service and duty has earned admiration not only in Britain, but right across the globe,” Cameron said.
“It is only right that today we should celebrate her extraordinary record, as well as the grace and dignity with which she serves our country.”
Those close to the queen say she is fairly blase about the milestone, believing it represents little more than the fact that she has lived for a long time.
“It’s business as usual as far as she is concerned,” said one senior aide.
Initially she did not even intend to mark the event publicly, but she has bowed to public pressure and will now undertake an official engagement in Scotland, where she traditionally spends her summer holiday.
Along with her husband Prince Philip, who has been at her side throughout her reign, she will take a journey on a steam locomotive to mark the opening of the longest domestic railway to be built in Britain for more than 100 years.
As a young princess, Elizabeth had not expected to become monarch as her father George VI only took the crown when his elder brother Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
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