Today is the sixtieth anniversary of when Her Majesty became The Queen. It marks the beginning of many months of festivities in the U.K. to mark the first time a monarch has sat upon the British throne for sixty years since the Queen's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who reached this milestone, known as her "Diamond Jubilee," back in 1897. Queen Victoria, who died in 1901, was the longest-ruling monarch in British history. However, if the current Queen remains on the throne until 2016, as we hope she will, then she will have that record. Queen Victoria will be bumped into second place and in third place will be the Queen's great-great-great-great grandfather, King George III, who ruled from 1760 to 1820.
Although today marks the start of the 2012 Jubilee celebrations in Britain, The Queen actually spent it fairly quietly by visiting a primary school and town hall in the pretty village of King's Lynn in northern England. There are no celebrations today, because it is also the anniversary of the death of The Queen's father, King George VI, who lost his battle with lung cancer on this day back in 1952. King George's moving battle with his speech impediment was captured last year in the Oscar-winning movie The King's Speech, with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter.
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