Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Marks 60-Year Reign
Queen Elizabeth II on Monday marked 60 years since she rose to the British throne with visits to a town hall and a school, in a low-key start to five months of diamond jubilee festivities.
A small but enthusiastic crowd braved freezing temperatures to see the monarch arrive in King's Lynn in Norfolk, eastern England, 60 years to the day since she became queen following the sudden death of her father King George VI.
In a message to her subjects she pledged to "dedicate myself anew to your service", six decades after her father passed away on February 6, 1952 while the 25-year-old princess was visiting Kenya.
The queen also extended thanks for "the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and Prince Philip over these years," a reference to her husband of 64 years, who recently underwent heart surgery.
In contrast to the lavish celebrations planned for the official jubilee in June, Monday's anniversary was business as usual for the 85-year-old queen.
About 100 well-wishers lined the snow-covered streets to greet her, waving homemade signs saying "we love you ma'am".
Dressed in a turquoise, grey and white wool coat and a matching turquoise hat, the queen arrived in a black Range Rover to polite applause, before going inside the building with local officials.
"I think we are lucky to have her, I really do. She's rock solid," said Jean Garbutt, 77, who came from Yorkshire in northern England especially to get a glimpse of the monarch.
The queen then visited a school in the nearby village of Dersingham, less than a mile from the gates of her Sandringham estate.
The school's head teacher, Gayle Platt, said she felt "very, very privileged" to have hosted the queen on the anniversary.
"It's been a memorable occasion, she said, "although 60 years is also time for reflection because the queen's father died on this day."
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, paid tribute to the former monarch on the anniversary of his death -- a day the queen usually spends privately.
The "courageous" king, who was on the throne throughout World War II, led Britain "through its most testing time in modern history (and) left a permanent legacy of gratitude," Williams said.
In London, cannon were fired at Hyde Park and at the Tower of London to mark the occasion, while shots also rang out across the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
The Royal Navy fired a 21-gun salute at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, Hampshire, at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor.
The queen's involvement in jubilee events in the coming months will be restricted to Britain, but other members of the royal family will criss-cross the Commonwealth in her place, from Canada to tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the monarch had guided the country "with experience, dignity and quiet authority" and dismissed suggestions she was "simply a glittering ornament".
"That misunderstands our constitution and it underestimates our queen. Always dedicated, always resolute and always respected, she is a source of wisdom and continuity," he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, where the queen was greeted by cheering crowds last year, was the first overseas leader to congratulate her, saying the jubilee was a "truly remarkable event".
The celebrations in Britain will culminate in a four-day public holiday on June 2-5, the highlight of which will be a flotilla of 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames on June 3.
One member of the royal family absent from the early stages of the celebrations is Prince William, who has started a six-week mission as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot in the Falkland Islands.
Source: Agence France Presse
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