LONDON (HRNW) — Gun salutes rang out in London and Edinburgh on Monday to mark the official start of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year, as the 95-year-old monarch prepared for a busy season of public duties.
Britain’s longest-serving monarch, Elizabeth became queen on the death of her father, King George VI, from lung cancer at age 56 on Feb. 6, 1952.
The monarch doesn’t celebrate the anniversary of the date she became queen, known as Ascension Day, as it is also the anniversary of her father’s death.
In a statement released Saturday, the queen remembered the death of her father and recalled the seven decades of “extraordinary progress” that her reign has spanned.
The queen made clear she intended to continue as head of state, renewing the pledge she made on her 21st birthday to devote her entire life to the service of the U.K. and the Commonwealth.
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