Invoking Elizabeth I was easy but ahistorical. Attlee was surely not seeking the return of religious strife, coup attempts and invasions by Spain. Elizabeth I had made herself Gloriana as a powerful Virgin Queen, not as a constitutional monarch.
Never before in these islands has a monarch lived long enough to mark 70 years on the throne.
This will be the fourth jubilee that the Queen has celebrated, and some of the events will sound reassuringly familiar. There will be a service at St Paul’s, a concert outside Buckingham Palace and a pageant. And as well as the hundreds of smaller public events taking place, people will be celebrating in their own way: nearly 2,000 street parties and private events have been registered to take place over the four-day bank holiday weekend (June 2 to June 5).
A huge crowd on The Mall has cheered the Queen as she stepped out onto the Buckingham Palace balcony on the first day of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Queen, wearing light blue and holding a walking stick, smiled and waved as she inspected troops. She was wearing the Guards’ badge on her coat.
The royal family earlier got the four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations under way, with the Trooping of the Colour ceremony on Horse Guards Parade.
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