Etching a special place in history, Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch after surpassing Queen Victoria’s rule of over 63 years, as heart-felt tributes, fanfare and a gun salute marked the momentous occasion.
Dressed in turquoise with her trusty black handbag at her side, the Queen smiled and waved to those gathered at the Waverley Station on the day she passes the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria to board the new Borders Railway.
The 89-year-old, who is also the nation’s oldest ever monarch, has met most of the major figures of recent decades, from India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Japanese emperor Hirohito.
She will officially become the longest-serving monarch in British history at 5.30 pm (local time) when her reign would have completed 63 years and seven months — calculated at 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes.
British Prime Minister David Cameron led the tributes to the Queen Elizabeth as he described the monarch as a “rock of stability” and her service to the nation as “truly humbling” in an era when so much had changed.
“The reign of Queen Elizabeth has been a golden thread running through three post-war generations, and she’s presided over more than two-thirds of our history as a full democracy with everyone being able to vote,” he said in the House of Commons, where usual business was postponed for the special tributes.
“Her selfless sense of service and duty has earned her unparallelled respect and admiration not only in Britain but around the world. The Queen is our Queen and we could not be more proud of her. She has served this country with an unerring grace, dignity and decency and long may she continue to do so,” Cameron said.
The Queen and Prince Philip travelled by train to Tweedbank, in the Borders region, with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. They stopped off in Newtongrange where the Queen accepted flowers from well-wishers and opened the new railway station. The Queen paid a personal tribute to her great-great grandmother by wearing a diamond brooch owned by Queen Victoria and passed down to her by Queen Mary.
The brooch is one of a set of three ordered by Queen Victoria from the royal jeweller Garrard, made with 506 diamonds she supplied. The Queen took time out from her traditional summer break at this time of year at her private Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, to open the new railway but overall had wanted today to be business as usual.
HMS Belfast docked on the Thames sounded a four-gun salute to mark the occasion.
A flotilla of historic vessels, leisure cruisers and passenger boats also took part in a procession along the Thames between Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament in london to mark the historic occasion. The Buckingham Palace has released an official photograph to mark the occasion, taken by Mary McCartney — a daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney — in the Queen’s private audience room, where she holds weekly audiences with Prime Ministers of the day, and receives visiting heads of state and Government.
As a special gift to mark the milestone, Ministers are to present the Queen with a bound copy of Cabinet papers from the meeting in 1952 when Sir Winston Churchill’s Government approved the content of her first Queen’s Speech.
Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has included 12 Prime Ministers, two more than served under Victoria. Though the official time of the Queen surpassing Vitoria is set at 1730, the exact moment she becomes the longest- reigning sovereign is not known because her father, George VI, passed away in the early hours of February 6, 1952.
The Queen is also Head of the Commonwealth and sovereign of 15 Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK. Organisation’s Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, has also sent his congratulations.