LONDON—Queen Elizabeth II has become the first British monarch to reach the milestone of 65 years on the throne.
Monday’s Sapphire Jubilee is being marked with cannon salutes in London’s Green Park and at the Tower of London.
Buckingham Palace also released a photo of the queen by David Bailey to mark the occasion. In the picture, taken in 2014, the monarch wears a suite of sapphire jewelry given to her by her father as a wedding gift in 1947.
The palace says the 90-year-old queen will spend the day quietly at her Sandringham estate in eastern England.
She became monarch on the death of her father, King George VI, from lung cancer at age 56 on Feb. 6, 1952.
Elizabeth surpassed Queen Victoria as Britain’s longest-serving monarch in 2015.
Here’s are some other significant numbers about her record-breaking life and reign:
- Elizabeth assumed the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952. On September 9, 2015, she became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, passing her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.
- She turned 90 on April 21, 2016, and has been the world’s oldest monarch since the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in 2015.
- She has had 13 British prime ministers serve during her reign, from Winston Churchill to Theresa May.
- She has met 12 U.S. presidents, from Herbert Hoover (after he had left office) to Barack Obama — more than a quarter of all the U.S. presidents since Independence. The only president during her reign that she did not meet was Lyndon B. Johnson. She is due to meet President Donald Trump when he comes to Britain for a controversial state visit later this year.
- She has travelled more than 1.6 million kilometres on official trips, visiting 106 of the 193 current official members of the United Nations. She has visited Canada 22 times — the largest number of trips to any nation.
- She has four children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
- She has cut back on her official duties in the past few years, but Elizabeth still conducted 341 official engagements in 2015.
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