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 he royal family are renowned for not paying much attention to each other’s birthdays or anniversaries – there are just too many of them – but important landmarks are never ignored. The 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession on 6 February 1952 is naturally an extremely significant date.
Sixty years ago King George VI died peacefully in his sleep at Sandringham, his favourite home. His wife Queen Elizabeth, their younger daughter Princess Margaret, and grandchildren Prince Charles and Princess Anne were all in residence at the time. Only Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were missing as they had recently embarked on a tour that should have taken them via East Africa and Ceylon to Australia and New Zealand.
As a mark of respect to her late father, the Queen likes to spend the anniversary of his death privately at her Norfolk retreat, but on milestone anniversaries she undertakes low-key official engagements in the local area. The nearby town of King’s Lynn (home of Captain George Vancouver, founder of the Canadian city that bears his name) will receive a visit this year, and Her Majesty will also meet pupils and staff at Dersingham Primary School.
In the coming months she and Prince Philip will travel as widely as possible across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, starting in north London in late March and ending with northeast England in July. Sensibly, the overseas visits are being left to other members of the royal family.
Two of the Queen’s first official engagements of 2012, on Valentine’s Day, will mark the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. As patron of the Royal Theatrical Fund, the monarch is to attend a lunchtime performance of Dickens’ work by luminaries including Derek Jacobi at London’s Guildhall. That evening she will host a reception at Buckingham Palace for the many societies connected with Dickens at which items from the Royal Library will be displayed to make the occasion extra special.
I suspect the best New Year’s present for the Queen is the rapid recovery of her 90-year-old husband. According to medical experts, if Prince Philip hadn’t had the procedure to insert a tiny metal tube into his blocked coronary artery he could have had a heart attack, which might have proved fatal. However, the royal doctor realised the chest pains were serious and the Duke was flown immediately to Papworth Hospital, the UK’s largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital.
Stenting, as the procedure is known, is performed under local anaesthetic, the challenge being that the stent stays in place and doesn’t cause bleeding, which is why Prince Philip had to remain in hospital under observation.
Despite fears that the Duke of Edinburgh might have to cut back on his busy Diamond Jubilee schedule, doctors predict his general health will improve and that he will have even more energy than before.
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