Sixty years after she ascended to the throne in an austere Britain still facing post-war rationing, Queen Elizabeth marked the milestone today february 6,2012 with a new website that showed just how much the world has changed during her reign.
The 25-year-old princess was on tour in Kenya when she became queen on February 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI. She immediately flew back to Britain where she was welcomed by then Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The royal family has been through tumultuous times since then. Three of the queen's four children have divorced and every personal crisis has been dissected by world media.
The most extreme case was the 1997 death of Princess Diana, ex-wife of the queen's eldest son Prince Charles, a rare moment of mass unpopularity for the monarch who was criticized for not showing enough emotion amid a national outpouring of grief.
During her reign, the royal family has also repeatedly come under fire over its expensive lifestyle and the queen has had to give up some of her privileges, such as her beloved yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997.The 25-year-old princess was on tour in Kenya when she became queen on February 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI. She immediately flew back to Britain where she was welcomed by then Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The royal family has been through tumultuous times since then. Three of the queen's four children have divorced and every personal crisis has been dissected by world media.
The most extreme case was the 1997 death of Princess Diana, ex-wife of the queen's eldest son Prince Charles, a rare moment of mass unpopularity for the monarch who was criticized for not showing enough emotion amid a national outpouring of grief.
The queen promised to "dedicate myself anew to your service".
"I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart," she wrote to her subjects in a message.
The royal household today launched a festive new website , thediamondjubilee.org, allowing users to send the queen a message, listing 60 interesting or amusing facts about her, and featuring a photo timeline of world events during her reign.
The queen is now the second longest-serving monarch in British history after Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901.
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