Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th coronation anniversary

Thousands hail Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th coronation anniversary
Queen’s diamond jubilee year seen as huge success for monarchy

CBC News

A fanfare of trumpets and cheering crowds greeted Queen Elizabeth today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her coronation with a service at Westminster Abbey featuring a priceless crown that has adorned the heads of British monarchs for 350 years.

Decorated with rubies, sapphires and amethysts, the golden St. Edward’s crown was made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, and has been used to crown many British monarchs since. Tuesday marked the first time it has left the Tower of London since the 1953 coronation.

About 2,000 people gathered at the abbey in London on Tuesday morning to celebrate, with more outside.

Among those in attendance were 20 members of the Royal Family, the CBC’s Ann MacMillan reported, clearly accenting the monarchy’s future in the U.K.

They included Prince Charles and Camilla, who have taken on a greater role in recent years, and Charles’s son Prince William and his wife Kate, who are expecting their first child in July.

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Video: Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60th coronation anniversary

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Video: Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60th coronation anniversary

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Video: Queen Elizabeth 60 years of rule over the United Kingdom

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Video: Queen Elizabeth: The first televised Christmas Broadcast or ‘Queen’s Speech’, filmed at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England 1957

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The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development. The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren.