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Queen Elizabeth II

New details released of where Queen will be when she becomes longest-reigning Monarch

It’s just under a month to go until The Queen writes her name in the history books as the longest reigning monarch this country has known and now we know more about the backdrop to this very special day. The Queen will mark her milestone opening a new railway in Scotland.

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The Queen becomes our longest reigning monarch on September 9th 2015

As midnight strikes heralding the start of September 9th 2015, The Queen overtakes the record reign of her great, great grandmother Queen Victoria. Just hours later she will arrive at Edinburgh Waverley station for celebrations marking the inauguration of a new line with Victorian links of its own.

The railway being opened by The Queen on her day of history is the Borders Railway which will run along the route taken by part of the Waverley Line which was one of the closures brought about by the Beeching Report. Campaigners have spent half a century trying to get it reopened with 86 year old Madge Elliot taking a lead in the fight. It’s not yet known whether Mrs Elliot will meet her 89 year old monarch on this special day but Buckingham Palace has confirmed several other details of this major engagement.

The first chance to see The Queen after she breaks this royal record will most likely be at Edinburgh Waverley station on the morning of her special day. She will be accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh (who has held his own record as our longest serving consort since 2009) and they will begin by officially opening the line. After that the royal couple, with the First Minster of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, will take the train to Tweedbank, around thirty miles away, with a stop in Newtongrange.

The Borders Railway will run along part of a route which began opening in the 1840s when our current longest ruling monarch, Victoria, was still only at the start of her epic reign. The line continued to expand until the 1860s but a century on it was cut. The Convenor of the Scottish Borders Council, Graham Garvie, said “We are thrilled to welcome Her Majesty The Queen to formally open the railway. The fact that this occasion coincides with Her Majesty becoming Britain’s longest serving monarch makes it unique in the history of the Borders.”

With links to the queen she will just have superseded and set against the backdrop of a part of her country which she is known to value dearly, this will be a truly unique setting for a truly unique day.

Photo credit: Michael Garnett via Flickr