The Queen has come face to face with her royal history as she prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of her accession.
Ahead of the moment her reign reaches 70 years, Her Majesty has been shown items from past Jubilees including special mementoes from her own historic anniversaries.
The Queen enjoyed browsing through items from the Royal Collection related to Jubilees and brought together for her in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle. The viewing took place last month, just before she headed to Sandringham where she will spend the anniversary of Accession Day.
The Queen with her dorgi, Candy, at Windsor Castle (Photo by Buckingham Palace)
Among the items on show were handmade cards sent in by children to mark the Golden Jubilee of 2002. One, created by a nine year old called Chris, included ‘A Recipe for a Perfect Queen’ with a list of ingredients featuring ‘a dash of loyalty’ and a ‘half a litre of hard work’ which needed to be simmered for 50 years.Also on show was a card made with fingerprints sent in by nursery school children for the Golden Jubilee.
Some of the many cards already received at royal homes for the Platinum Jubilee also formed part of the special collection. The Royal Household estimates that at least 100,000 pieces of special correspondence are sent to The Queen in a Jubilee year.
Also featured in this Jubilee exhibition like no other were some of the early entries for the Platinum Pudding competition which sees budding cooks around the UK aiming to make the perfect pud for royalty as part of the celebrations.
The Queen looks at cards sent to her for several of her Jubilees (Photo by Buckingham Palace)
Formal Jubilee celebrations only began at the start of the 19th century with events marking the 50th year of the reign of King George III. Since then, just three other Monarchs have marked Jubilees. The Queen saw items from Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee including a fan given to her by her son, Edward, and his wife, Alexandra, who were Prince and Princess of Wales at the time. A note from Alexandra in the box explains that the fan is designed to be written on and over the following years, Victoria asked her family and closest friends and confidantes to sign it for her.
Dr Stella Panayotova, Librarian and Assistant Keeper of The Royal Archives guided The Queen through the special exhibition at Windsor.
The Queen is now at Sandringham where she will spend the anniversary of her reign. She prefers to mark the day quietly as it is also the anniversary of the death of her beloved father, King George VI.
Elizabeth II became Queen on February 6th 1952.
