Officially Monday February 06th marks the 60th anniversary of HRH 1952 coronation. The old gal's 85 years young. Pretty amazing how healthy and active she remains. Given her mum the Queen Mother made it to 100 yrs old it's quite possible she could stay on the throne for another 15 years by which point Prince Charles will be a doddering 85 year old.
Canada readies for Queen's jubilee
Nation celebrates 60-year reign
By Randy Boswell, Postmedia News February 1, 2012
Canada will mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's ascent to the throne with a series of celebratory gestures in Ottawa and across the country in the coming days, including the unveiling of a special jubilee emblem carved in ice at Ottawa's annual Winterlude festival - a fitting tribute to the 85-year-old monarch from the snowiest corner of her realm.
Other showcase ceremonies next week will be the dedication of stained-glass artwork at the Parliament Buildings and Gov. Gen. David Johnston's presentation of the first 60 jubilee medals at Rideau Hall to outstanding citizens from all parts of Canada.
The official Diamond Jubilee flag will also be flown from the Peace Tower for a week beginning Monday, 60 years to the day since the Queen began her remarkably long, occasionally turbulent, but mostly charmed reign on, Feb. 6, 1952.
The former Princess Elizabeth was vacationing in Kenya with Prince Philip when she learned that her father, King George VI, had died and that she had become the symbolic head of Britain and other Commonwealth countries, including Queen of Canada.
Next week's events will kick start a year of celebrations in Canada and around the world, with a planned Thames River pageant in June - involving up to 1,000 elaborately decorated ships and boats in a regal flotilla.
Canada's anniversary tributes are more modest, and a clearer picture of the further ways the country plans to mark the occasion is expected to emerge next week when Heritage Minister James Moore announces funding for community-based jubilee projects.
The federal government revealed in December that it had set a $7.5-million budget to celebrate the royal anniversary. Most of that amount is earmarked for the jubilee medal presentations, which are to be held in Ottawa and at provincial capitals throughout 2012, with several ceremonies scheduled for next week.
Moore will also attend Monday's ceremony at Rideau Hall, where Johnston will launch the medal initiative by presenting one medal to a worthy Canadian for each year since Elizabeth became Queen.
Not all of Canada's gifts to the Queen have awaited the official Feb. 6 start of the jubilee anniversary. In December, a delegation of representatives from the Manitoba-based Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery presented Her Majesty with a gold and platinum brooch at Buckingham Palace. The ornate pin features a maple leaf encrusted with 60 individual diamonds, a gold cannon and a stylized crown set with a sapphire, emeralds and rubies.
Canada Post recently unveiled a set of stamps marking each decade of the Queen's reign, including one design that recalls the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth's great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
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