Excerpt
SUMMARY: In 1952, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II assumed the throne after the death of her father. More than 63 years later, her reign has lasted longer than that of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who up until now had been the nation's longest ruling monarch. Tim Ewart of Independent Television News reports on how she spent the occasion.
TIM EWART, Independent Television News: It was a routine royal engagement, the reopening of a railway line, but this was a momentous moment in the queen’s reign.
She arrived from Balmoral, her estate in the highlands, where she had originally hoped to spend a quiet day. She was met in Edinburgh, a moment not without irony, by Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Many in her Scottish National Party would like to sever links with the crown.
The queen was to be carried in style aboard the steam train Union of South Africa. Today was a day all about making journeys, one long, extraordinary so, touching seven decades, the four corners of the globe and the affections of many million people, the other short, 31 miles from Edinburgh down to the borders.
The queen’s thoughts may have been on a rather more somber journey many years ago. In February 1952, she flew back to London from Kenya after the sudden death of her father, King George VI. She had left a princess and returned a queen at just 25 years old.
As the Union of South Africa headed south, a tide of tributes was gaining momentum, led by the prime minister.
DAVID CAMERON, Prime Minister, United Kingdom: And it is, of course, typical of her selfless sense of service that she would have us treat this day just like any other.
TIM EWART: The queen’s first stop was Newtongrange station. It was a chance to meet some of the thousands of well-wishers who had turned out to share her big day.
The queen was always uncomfortable about celebrations she regards as inextricably linked to the death of her great-great grandmother, but such was the level of public and media interest in today’s milestone in her reign that she was in the end forced to respond to it.
Nicola Sturgeon, passionate advocate of Scottish independence, was now cheerleader for the British monarch.
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