Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her 70th year as monarch

Despite her retreat from public visibility, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to reign for 70 years on Sunday, marking the start of her Platinum Jubilee year.

The 95-year-old monarch, though, will celebrate the anniversary of her father's death in solitude this weekend, so there will be little fanfare.

The sovereign's record-breaking reign as head of state began when she was 25 and observing animals with her husband, Prince Philip, in a remote corner of Kenya. 

She has subsequently become a symbol of modern Britain and a living link to the country's post-war and imperial history in an era of tremendous social and political change. 

The Queen, who often ranks first in polls as the most popular royal, arrived at her enormous Sandringham estate in eastern England on January 23 via helicopter.

She had planned to spend Christmas and New Year with close family at Sandringham House, but the annual visit was postponed because to an increase of Omicron cases. 

In keeping with prior years, there will be no public engagements on Sunday. 

A military parade and a music concert, as well as street celebrations, a mass attendance picnic, and a "Platinum Pudding Competition," are all scheduled for early June.

To commemorate the historic occasion, commemorative coins have been produced. 

The queen is staying at Wood Farm in Sandringham, a five-bedroom home that her late husband preferred after he retired from public life in 2017. 

According to reports in the British press, Prince Philip spent his time there reading, painting, and strolling away from the liveried attendants and royal pageantry. 

The queen arrived at Sandringham by helicopter and was pictured in the back of a Range Rover while wearing a silk headscarf with birds printed on it. 

Her heart belongs to the 20,000-acre (8,100-hectare) estate near the north Norfolk coast.

It served as a retreat not just for Philip until he joined her in Covid seclusion at Windsor Castle in 2020, but also for her father, George VI, who died of lung cancer there at the age of 56. 

Her grandfather, King George V, who died there as well, and her great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, both lived there. 

The queen resumed public and official engagements after Philip's death in April last year, including entertaining world leaders at the G7 conference in Cornwall, southwest England.

However, after a public outcry during an overnight hospital stay in October, she has been obliged to slow down on physicians' advise. 

She has primarily remained at Windsor since then, making few public appearances. 

The most recent is from her yearly — and taped — Christmas address, in which she paid a rare personal tribute to her 73-year-old husband and his "mischievous questioning twinkle." 

In the history of the world, only three monarchs have reigned for more than 70 years.

From 1643 to 1715, France's Louis XIV reigned for 72 years and 110 days. From 1946 to 2016, Thailand's king Bhumibol Adulyadej reigned for 70 years and 126 days. 

From 1858 to 1929, Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein, governed for 70 years and 91 days. 

Sandringham could provide Elizabeth with some relief from the jubilee year's scandal surrounding her second and supposedly favourite son, Prince Andrew. 

As he fights a US civil case for sexual assault, she stripped him of his honorary military titles and charitable roles in mid-January.

The act effectively removes him from public life and is intended to protect the royal family from any unpleasant revelations or consequences. 

Andrew, 61, firmly rejects the charge, but his associations with convicted sex criminals Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have stained him.

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