Queen Elizabeth’s 65th Saphaire Jubliee
To mark, Queen Elizabeth’s 65 years, to the throne, a photograph of her wearing a suite of sapphire jewellery given to her by her father King George VI as a wedding gift in 1947 has been issued. The newly released portrait taken by David Bailey in 2014, for the Government’s “Great” campaign, which aims to promote the UK abroad. Sapphire is the 65th-anniversary gemstone and the King’s gift to his eldest daughter, then Princess Elizabeth, wearing a glittering necklace, dating from 1850 and made of 16 large oblong sapphires surrounded by diamonds with a pair of matching sapphire and diamond drop earrings.
The 90-year-old monarch said she thanked veteran Royal fan Mary Relph, who had handed her two red roses outside St Peter and St Paul church in West Newton on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Queen, as usual, spends her Accession Day quietly at Sandringham House.
On February 6, the anniversary of the day she became Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 65 years. Royal gun salutes will be staged in London on Ascension Day, as is the tradition, with a 41-gun salute by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery in Green Park at noon. The Band of the Royal Artillery will play a selection of celebratory music close to the firing position and 89 horses will pull six First World War –era 13-pound field guns into position in the park. A 62- gun salute by the Honourable Artillery Company will be fired at the Tower of London at 1pm. The Royal Mint is to mark the 65th anniversary with a range of specially designed Sapphire Jubilee commemorative coins, and the Royal Mail issues a Sapphire Blue £5 stamp.