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Feature: Royal Household plans nothing when it comes to...

Xinhua, September 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

It will be business as usual for Queen Elizabeth next Wednesday, with a full diary of events in Scotland, on what will be one of the most significant days in British Royal history.

Even though the Royal Household has got nothing planned, that day will become historic for the British monarchy when Queen Elizabeth becomes the longest serving monarch, overtaking the reign of her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria, who ruled for 63 years and seven months from 1837.

This week the Royal Mint, producers of Britain's money, unveiled of a new five-pound coin to mark the landmark date.

But officially nothing is planned, or has even requested by Queen Elizabeth to commemorate her record breaking reign at the throne.

A spokesman at Buckingham Palace told Xinhua Thursday: "The Queen is at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her traditional residence at this time of the year. On Wednesday her Majesty will have a full diary, including the opening of a new railway line in Edinburgh. There will be no formal acknowledgments from the Royal Household and as far as the Queen is concerned it will be business as usual, with a normal working day.

"If others wish to commemorate this landmark it is a matter for them. Indeed the Royal Mint has produced a special coin, and as it is a legal coin it required the approval of the Queen, which she was happy to give."

Various experts have spent months calculating the precise moment when the Queen's reign passes the reign of Queen Victoria, who died in 1901.

The Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle was tasked with working out the correct answer, producing a lengthy document to determine the moment the Queen becomes the longest serving British monarch. It involved carefully calculating time factors, including leap years.

According to the Royal Librarian's calculation, Sept. 9 is now considered as the definite answer.

It was in 1952 that the then 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth became Queen on the death of her father, King George VI.

Some commentators are suggesting the Queen, as she heads to her nineties, should take a well earned rest by quitting the thrown. Royal observers said as well as the Queen never agreeing to such a suggestion, there is no capacity for an abdication once the Queen took a solemn oath to reign for life at her coronation in 1953. Endit