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Queen Elizabeth II to become longest reigning British monarch

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning monarch in British history later on Wednesday, though it seems a normal day for the Queen.

The 89-year-old queen will overtake her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria's reign of 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes at 17:30 GMT on Wednesday, to become Britain's longest reigning monarch.

The queen attended the opening celebration of a 294 million pound (451 million U.S. dollars) Scottish Borders Railway in Edinburgh, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh on Wednesday morning. She then boarded the royal carriage departing for Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.

Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of stability in a world of constant change." He is going to lead tributes in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Historic vessels, including the Havengore, which carried Sir Winston Churchill's body at his funeral, leisure cruisers, and passenger boats, will take part in a procession on the River Thames between Tower Bridge and House of Parliament, sounding their horns to mark the longest reign of Elizabeth II at midday.

The Tower Bridge will lift as a sign of respect and as the procession passes by HMS Belfast, a four-gun salute will sound and Massey Shaw will shoot jets of water into the air. Endit