60 Years On British Throne For Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years as Britain's reigning monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II is Britain's longest-serving monarch since Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901. This engraving shows Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.

Members of the British royal family pose around Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace on their wedding day, November 20, 1947.

Elizabeth receives the Sword of State from the Archbishop of Canterbury prior to her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II poses on her coronation day, June 2, 1953, nearly 1 1/2 years after she became queen regnant upon the death of her father, George VI, on February 6, 1952. Hers was the first coronation to be televised.

The queen, Prince Philip, and three of their children (Anne, Andrew, and Charles (left-to-right; their fourth child, Prince Edward, was born four years later) at Balmoral Castle in 1960.

The queen with two of her sons, Princes Andrew (left) and Edward, read a book at Buckingham Palace during the recording of the queen's Christmas message to the Commonwealth in 1971.

The queen poses with Prince Charles and his fiancee, Lady Diana, at Buckingham Palace in March 1981. The heir apparent's adultery scandal and divorce in 1996 sent shock waves throughout the royal establishment and British society.

The queen and Charles watch horseraces at Epsom following what she famously described as an "annus horribilis," 1992, which saw her two oldest sons separate from their wives, daughter Anne divorce, and a fire destroy part of Windsor Castle.

The queen (left) and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrive for a dinner to celebrate the latter's 70th birthday in London in 1995.

Queen Elizabeth II is greeted by well-wishers on a visit to the newly reconstructed Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London in 2001.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend a service to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary, in Westminster Abbey in London, in November 2007.

Queen Elizabeth II unveils a portrait bust by sculptor Oscar Nemon at the House of Lords in London in October 2009.

The queen's eldest son and heir apparent, Prince Charles, kisses his mother's hand at a Royal Horticultural Society event in 2009.

Queen Elizabeth II places a wreath at Ground Zero in New York, the scene of two of the Al-Qaeda attacks that killed thousands of Americans and other nationals on September 11, 2001.

Mounted police officers patrol outside Buckingham Palace in London.

The queen leaves Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn carriage to attend the State Opening of Parliament in May 2010.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, walk through the Royal Gallery in the Palace of Westminster during the State Opening of Parliament in London in May 2010.

Elizabeth and Philip (front row, center) pose for an official photograph with the Grenadier Guards after presenting the regiment with their new colors in 2010.

The queen meets with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, in September 2010.

The queen arrives at the Irish president's residence during her historic visit in May 2011, the first by a British head of state to the Republic of Ireland, which gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922.

Queen Elizabeth II receives flowers after the Sunday Service at West Newton Church in West Newton on February 5, 2012, the eve of her Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary).