The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II has Began

Queen Isabel II and her Husband, Prince Phillip

The United Kingdom gave opening this Saturday to four days full of celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary of accession to the throne of Elizabeth II, who officially opened the event by assisting in Epsom to the horse races.

Wearing a royal blue coat with matching hat, the 86 year-old queen, arrived early afternoon in a Rolls Royce to the racetrack in the south of London, with her husband, Prince Philip, who was carrying an umbrella to meet any eventuality of the rain-threatened morning.

The Queen was received under the strains of the national anthem, played by Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins. The forty-one gun salute by the King’s Mounted Artillery Royal Troop at the Horse Guards Parade in London was previously heard.

For the popular celebration it will have to wait until Sunday with the “Great Lunch” on the streets and parks around the country, which should bring together millions of people.

The occasion calls for it since Elizabeth II is only the second British monarch who has reached its Diamond Jubilee, after her great grandmother, Victoria in 1897. (MZ)