Britian Queen Elizabeth turns 80
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-04-21 07:25
LONDON - Queen Elizabeth, her fortunes revived after a turbulent decade
for the royal family, turned 80 on Friday with her eyes perhaps set on becoming
Britain's longest-reigning monarch.
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| Queen Elizabeth
arrives at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) building in central
London April 20, 2006.[Reuters] |
| With a
decade to go before she would rival Queen Victoria's 64 years on the throne,
this working grandmother shows no signs of slowing down and seems to have genes
on her side -- her mother died at 101.
Crowned nearly 53 years ago, she firmly rules out abdication and opinion
polls suggest republicans face a losing battle calling for the abolition of the
monarchy while she is still alive.
In an ITV News survey, she was rated the most popular royal. Bottom of the
pack came Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who last year married the queen's eldest
son Charles after a tortuous 35-year romance.
At their wedding reception, the queen told her guests: "My son is home and
dry with the woman he loves."
Her subjects are less impressed, with more than half those polled feeling
Camilla should not become Queen when Charles finally accedes.
LOW-KEY BIRTHDAY
Britain's most famous octogenarian has opted for a strikingly low-key day of
celebrations to mark her personal milestone.
She will be spending the day at Windsor Castle, ravaged by fire in 1992, the
year she memorably called her "annus horribilis" after the marriages of three of
her four children broke up.
Stepping out of the castle, she will head off on a walkabout among her
subjects -- a tradition she first adopted in a tour of Australia and New Zealand
in 1970.
Then Charles is to host a private family dinner for his mother. The two are
much closer now that his tangled love life has finally been sorted out.
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