(London) Elizabeth II gave a reception on Saturday at her residence in Sandringham, before celebrating her 70 years of reign in privacy on Sunday, one of the rare appearances of the queen since her brief hospitalization in October.
Updated yesterday at 8:12 p.m.
“Her Majesty The Queen hosted a reception for members of the local community and volunteer groups at Sandringham House on the eve of her accession day, 70and anniversary of Her Majesty’s reign,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
“On February 6, the Queen will become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee,” he added.
In the photos, smiling in a light blue dress adorned with a pearl necklace and a cane in hand, the Queen cut a cake prepared for the occasion by a local resident, bearing the Platinum Jubilee emblem.
Among the guests was the former cook Angela Wood, who had helped to create the “coronation chicken” or “Chicken Queen Elizabeth”, now a classic of British gastronomy, cold chicken coated in a creamy curry sauce which served at the coronation banquet of Elizabeth II in 1953.
The state of health of the sovereign worries since she was put to rest by her doctors in October and spent a night in the hospital for “preliminary” examinations, the nature of which has never been specified. It has since considerably reduced its activities.
On Sunday, she celebrates without fanfare the historic milestone of 70 years of reign, unequaled for a British monarch, at Sandringham where she is traditionally for this anniversary day.
No official ceremony is planned for this February 6 which, in addition to her accession to the throne at the age of 25 in 1952, is also the date of the death of her father King George VI, to whom she was very attached, from lung cancer. .
Camilla will be queen consort
Queen Elizabeth II also decided: she let it be known on Saturday that she wanted Camilla, second wife of Prince Charles, to be known as queen consort when he accedes to the throne, ending a long sensitive debate among the British.
In a message written on the occasion of her 70-year reign on Sunday, Queen Elizabeth, 95, expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla, long unloved by the British, “be known as Queen consort” when the Prince Charles, heir to the Crown, will become king upon his death.
“And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know that you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me,” adds the queen.
The term “consort” applies to the husband or wife of a reigning monarch. Theoretically, therefore, Camilla was to become queen.
But her future title had been the subject of long debate and strong controversy when she married Prince Charles in 2005, with some advisers saying she had no intention of being queen, preferring to be known as ” princess” consort – a first in the history of the British monarchy.
The couple had married civilly, seven years after the death of Princess Diana. At the time, the queen did not come to the wedding, to which she had hardly consented, however organizing a reception for the newlyweds.