HM The Queen has vetoed plans to celebrate overtaking Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch ever in September. The Sunday Express reveals she is does not “want a fuss” as she fears it would be disrespectful to the memory of her great-great-grandmother.
Instead of a national celebration the Queen plans to spend the day at her Scottish retreat Balmoral, which itself was once owned by Queen Victoria. Her cousin and close confidante the Hon Margaret Rhodes told the Express: “The Queen is not that sort of person. She wouldn’t want a fuss.
“I’ve certainly not heard of anything happening and I don’t think there will be. She will be up in Scotland until the 8th or 9th of October and there is not much she can do from there so it seems very unlikely.”
But Andrew Roberts, author of The House of Windsor, felt there should be some sort of event to mark the milestone. He said: “We have always had at the top of society the largely unchanging, soothing presence of Elizabeth the Good, Elizabeth the Dutiful.
“The fact that she will have been doing this for us longer than any other monarch in our long national story ought to be marked by a proper national celebration.”
There has been a suggestion she might do a photo call on the day, or that a bigger celebration might be organised to coincide with her 90th birthday in April 2016. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that although it will be “treated as a normal day” they would consider holding an event if there was a “national clamour for something more significant”.
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