Prince George will be 'up front and heavily involved' in jubilee celebrations, expert says
Beside a stream in the foothills of Mount Kenya on 6 February, 1952, a nervous Duke of Edinburgh shared a piece of devastating news with his 25-year-old wife – her father had died.The royal couple had been staying in the East African country for one week when George VI passed away in his sleep, aged 56, following a lung operation.The following day, dressed in black, his daughter stepped down from her plane on to the tarmac at London Airport (now Heathrow) as Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the Realm, Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith. She shook hands with ministers, including Prime Minister Winston Churchill, thanked her pilot for a safe and steady flight and promptly began the most historically significant reign in British history.