Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee: Everything to Know About the Celebration of Her 70-Year Reign

usmagazine.com:

A royal affair! Queen Elizabeth II is set to hit a very important milestone in 2022 — and the palace is celebrating the occasion all year long.The monarch will mark 70 years on the throne on February 6, making her the first British ruler to ever celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. (She is already the commonwealth’s longest-reigning monarch, surpassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria in 2015.)Buckingham Palace announced the initial plans for the celebration on January 10, kicking everything off with a nationwide baking competition to create a Jubilee Pudding in honor of the occasion.

The festivities will culminate in a four-day weekend in the U.K. lasting from June 2 through June 5. “The bank holiday will provide an opportunity for communities and people throughout the United Kingdom to come together to celebrate the historic milestone,” the palace said in a statement at the time.The queen is no stranger to setting unprecedented records, becoming the first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee — which occurs after 65 years on the throne — in 2017.

Elizabeth rose to power in February 1952 after her father, King George VI, died at age 56. She was coronated in June 1953.Since taking the throne, the queen has been served by 14 British prime ministers including Winston Churchill (her first), Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

She is also the longest-serving female head of state in the history of any country.Though the upcoming event is supposed to be a joyous occasion, it will also mark the queen’s first jubilee without her husband, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021 at age 99.