Queen & Prince Philip mark 70th anniversary
3 quit race to host agencies
LONDON, Nov 20, (Agencies): Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated 70 years of marriage on Monday, becoming Britain’s first reigning couple to mark a platinum wedding anniversary.
The decades-spanning marriage of the Queen -- the nation’s longest serving sovereign -- has outlasted those of all prior British monarchs.
The royal couple didn’t hold any public events but have invited family and friends to Windsor Castle for a private dinner on Monday evening, according to media reports.
Earlier in the day the bells of Westminster Abbey, where Elizabeth married the Duke of Edinburgh on November 20, 1947, rang out in full celebratory peal. Also in honour of the occasion, Buckingham Palace on Saturday issued new photographic portraits of the Queen and the Prince, taken earlier this month in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle.
They are framed by Thomas Gainsborough’s 1781 portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte, whose 57-year union -- bridging the 18th and 19th centuries -- is the next longest British royal marriage.
In one of the photographs released, the Queen poses in the same cream dress she wore at her diamond wedding anniversary thanksgiving service 10 years ago, along with a yellow gold, ruby and diamond brooch Philip gave her in 1966.
Meanwhile the Royal Mail, Britain’s postal service, has issued a new set of six stamps to commemorate the historic landmark.
It includes images of the pair’s engagement announcement at Buckingham Palace, their wedding amid the splendour of Westminster Abbey, and the first part of their honeymoon at a country estate in the county of Hampshire.
The fairy-tale royal wedding in 1947 was a morale boost during the tough years immediately after World War II. Their marriage endured, as Philip accepted living in his wife’s shadow, and the Queen seemingly forgiving his periodic gaffes.
They had four children -- Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward -- though their marriages have been less successful, with all except Edward having divorced.
The couple also boast eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with a sixth great-grandchild expected in April, when Prince William and wife Kate Middleton’s third child is due.
Queen Elizabeth
3 states quit race:
Three European Union cities have pulled out of the race to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA) ahead of a secret ballot later on Monday to choose its new home as Britain prepares to leave the bloc.
Hosting the EMA and the smaller European Banking Authority (EBA), both currently based in London, will mean jobs, business euros and prestige, so competition has been tough, though there have also been signs of regional solidarity in the contest.
Malta withdrew from the race to host the EMA on Friday and Croatia dropped out on Monday. Sources in Brussels said Ireland had also now pulled out, leaving 16 EU cities competing to host the EMA.
However, Dublin is still among eight cities competing to host the EBA.
The two winners - whichever country wins the EMA will drop out of the running for the EBA - will be picked on Monday in a series of votes so complex that it is hard to predict the result.
Estonia’s EU minister Matti Maasikas, who will chair the voting session, called the contest “a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit”. Britain will leave the EU in March 2019.
Italian EU Minister Sandro Gozi said Milan was a good candidate for the EMA but added that it was “impossible to say” how the voting would go.
Italy is counting on support from its southern EU peers. In another sign of regional solidarity, Belgium’s foreign minister said Amsterdam would make a good pick, even though Brussels is itself in the running for both agencies.
The Czech Republic’s EU minister, Ales Chmelar, said Prague, a candidate to host the EBA, expected at least one of the two bodies to relocate to less-developped, ex-communist eastern Europe, where the Slovak capital Bratislava is also a strong contender for the EMA.