65 years on the throne ... but one will not be making a fuss
Donald and Melania.
The Queen lost beloved corgi Holly last year. The pair took part in this James Bond spoof for the 2012 Olympics. thought of abdicating like her European counterparts and aims to plough on to the end, though she did admit to her cousin Margaret Rhodes that “it would be different if I had a stroke or Alzheimer’s”.
Mrs Rhodes was a life- long friend as well as a relation. Her death before Christmas and that of another of her bridesmaids, Lady E l izabe th Longman, was a tremendous b l ow to the Queen.
Two of the eight bridesmaids are still alive and will hopefully j oin t h e Qu e e n and Duke to celebrate their 70th , Platinum, Wedding Anniversary in November.
There was another passing last year. One of her favourite corgis Holly, who starred in the James Bond spoof video at the London Olympic Games in 2012, died while the Queen was at Balmoral and she had her buried in the grounds.
That only leaves her with one corgi – Willow – and two corgidachshund cross breeds: Vulcan and Candy. She has now stopped breeding them and will let the line die out naturally.
Early this week she will return to London. Her first royal engagement will be to open the National Cyber Security Centre, at Victoria in London.
In March she unveils the Iraq Afghanistan Memorial honouring those who gave their lives.
She and the Duke are not expected to make an outgoing state visit this year, but of course there is an interesting inwardbound one, said to be in June. President Trump and his wife Melania are to visit.
It’s controversial, but the Queen will remain charmingly inscrutable as she shakes his hand. She is of course used to dealing with some extreme characters, having hosted visits by Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania and his wife Elena.
Trump allegedly wants to play golf at Balmoral, but that’s very unlikely to happen. President Eisenhower made a courtesy call on the Queen at her Deeside residence in August 1959, but state visits in Scotland would be hosted at the Palace of Holyrood.
There is, of course, a golf course at Windsor Castle, so maybe he’ll have to make do with firing off a few shots next to the Thames rather than the Dee.
The Queen will spend much of her special day with Prince Philip.