CROWN JEWEL
60 years on throne for Elizabeth
WHEN QUEEN Elizabeth ascended to the throne, the Beatles were still grammar school kids — and current British Prime Minister David Cameron wasn’t yet born.
Man would not reach the moon for another 17 years, and Starbucks wouldn’t pour its first cup of coffee until two years after that. There was no Internet, no iPhone, no cable television.
Six decades later, the Queen grandmother marks her Diamond Jubilee with a four-day celebration that runs through Tuesday — and includes a Monday concert featuring now 69-year-old Paul McCartney.
That’s Sir Paul; the Queen knighted the cute Beatle in 1997.
Elizabeth is the second-longest reigning monarch in British history, trailing only the 1837-1901 rule of Queen Victoria.
A dozen prime ministers have come and gone during her six decades on the throne, from bulldog Winston Churchill to incumbent Cameron.
“For 60 years, the queen has been a point of light in our national life; brilliant, enduring and resilient,” Cameron wrote in a tribute appearing in Parliament’s The House magazine. “Through a reign of unparalleled change — from postwar Britain through to the jet age, space age and digital age — she has remained resolutely unchanged in her commitment to this country.”
The now- 86-year-old took the throne after the death of her father, King George IV, when her nation was still under food rationing as England struggled in the years after World War II.
The 40th monarch in a line dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066 is now the only ruler that the majority of British residents has ever known.
She remains a smiling and upbeat presence into her 80s, matriarch to both the royal family and a nation.
The celebration began Saturday when the queen turned up in the Royal Box at Epsom for the Derby, where 130,000 fans turned out to applaud their monarch and place a few wagers.
The queen remains a popular figure to her subjects, with a recent poll indicating 86% of Britons thought she did a good job over the past 60 years.
But there were rough patches, too — particularly after the death of Princess Diana, when her detached response prompted outcries that Elizabeth was an ice queen.
“Show Us You Care,” howled one front page headline.