Milestone for the Queen as she enters her 70th year on the throne
The Queen is set to enter the milestone 70th year of her reign, as she prepares to mark the anniversary of her accession away from Sandringham for the first time in more than 30 years.
Elizabeth – the nation's longest reigning monarch – will todayreach 69 years on the throne, meaning she is just one year away from her Platinum Jubilee.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced a break in the Queen's long-held personal tradition of reflecting on the sad anniversary of her father's death and the start of her reign at Sandringham House in Norfolk.
Instead, the monarch, 94, will be at Windsor Castle, where she and the 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh are spending lockdown, looked after by a reduced household of staff dubbed HMS Bubble.
It was at Sandringham that King George VI died peacefully in his sleep early on the morning of February 6, 1952, after suffering from lung cancer.
Princess Elizabeth, then just 25, was away in Kenya on a Commonwealth tour, and returned home as monarch.
The Queen is last believed to have been away from Sandringham for her accession anniversary 31 years ago in 1990 while on an official visit to New Zealand.
Lengthy Commonwealth tours in the 1950s and the 1960s also occasionally meant the Queen was out of the country during February.
The Queen was in Australia when she reached two years on the throne, carrying out an epic six-month Commonwealth tour from November 1953 to May 1954.
In the Silver Jubilee year of 1977, the Queen and the royal family gathered at the Royal Chapel in Windsor Great Park for a service to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her accession.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: “She likes to spend the day quietly in reflection on the passing of her father so it's certainly not a day to celebrate, which is why the big Jubilee milestones take place in the summer, partly because of the weather, but also because it would not be appropriate.”
Mr Little suggested: "Given the passage of time and that this is now 69 years since her father died, the poignancy must have dissipated a bit.
"It's less of a tug on the heartstrings than it would have been in the early years of her reign.
"But clearly, it is a very important day for her and it always will be. "
Buckingham Palace has not commented on the Queen’s plans.
The Queen has been a figure of continuity as her country has changed through the 20th century, the Millennium and into the 21st century amid new technological and social advances and a succession of British governments.
She reached her Silver Jubilee in 1977, Golden in 2002 and Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and overtook Queen Victoria as the nation's longest reigning sovereign in 2015.
The public has looked to the Queen in times of tragedy – the September 11 terror attacks, the London bombings, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and more recently during the coronavirus crisis.