Queen Elizabeth II’s reign will be celebrated at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday as part of a four-day bank holiday to mark the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee.
A Service of Thanksgiving will be held at 11.30am and is expected to be the largest gathering of the Royal Family since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding four years ago.
The Great Paul, the largest church bell in the country, will be rung for the Service — marking the first time it has been rung for a royal occasion since the Seventies.
Elizabeth is the longest-serving British monarch, having ascended the throne in 1952 at the age of just 25.
For the majority of her reign, she had her husband and loyal consort, Prince Philip, by her side, the pair having first met during her family’s visit to Dartmouth Naval College in 1939 when the then-Prince of Greece was the cadet assigned to look after Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret.
According to a royal documentary, Elizabeth and Philip’s romance began soon after their first encounter, and the future Queen was reportedly “impressed” by the young cadet’s risky gesture at the end of the royal visit.
As King George VI, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret left the harbour on a royal yacht, they were chased by the group of cadets, which included Philip.
But the future Duke of Edinburgh wanted to make a lasting impression on Elizabeth, so rowed out further than the other cadets.
Lady Myra Butter, Philip’s cousin, told the 2018 Channel 5 documentary, ‘Elizabeth: Our Queen’: “When they [the Royal Family] left, he [Philip] got in a little boat and rowed out to sort of wave goodbye, which was quite a prank.
“And, I should imagine, rather frowned upon by the authorities, but that, I think, would have impressed her. “She would have thought it was enormous fun. And I think she must have seen something then, actually.”