Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – Coronation Day 2015

Queen Elizabeth II visits a new maternity ward at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

Queen Elizabeth marks 62 years since her coronation on 2nd June at Westminster Abbey with gun salutes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The UK’s second-longest serving monarch was crowned on 2 June 1953, when she was 27, more than one year after her father King George VI died in his sleep on 2 February 1952.

Military saluting stations across London, at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, Cardiff and Hillsborough Castle in County Down, Northern Ireland have fired ceremonial volleys to announce the anniversary.

In London, soldiers from The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery took up positions in Hyde Park, where 71 horses pulled six First World War 13-pound field guns for a 41-gun Royal Salute at midday.

At the Tower of London, The Honourable Artillery Company fired a 62-round Royal Salute from Gun Wharf − with an extra 21 volleys for the City of London.

A 21-gun salute was also fired outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.

It is the final anniversary before Elizabeth succeeds Queen Victoria as the country’s longest serving monarch. It is thought Queen Victoria reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes before her death on 22 January 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Elizabeth will reach and overtake the milestone on 3 September.

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