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The week before the Queen’s Coronation, 60 years ago, the Queen Mother sent a letter to her daughter, ‘Darling Angel’, she wrote ‘I don’t want to bother you when you are so busy but I must somehow borrow a row of diamonds for the Coronation’. The Queen’s reply must await her official biography! But photographs show her generosity – her mother wearing not one but three necklaces! Dazzling though they were, their luminosity was eclipsed by the jewels of her daughter’s crown.

Before putting it upon the Queen’s head the Archbishop prayed,
‘O God the Crown of the Faithful
Bless we beseech thee this crown
And so sanctify thy servant Elizabeth’

Herein lies the clue to understanding the Queen’s 60 year reign.

On the 2nd June 1953 as that blessed crown touched her head she was set apart - to serve. Through accidents of birth and history she found herself in King Edward’s Chair. And, although you’ll not find these words in the Coronation Service, this was her destiny, her calling, her vocation...

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