Queen Elizabeth II on
Wednesday became the UK's longest-reigning monarch, beating
Queen Victoria who served for 63 years and seven months.
The 89-year-old queen will overtake Victoria at around
tea-time when she too will have reigned for 63 years and seven
months - calculated at 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately
30 minutes.
But the exact moment the Queen becomes the longest-reigning
sovereign is not known because her father, George VI, died in
the early hours of 6 February 1952.
Prime Minister David Cameron said millions of Britons would
celebrate the historic moment.
"Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of
stability in a world of constant change and her selfless sense
of service and duty has earned admiration not only in Britain,
but right across the globe," Cameron said.
The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, planned one
public event, although it is not directly connected to the
milestone.
They are inaugurating a new train route along the Scottish
borders.
British legislators planned to mark the milestone in
Parliament and newspapers were filled with special souvenir
tributes to the queen.
Buckingham Palace marked the event by releasing an official
photograph of the queen taken by Mary McCartney, the
photographer daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney.
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