Happy Diamond Jubilee, H. M. Queen Elizabeth II

Cecil Beaton’s coronation portrait of H. M. Queen Elizabeth II – now all the jewels, the crown, orb, and sceptre are all on view at the Tower of London this summer.

It is sixty years today since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, England. She was proclaimed the Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, and Pakistan as well as being named the Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith. Today she is still the Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith, but while she is no longer queen of South Africa, Ceylon or Pakistan, she is now also Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. H. M. is the second monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee.