Prince William pays personal tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Prince William, right, is inspected by his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II as he takes part in the Sovereigns Parade at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on Dec. 15, 2006, in Sandhurst, England.

/ Getty

(CBS News) Prince William shared a personal tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, just days before the central celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee.

The Duke of Cambridge, 29, posted a picture of himself and his grandmother on the Historypin website and wrote a message to go with it.

Complete Coverage: The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

The photo is from Dec. 15, 2006, during the Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst Military Academy in Sandhurst, England. As the queen passed William (then 24) in a lineup of the academy's graduates, both are seen smiling.

"I felt especially proud to receive my commission as an officer in front of my grandmother, The Queen," the prince wrote in a post accompanying the photo. "She has been an incredible role model to me over the years, so it was very special to have her present for my graduation. I know it was also a memorable moment for my fellow officers to take part in the Parade in front of The Queen as Head of the Armed Forces."

William continued, "I remember The Queen's words as she addressed us from the tremendous parade ground at Sandhurst: 'You must be courageous yet selfless, leaders yet carers, confident yet considerate.' These qualities of selflessness and duty are values that The Queen has continuously demonstrated over the last 60 years and are qualities that remain very important to me."

Next weekend, four days of festivities are planned to mark the queen's Diamond Jubilee. Among the events planned for June 2-5 are a parade of boats down the River Thames and a concert at Buckingham Palace followed by fireworks.

[Nellie_Athome]

To netjunkie1 - I assume you are totally unaware of these actual *facts* in your erroneous ascertain that the Falklands were ever Argentina's to lose.

The people of the Falklands have been primarily British since 1833. The residents have voted overwhelmingly to remain a British Territory and have been British citizens since the 1983. The current governor of the Falklands, Nigel Haywood said on March 29, 2012 that "Argentina wants to take over a territory skipping the wishes of the local population, and then they feel surprised because PM David Cameron claims they are 'colonialists'. What is to be a colonialist if not annexing another territory against the wishes and self determination of its people?"

The islands were claimed by the French, Spanish and British. The Argentines were there AFTER the British and then only for a brief period in 1832 during which they tried to establish a penal colony. The British returned in 1833 and the Falklands have been British ever since.

Argentina is only interested because of oil and fishing, they refuse to consider that the people who actually live on the Falklands should have the right of self-determination and decide whether they wish to be British or Argentine.

[netjunkie1]

by Scullymf May 28, 2012 7:12 PM EDT
netjunkie1 - I believe that the citizents of the Falkland Islands prefer to remain under British protection. It is up to them to chose the destiny of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). Argentia just wants to exploit the natural resources so stop acting like the poor residents and crying out to join Argentina.
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The so called citizens moved in after the citizens of the island were forced out.
Argentina has always claimed the islands and whatever resourses there.
It is Britan with the history of violence and unfair play, not Argentina.
Threatening nuclear attack only invites a retribution.
Get those people off and return the islands Argentina.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Wow...'The so called citizens moved in after the citizens of the island were forced out.' Isn't that how Argentina came into existence in the first place...not to mention just about every nation on the face of this planet...?

[fedup12]

Kings and queens and princes... I dont understand the role they play in the UK but seem to be born into a life of leisure and a drain on the countries resources.

[yada_yada1]

According to a Marketwatch article on 5.28.2012 "Royal family earns hefty valuation" - the monarchy ADDS $1 billion pounds a year to Britain's economy in the areas of tourism, product sales, public relations, etc. "The study pegged the overall value of the monarchy at a whopping 44.5 billion pounds ($69.8 billion), not quite Facebook's 55 billion pounds, but close."

[ffoulkes-2009]

I don't think the Queen or other members of the Royal family draw income from the government unless they have an actual job within the government. These days, their income comes from the royal estate that is invaluable. It would take a lot of screwing up to lose that fortune, thus they don't NEED to be supported by England.

[mari1963]

William has been brainwashed. This whole family treated his mother horribly. His father is a cheating pig, Camilla is an ugly cow, the Queen and her husband never loved Diana, and there is rumors Phillip plotted to have her killed. William should become King and throw all of them in a dungeon. They all deserve each other - losers!

[anneable]

For goodness sake! Diana had loads of problems. She was persoanlity disordered to the hilt. Had she not died (and it was HER fault, no one else's) she would have continued to cause even more trouble within the family. Both Prince William and Harry would not be the men they are today without Charles. They would have been twisted and pulled into Diana's negative world, against their father. Prince Charles loves them and has been a fabulous father. Diana would never have allowed the boys to have a normal relationship with him. She would have constantly been grinding an axe and using the boys as leverage.

Diana had numerous affairs while still married to Charles. There are things about her that American's simply don't know. The British public lived through her craziness and they know all about her.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Diana was very similar to many of our celebrities here in the USA. They became rich and famous and then blew their lives away to the point of burning them out far too soon. Here in the USA, it is mainly 'child stars' gone big that do this, in England, occasionally a 'royal' will. Looks like we have even more in common than you thought.

[ugacrew]

I am so glad that my father always taught me not to "worship" people. When others my age were worshipping movie stars. My father said that the Pope, in all his glory, does not have the power to add a single minute to his life span or to cure himself from whatever ails him. He taught that I should only worship God because it is he that the power to shake the heavens and the earth, to give life and to take it away.

I am so grateful for his teachings, and so much better off because of them.

[AnnieDanny]

The Bible also teaches us to have respect for authority. Sounds as if you're reluctant to do that.

[yada_yada1]

Poor dad. It sounds as though his vocabulary was so limited that he didn't know the difference between "appreciating" a person's skill, wisdom, character, etc. and "worshipping" them.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
this is a great photo, but especially a delicate attention on the part of William for her majesty Elizabeth II,
my best wishes to her majesty.
"au revoir"

[ffoulkes-2009]

Hey!! Last time I was posting on here, you would only post in French. Glad to finally be able to comprehend what you are trying to get across. Welcome to the discussions!

[gjc1n1]

Queen Elizabeth is terrific. She is a shining example of a modern day monarch. Long live the Queen.

[Molly-Pchr]

God save the Queen! Yes, what a role model. Got that from her dad no doubt.

[netjunkie1]

I'm not a supporter of royals and don't believe any should be given such pomp as they do in this century.
I hold no ill will to Britain, other than to advise them to release the Malvinas to their rightful sovereign owners, Argentina..
It will go bad for them if in the future should Argentina act to take back what England has stolen.
Now I'm sure many will say the last war settled the issue, but in fact it only exposed their Achilles heel and Argentina never agreed to let the islands go. The US betrayed Argentina, France sold them useless missles, and today Argentina (which was destitute because of America), has established a new powerful ally...China.
See where this is going?

[tmonta67]

Where is this going? I don't know...let me catch up with you on the weed smoking and then we'll reorganize the globe, shall we??

[MagnaCartaUK]

Go bad for us? LOL, And who's going to do that .... you? Go on, pull the lion's tail, be our guests and try it - you fought like women last time, and the local dogs of Port Stanly still pee on graves of your dead. Do bare in mind no mercy will be shown next time, and your homeland, including Buenos Aires, will be targeted by nuclear sub. Meanwhile, we'll be moving all that lovely oil back to Old Albion. Incidentally, time you gave the native inhabitants their land back you thieving scum.