Britain Celebrates Royal 60th Anniversary
The 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip is also an occasion to be thankful for her long and devoted service to the nation and Commonwealth, the archbishop of Canterbury said Monday.
"The actual anniversary is tomorrow, but the service - it's been called a service of thanksgiving - is being held today," reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. "And aside from the fact that everybody here is 60 years older, this is almost as grand an affair as the original."
Archbishop Rowan Williams, speaking to the royal couple and 2,000 guests at a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, said the diamond anniversary was a milestone in her commitment to her role.
The queen, then Princess Elizabeth, married dashing - "he's always called dashing," says Phillips - Philip Mountbatten at the abbey on Nov. 20, 1947.Photos: The Diamond Anniversary Service
"She fell immediately in love with him. She's never wavered, one way or another, every since," said social columnist Victoria Mather. "It is also an extraordinary partnership."
It wasn't just the glittering wedding of a future queen and a handsome naval officer with some obscure European royal blood. In the drab post-war years when even basic food stuffs were still being rationed in Britain, it was a terrific excuse for a party in a country that badly needed one. And what could be more of a diversion from austerity than a ceremony dripping in the four G's - glitz, glamour, gems and gold, the spectacular wealth of the royals on display.
Elizabeth was not born into the royal succession. It wasn't until her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 to marry "the woman I love," an American divorceé, that her father became the monarch and she next in line.
She became queen in 1952, following the death of her father, George VI.
That continuity, more than 50 years as head of state, is her legacy, says CBS News consultant Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana's former private secretary.
"She always has her own way and that's what people expect from her. It's her great strength," Jephson told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
"Every marriage is a public event, but some couples have to live more than others in the full light of publicity," Williams said. "We are probably more aware than ever these days of the pressures this brings.
"But it also means that we can give special thanks for the very public character of the witness and the sign offered to us by this marriage, and what it has meant to nation and Commonwealth over the decades.
"And part of what it has meant has had to do precisely with the sense of unqualified commitment that has been so characteristic of every aspect of this reign: the faithful and creative personal partnership at the center of everything else has been a sign of creative faithfulness to a task, a vocation, the creative faithfulness that secures the trust, love and prayerful support of millions," Williams said.
Not just anybody can book the Abbey for a wedding, as Elizabeth and Philip did in 1947, reports Phillips. According to Buckingham Palace, the Queen was the 10th member of the royal family to be married here, going back to 1100. And there have been other royal ceremonies here, including the Queen's coronation and of course sadder occasions, such as Princess Diana's funeral, certainly a low point of these past 60 years.
Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Prince William and Prince Harry were among those attending the service.
Dame Judi Dench read a poem, "Diamond Anniversary," composed by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion for the occasion.
Some 500 members of Royal Household staff past and present were also among the guests, along with representatives from the former Royal Yacht Britannia, the Royal Train and the Royal Squadron.
Five men who were boy choristers at the 1947 wedding service carried candles in the procession.
"You tagged onto ...?" asked Phillips.
"Oh, no, she tagged on to us," laughed Gordon Bailey.