BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth II marked her Sapphire Jubilee yesterday as she became the first British monarch in history to have reigned for 65 years.

    To mark her latest milestone, a poignant photograph of her wearing a suite of sapphire jewelry given to her by her father King George VI as a wedding gift in 1947 has been issued.

    Sapphire is the 65th anniversary gemstone and the King’s gift to his eldest daughter, then Princess Elizabeth, featured a glittering necklace, dating from 1850 and made of 16 large oblong sapphires surrounded by diamonds, with a pair of matching sapphire and diamond drop earrings.

    The queen has added a sapphire and diamond tiara — made from a necklace that originally belonged to Princess Louise of Belgium — and a bracelet in 1963 to the collection to compliment the original sentimental pieces.

    She had the necklace shortened and the largest stone made into a pendant.

    The newly released portrait was taken by David Bailey in 2014, for the government’s “Great” campaign, which aims to promote the U.K. abroad.

    “She has very kind eyes with a mischievous glint,” he said at the time. “I’ve always liked strong women, and she is a very strong woman.”

    Despite the historic occasion, it was a sense of “business as usual” Sunday as the queen went to church and chatted with well-wishers.

    “Back to London this week,” the 90-year-old monarch said as she thanked veteran royal fan Mary Relph, who had handed her two red roses outside St. Peter and St. Paul church in West Newton on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

    The Queen always spends her Accession Day quietly at Sandringham House, and yesterday was no exception.

    On Sunday, the Queen, wearing a turquoise outfit and hat with black velvet trim, appeared to be as fit as ever as she attended the morning service and showed no signs of the heavy cold which afflicted her over Christmas.

    She and Prince Philip, 95, were driven to the church in her maroon Bentley and were greeted by a crowd of around 250 people. The couple walked up the gravel path to the church door, accompanied by Sandringham rector, the Reverend Jonathan Riverie, for the 45-minute service conducted by children from the village Sunday School.

    The queen presented annual prizes of bibles and books to children, as she does on her visit to the 14th-century church every year.

    Afterwards she stopped to accept around 20 bunches of flowers from children and adults in the crowd. Among them was Jessica Attfield, 2, of Gravesend, Kent, who was dressed in a Union Jack dress and cardigan.

    Her father David Beatte said: “We didn’t know whether the Queen was going to stop and take her flowers. It’s brilliant that she did.”

    As she handed bunches of flowers to her lady in waiting and watching police officers, the queen joked: “I don’t know how many hands we’ve got.”

    The queen also chatted with royal watcher Alan Mowton of Fosdyke, Lincolnshire, who wished her all the best for her Sapphire Jubilee.

    Mowton said: “She told me, ‘It’s such a lovely morning.’ She looked very well indeed and is back to her old self. It is a remarkable achievement being on the throne for 65 years. Her sense of duty and service to the country is just incredible. Long may she continue.”

    There were no grand festivities for the Sapphire Jubilee yesterday. But the Royal Mail issued a Sapphire Blue £5 (US$6.24) stamp to commemorate it, and the Royal Mint marks the occasion with a range of specially designed Sapphire Jubilee commemorative coins.

    Royal gun salutes were staged in London, as is the tradition on Accession Day.

    In 2015, when she thanked the nation for its kind messages after overtaking Queen Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, she admitted bluntly that the royal record was “not one to which I have ever aspired.”

    (SD-Agencies)