News Digest

Reign supreme: Queen Elizabeth II becomes U.K.’s longest-serving monarch

She has lived longer than any of her predecessors, has seen a dozen prime ministers come and go and has presided over six decades of British history — from post-World War II recovery to the death of Princess Diana and terrorist attacks on London. Now Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. On Wednesday, she beats the record — 63 years and 7 months — set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria more than a century ago. Only four other British kings and queens have reigned for 50 years or more.

You have to be a certain age to remember a time when she wasn’t the queen. The British by and large really rather love her and certainly respect her enormously. She has given this country an extraordinarily subtle and quiet stability.

Royal historian and commentator Hugo Vickers.

The only monarch most living Britons have ever known, Elizabeth has been the constant heart of British life since she came to the throne as a young woman of 25. While Elizabeth is instantly recognizable, her personality and views remain an enigma to most. To celebrate, Westminster Abbey’s bells will peal, a flotilla will sail down the River Thames, and a gun salute will ring out. The queen herself is set to inaugurate a railway line in Scotland and host a private dinner at Balmoral Castle. However, there will be no big fanfare for the record-breaking queen. Palace officials say that she would like to keep the occasion a low-key affair and that the day will be “business as usual.”

You know, she is the most invisible visible public woman in the world.

Stephen Daldry, director of the royal-themed play “The Audience”