Queen Marks 60th Wedding Anniversary

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth has a new distinction. She's the first British monarch to celebrate 60 years of marriage.<br/><br/>She and Prince Philip tied the knot in 1947.<br/><br/>Their

Sunday, November 18th 2007, 3:56 pm

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth has a new distinction. She's the first British monarch to celebrate 60 years of marriage.

She and Prince Philip tied the knot in 1947.

Their diamond anniversary is Tuesday but the celebrations are already under way. Buckingham Palace has released official photographs of the couple taken earlier this year at the stately home in southern England where they spent their wedding night.

Their eldest son, Prince Charles, hosts a banquet in their honor Sunday evening.

On Monday, 2,000 selected guests including senior royals and Prime Minister Gordon Brown will attend a celebration service at Westminster Abbey. That's where Princess Elizabeth and Navy Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten were married on November 20th, 1947.

The guest list includes 20 ordinary Britons, who were also married that day.

Elizabeth became Britain's queen in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI.