The Queen’s platinum jubilee is an unprecedented milestone in British history, with the nation geared up for the kind of mass celebrations that, in this country, are only ever witnessed at the end of world wars or to mark a key moment in a monarch’s reign.
Now 96, and clearly frail, Elizabeth II remains a highly popular monarch, admired for her work ethic and undramatic moral fibre. When compared to, say, the former King Juan Carlos of Spain, who remains ensconced in a scandal involving $100m of Saudi money, she is also the very model of political rectitude.
