On Monday, Queen Elizabeth officially becomes the first British monarch to reach 65 years on the throne. This is a momentous occasion and her Sapphire Jubilee will mark another remarkable milestone in Her Majesty’s reign.
To celebrate in small part this momentous occasion, we thought it could be fun to look back to one particular part of Her Majesty’s life as Queen. We chose 1961 specifically as it marked the year Her Majesty turned 35 – the same age as Kate is now. What were the styles like? What kind of engagements were being undertaken by the Royals? We were, of course, not surprised with the stunning selection of images that 1961 Queen Elizabeth offered us.
In 1961, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh completed four Royal Tours, visiting Pakistan, Ghana, Cyprus and India. As the press was not as omnipresent at every British engagement with photographs as they are today, many of the photos available are from those remarkable tours.
The Queen, above, is wearing a lilac shade of dress and coat. A paler lilac shade is also one that we have seen on Kate in the past, including her BAFTA dress from the Royal Tour North America in 2011.
The Queen was greeted in many impressive ways on her Royal Tours, but a bejewelled elephant in India was surely one to remember.
Kate and William are known animal lovers, so it was easy to see how on the Royal Tour of India, they also got to spend some time with elephants as well.
In Calcutta, the Queen visited a local race track in florals and a fascinator.
A similar floral headpiece also adorned the Duchess of Cambridge in Tuvalu in 2012.
British weather certainly has not changed over the years, has it? Here is Princess Margaret (center) and Queen Elizabeth (right) at the racetrack both looking chic as they stay dry.
Kate has also got the art of rainy day dressing down pat, often teaming her looks with an umbrella.
The Queen also met with various political leaders, including US President John F. Kennedy and First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy.
Kate watchers will no doubt remember a very similar meeting between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Obamas.
There were so many other great photos from 1961 that we couldn’t leave it there. Here are some more of our favourites.
Congratulations to her Majesty the Queen on reaching this milestone. We wish her all the very best in celebrating her Sapphire Jubilee, and that we may see many more engagements by the Queen in 2017 – such as this one just recently.
Gorgeous gallery, what a wonderful post! I hope you do more on this topic, it’s so nice to see the Queen’s style, it’s stunning.
Great show, ladies. The Queen was lovely back the. However, the central figure in the race picture is Princess Margaret. The Queen is far right?
Was just about to say that!
Thanks for the note! Have added in Princess Margaret’s name to the photo. It was just such a lovely photo we wanted to include it!