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Queen and Duke mark anniversary Queen celebrates diamond wedding
(about 2 hours later)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are set to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with a service at London's Westminster Abbey. The Queen and Prince Philip are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with a service featuring a reading from Prince William.
They will be joined by some 2,000 people, including more than 30 family members, and their grandson, Prince William, will deliver a reading. Prayers will be said and the Archbishop of Canterbury, in a blessing, will ask the couple to "renew in your hearts promises you made to one another".
After the service, the Queen and the Duke will visit Parliament Square to unveil a Jubilee Walkway plaque. More than 30 family members are among 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey.
Dame Judi Dench will read a specially commissioned poem by Andrew Motion. Other guests include five choristers from the 1947 service, as well as 10 couples who married on the same day.
On Sunday, members of the Royal family attended a celebration dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House.
The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a diamond wedding anniversary.The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a diamond wedding anniversary.
Other couples who married on the same day, along with choristers from the royal wedding, will be among those at the service. We can give special thanks for the very public character of the witness and the sign offered to us by this marriage and what it has meant to nation and Commonwealth over the decades Dr Rowan Williams
The wedding in 1947, according to one of the couple's friends, was a moment of "blissful brightness and happiness" after World War II. Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will say in his sermon that every marriage is a public event but that "some couples have to live more than others in the full light of publicity".
The royal couple are to visit Malta as part of their celebrations "We are probably more aware than ever these days of the pressures this brings," he will add.
The royal couple will travel to Malta on Tuesday where they lived as a young married couple from 1949 to 1951, while Prince Philip was stationed there as a serving Royal Naval officer. "But it also means that we can give special thanks for the very public character of the witness and the sign offered to us by this marriage and what it has meant to nation and Commonwealth over the decades."
He will ask the congregation to pray "for her majesty and his royal highness - for their life together as husband and wife".
Prince William, in his reading of 1 John 4: 7-16, will tell the congregation to "let us love one another, because love is from God".
Dame Judi Dench, meanwhile, will read the poem Diamond Wedding - written especially for the occasion by poet laureate Andrew Motion - which speaks of "a life remote for ours because it asked reach day, each action to be kept in view".
Original compositions
There will also be a procession of representatives from different religions including the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh faiths.
Royal family members turned out for a wedding anniversary dinner at Clarence House.Enlarge Image
As was the case in 1947, a setting by EC Bairstow of Psalm 67 - God Be Merciful Unto Us And Bless Us - will be sung by the abbey choir.
Other elements that will remain the same include the introit, We Wait For thy Loving Kindness O God, composed for the original ceremony by then-organist Dr William McKie.
Similarly, the hymn Lord's My Shepherd - set to the Scottish tune Crimond - will be sung.
The royal couple's actual 60th wedding anniversary is on Tuesday when they will travel to Malta where they lived as a young married couple from 1949 to 1951, while Prince Philip was stationed there as a serving Royal Naval officer.
On Sunday, members of the Royal family attended a celebration dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House.
Rare stockings
The wedding on 20 November 1947, according to one of the couple's friends, was a moment of "blissful brightness and happiness" after World War II.
The couple received gifts from around the world 60 years ago.The couple received gifts from around the world 60 years ago.
These included a thoroughbred horse, 131 pairs of nylon stockings - a rare commodity at a time of rationing and austerity - and 500 tins of pineapple.These included a thoroughbred horse, 131 pairs of nylon stockings - a rare commodity at a time of rationing and austerity - and 500 tins of pineapple.
However, BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt says Mahatma Gandhi's present caught the disapproving eye of Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth's grandmother.However, BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt says Mahatma Gandhi's present caught the disapproving eye of Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth's grandmother.
She told a friend the piece of hand-spun lace was "indelicate", mistaking the tray cover for the Indian leader's loincloth.She told a friend the piece of hand-spun lace was "indelicate", mistaking the tray cover for the Indian leader's loincloth.