Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 65th wedding anniversary

It is a landmark which no other British monarch has achieved, and one which may never be surpassed.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will today celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary as Her Majesty notches up yet another landmark in her Diamond Jubilee year.

They are one of around 2,000 couples in Britain who will reach their Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary this year, but the royal couple have no plans for a major celebration.

After attending the Royal Variety Performance in London on Monday night, the Queen and the Duke will spend a quiet day together on Tuesday before carrying on with their duties for the rest of the week, including a joint visit to Bristol on Thursday and official engagements for the Duke tomorrow and on Friday.

A spokesman for the Queen said the couple would be “marking the day privately”.

But while the Queen may choose not to make a fuss about the landmark, huge changes in social trends during her reign mean the record could stand as long as the monarchy does.

Three of her four children have divorced, having married when they were older than the Queen at the time of her own marriage, mirroring changes which have taken place at all levels of society.

Social historian Steven King, Professor of Medical Humanities at Leicester University, said: “If we look to the future people are certainly going to live longer, but they are not going to get married and those who do get married will tend to leave it much later in life.

“The average age for people getting married is now in their 30s, whereas when Queen Victoria came to the throne the average age for a bride was 22 or 23 at the very latest.

“Coupled with that is the fact that divorce has become much easier and more commonplace since the 1960s and 70s, so the chance of anyone surpassing the Queen’s record becomes ever more unlikely.”

The demographic changes have been shown in the Queen’s own postal records, as she sends letters of congratulation to couples who reach their Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary.

Having risen sharply from 494 in 2002 to a high of 2,121 in 2010, the number of letters fell back to 1,937 last year and are expected to decline from now on.

When the Queen first met the then Prince Philip in 1939, she was just 13 and he was a naval cadet asked to entertain George VI’s daughters as the king visited Dartmouth Naval College. He played croquet with his future bride, who became his pen-pal during the war.

When the couple married at Westminster Abbey in 1947, the Queen had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her dress, designed by Norman Hartnell. There was no rationing, however, on the number of wedding gifts they were allowed to receive, which totalled 2,500 from Britain and the Commonwealth.

From their honeymoon, Philip wrote to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me and my ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”

Sarah Bradford, the Queen’s biographer, said the letter summed up the reason their marriage had lasted for so long.

“He talked in that letter about his love for his wife and of how they were thinking the same way about things,” she said. “They both appreciate each other, love each other, like each other and I think they also both appreciate the position that they occupy and their responsibility.

“You don’t just pop in, marry the Queen and pop off again.”

During a luncheon to celebrate their golden wedding in 1997, the Queen paid a rare but heartfelt tribute to her husband, who holds the record of being the longest-serving consort in British history.

She said: “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I and his whole family, in this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.”

* The Duke of Cambridge is the most popular member of the Royal family, according to a poll by Ipsos MORI, with 62 per cent of people choosing him as one of their favourites, followed by the Queen with 48 per cent and Prince Harry with 36 per cent. The Duchess of Cambridge came fourth with 23 per cent. The same poll found 90 per cent of people are happy with the way the Queen is doing her job, compared with just 71 per cent in 2000. But only 42 per cent of people polled believe Britain will still have a monarchy in 100 years’ time.