UCL Conservative Society

On this day the country is united in sending our best wishes to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh on their 60th Wedding Anniversary. The Society wishes them all the best for now, and in the future.

To mark the occasion the Palace has released 60 facts about the Wedding. These include:

• The Queen is the first British monarch to have celebrated a diamond wedding anniversary.
• Philip had two stag parties the night before the wedding - the first at the Dorchester to which the press were invited and the second with his closest friends at the Belfry Club.
• The grave of the Unknown Warrior was the only stone that was not covered by the special carpet in the Abbey. The day after the wedding, Princess Elizabeth followed a Royal tradition started by her mother, of sending her wedding bouquet back to the Abbey to be laid on this grave.
• William McKie, the Abbey organist, had been summoned to the Palace four days before the wedding so that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret could sing the descant to Crimond to him so that he could note it down as no other copy was available.

• The two Royal kneelers, used during the service, were covered in rose pink silk. They were made from orange boxes, due to war time austerity, and date stamped 1946.
• About 10,000 telegrams of congratulations were received at Buckingham Palace.
• The Royal couple received over 2,500 wedding presents from well-wishers around the world. Most were put on display for a few days in a charity exhibition at St James’s Palace.
• The cake was nine feet high in four tiers, with painted panels of the armorial bearings of both families, and included the monograms of bride and groom, sugar-iced figures to depict their favourite activities, and regimental and naval badges. The cake was cut using the Duke’s Mountbatten sword, which was a wedding present from the King.
• Although he was the Queen’s husband, the Duke of Edinburgh was not crowned or anointed at the Coronation ceremony in 1953. He was the first subject to pay Homage to Her Majesty, and kiss the newly crowned Queen by stating “I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God.”

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