Queen
Elizabeth II has thanked people from around the world for their
messages of "great kindness"
as she marked the day she becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
Already
the country's longest-lived monarch and the world's oldest-serving
sovereign, Elizabeth will pass the record set by her
great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria around teatime Wednesday after 63
years and 216 days on the throne.
While
there were no official engagements to mark the occasion, the queen and
her husband, Prince Philip, were in Scotland for the opening of the new
Scottish Borders Railway, running from Edinburgh to Tweedbank.
Cheers
and applause greeted the monarch as she unveiled a plaque for the
railway and noted "another significance" in a short address.
But
she was characteristically unwilling to dwell on her achievement,
saying simply: "Inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones; my
own is no exception.
"But I thank you all, and the many others at home and overseas, for your touching messages of great kindness."
Elizabeth and Victoria: Two queens, two worlds
Cameron: 'Historic milestone'
Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the Queen in an address to the UK Parliament.
"It is of course typical of her selfless sense of service that she would have us treat this day just like any other," he said.
"But
Mr. Speaker, while I rarely advocate disobeying Her Majesty -- least of
all in her own Parliament, I do think it is right that today we should
stop and take a moment as a nation to mark this historic milestone and
to thank Her Majesty for the extraordinary service that she has given to
our country over more than six decades."
The
queen has worked with 12 prime ministers in the course of her long
reign, Cameron pointed out, and has "met more people than any other
monarch in history."
Her rule,
extending through decades of enormous change around the world, has also
seen 12 U.S. presidents and seven popes in office.
The
nation should be proud of its monarch, Cameron said. "She has served
this country with unerring grace, dignity and decency, and long may she
continue to do so."
As well as ruling
the United Kingdom, Elizabeth is head of state of 15 other Commonwealth
nations, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand
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