House Of Commons To Pay Tribute To Queen As She Becomes Longest Reigning British Monarch
MPs will pay tribute to the Queen on the day she makes history and becomes the longest reigning British monarch.
MPs will pay tribute to the Queen on the day she makes history and becomes the longest reigning British monarch.
Tomorrow, she will pass the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria who, Buckingham Palace has calculated, reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes.
On the day the milestone is reached normal business will be postponed in the Commons for half an hour from 11.30am to allow MPs to pay tribute to the head of state.
Speaker John Bercow said yesterday: I have agreed that questions to the Secretary of State for Wales should be postponed from this Wednesday until the following week, Wednesday September 16, to allow the House to mark the occasion on which
Her Majesty the Queen will become our longest serving monarch.
Prime Minister's Questions will take place as usual afterwards at 12 noon.''
There has been speculation a celebratory private event is planned but it is understood that in keeping with the Queen's business-as-usual approach Wednesday will be a normal working day for the monarch with no special dinner party.
At this time of year the Queen is taking her traditional summer break at her private Scottish home of Balmoral.
But on the day she passes Victoria's milestone, the monarch, joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, will open the new Scottish Borders Railway and take a steam train ride on the new £294 million railway with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Members of the Royal Family including the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will also be working.
Charles will be filming a documentary with TV presenters Ant and Dec about his Prince's Trust organisation which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, while Camilla will visit the ITV studios in London to celebrate the organisation's 60th anniversary.
The capital will tomorrow enjoy celebrations marking the milestone with the BT Tower scrolling the message Long May She Reign'' throughout the day. And the royal rowbarge Gloriana will join a flotilla of boats in a procession down the River Thames.
Tower Bridge will lift as a mark of respect and, as the procession passes HMS Belfast, a four-gun salute will sound out and the Massey Shaw fireboat will shoot jets of water into the air.
The Queen will pass Queen Victoria's record and becomes the nation's longest reigning monarch at around 5.30pm on Wednesday.
At this point she will have reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes - but the exact moment she became Queen is hard to calculate as George VI died in his sleep in the early hours of the morning, possibly at around 1am.