Queen Rededicates Herself To UK

As her Diamond Jubilee approaches the Queen has said she is rededicating herself to the service of the UK and its people.

In a speech to both Houses of Parliament she said the celebration of her 60 years on the throne was a chance "to come together in a spirit of neighbourliness and celebration".

Speaking in front of hundred of delegates at Westminster Hall, the Queen paid tribute to the British virtues of "resilience, ingenuity and tolerance", and to the Duke of Edinburgh, whom she called her "constant strength and guide" over the decades.

She said: "During these years as your Queen, the support of my family has, across the generations, been beyond measure."

She also spoke about the only other monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee, Queen Victoria, in 1897.

"So, in an era when the regular, worthy rhythm of life is less eye-catching than doing something extraordinary, I am reassured that I am merely the second sovereign to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee," she said.

To mark the occasion of the long established speech both Houses of Parliament presented the Queen with a stained glass window, which was commissioned and paid for personally by House members and designed by British artist John Reyntiens.

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