Accession Day: how the Queen will mark 70 years on the throne

6 February marks the beginning of the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations

Queen receives flowers
The Queen typically spends the day at the Sandringham Estate
(Image credit: Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Princess Elizabeth was on the first stop of a Commonwealth tour with Prince Philip in Kenya when the news broke that King George VI had died on 6 February 1952.

The couple had been set to travel on to Australia and New Zealand, but the tour was cancelled and Her Majesty returned to the UK “without delay”, according to parliamentary records.