Britain's Queen Elizabeth II marks 60 years on throne

KING'S LYNN: Queen Elizabeth II marks 60 years as monarch on Monday with a deliberately low-key programme of visits to eastern England, kicking off five months of diamond jubilee celebrations.

The queen will visit the town hall in King's Lynn and then a nearby school, six decades to the day since she ascended to the throne after her father King George VI suddenly died on February 6, 1952.

The day in Norfolk kicks off a series of events culminating in a flotilla of 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames on June 3, led by the queen in an ornate barge adorned with flowers.

At the age of 85, the queen's programme will be restricted to Britain over the next five months, but other members of the royal family will criss-cross the Commonwealth in her place.

The diamond jubilee festivities have been scheduled over four days on June 2-5, and will also include a chain of beacons being lit across the Commonwealth and a pageant of horses and performers in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

On Sunday, the queen braved snowy weather to attend a church service alongside her 90-year-old husband Prince Philip, who appeared sprightly despite undergoing heart surgery just before Christmas.

After the service, she was presented with flowers by local children outside the church, which lies on the royals' private Sandringham estate. (AFP)