Queen Braves The Snow For Church Ahead Of Diamond Jubilee

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have attended a church service on Sunday, on the eve of the monarch's Diamond Jubilee anniversary.

The royal couple joined the congregation at a place of worship in a village at the heart of the sovereign's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

St Peter and St Paul in West Newton is a picturesque church which the Queen sometimes attends when she is at her country home.
The Queen and Philip are coming to the end of their traditional winter break at Sandringham.

Their time at the estate has also provided the Duke with the opportunity to convalesce after he was successfully treated at hospital for a blocked coronary artery just before Christmas.

However a parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the King's Lynn branch of the Royal British Legion, which the Duke of Edinburgh was due to attend this afternoon, has been cancelled due to the snow.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated on Monday - Accession Day - when her reign reaches the milestone of 60 years.

But February 6 is always tinged with sadness for the Queen as it is the day her father George VI died and she became sovereign.

The Queen usually spends the day privately but has two engagements planned for tomorrow.

She will visit King's Lynn Town Hall, where she will meet staff from the building and the borough council, and view some artefacts in the Stone Hall.

She has also been invited to Dersingham Infant and Nursery School where she will meet pupils and staff before watching a play about her 60 years as sovereign, performed by the children.