State announcements in regard to the Queen are always somewhat
oracular in tone, and the official note published on Wednesday is no exception. It declares that " the Secretary of State for the Home Department is commanded by the Queen to intimate that, while she is much gratified to observe the general expressions of loyalty and affection towards her in regard to the fact that she will shortly have reigned for a longer period than any other British Sovereign, it is her Majesty's wish that, should she be spared to rule over her beloved people for such a period, any recognition or celebra- tion of that event should be reserved until she has actually completed a reign of sixty years." This means, of course, that the striking fact that the Queen at the end of September will have reigned longer than any previous Sovereign will be commemorated not when she has beaten all previous records by a day, but when she has reigned more than any previous Sovereign, reckoning in years. That is a sensible decision, but we trust that when the postponed celebration takes place, care will be taken not to endanger the Queen's health by the worry of extensive ceremonials. The Queen is, we are happy to think, as strong and well at seventy-
seven as many women of sixty, but she deserves too well of her people to be exhausted by the necessity of providing them with picturesque pageants.
