Queen and Duke celebrate 65th anniversary

The royal wedding is said to have boosted British morale in austere post-war days

The Queen has become the first British monarch to reach a 65th wedding anniversary.

She and Prince Philip will spend their blue sapphire anniversary privately together at Buckingham Palace.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed last year.

The anniversary comes in the same year as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which was marked with UK-wide celebrations.

Prince Philip, 91, was forced to miss some key events during the special bank holiday weekend at the beginning of June after being hospitalised with a bladder infection.

On the eve of their anniversary on Monday night, the couple attended the Royal Variety Performance - itself marking its 100th anniversary - at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Performers included Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud, Sir Bruce Forsyth, One Direction, Katherine Jenkins, Alicia Keys and Neil Diamond.

The Queen and Prince Philip first met back in 1934 at the wedding of Philip's cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, to Princess Elizabeth's uncle, the Duke of Kent.