Gun salutes mark Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee year

Gun salutes have rung out in London and Edinburgh to mark the official start of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year

LONDON -- Gun salutes rang out in London and Edinburgh on Monday to mark the official start of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee year.

Britain's longest-serving monarch, Elizabeth became queen on the death of her father, King George VI, from lung cancer at age 56 on Feb. 6, 1952.

The monarch doesn't celebrate the anniversary of the date she became queen, known as Ascension Day, as it is also the anniversary of her father’s death.

In a statement released Saturday, the 95-year-old queen remembered the death of her father and recalled the seven decades of “extraordinary progress” that her reign has spanned.