Queen Elizabeth looks with 'hope and optimism' to Platinum Jubilee that comes amid uncertainty, family strife

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There is no playbook for how to mark 70 years as monarch.

Add in a pandemic, family strife and other uncertainties, and it's hard to gauge just how the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee will unfold for Queen Elizabeth.

"I think it will be, on the whole, a subdued celebration," John Fraser, author of The Secret of the Crown: Canada's Affair with Royalty, said in an interview.

"The whole business is compounded not just by the [coronavirus pandemic], but by the fact that the Queen's been hit with a kind of triple whammy. 

"She's lost her husband [Prince Philip]. She's got a grandson [Prince Harry] that's bolted and she's got a son [Prince Andrew] who has demeaned his position. Those are all coming at the onset of her Jubilee."

Sunday is seven decades to the day — Feb. 6, 1952 — that Princess Elizabeth became Queen.

"It is a day that, even after 70 years, I still remember as much for the death of my father, King George VI, as for the start of my reign," she said in a message Saturday to mark her accession.

Elizabeth learned of her father's death while on a trip in Kenya. Since then, she has been steadfast in her devotion to the role, doing what she has seen as her unwavering duty as a constitutional monarch, even as the world around her has changed dramatically.

She repeated that commitment in the message Saturday that looked both back on the past seven decades and ahead with "a sense of hope and optimism" for her Jubilee year. 

"As we mark this anniversary, it gives me pleasure to renew to you the pledge I gave in 1947 that my life will always be devoted to your service," she said in the message signed "Your servant, Elizabeth R." 

Jubilees offer a chance to mark a monarch's milestones, but there is no set formula for how they will unfold. In ways, they have also been influenced by society at the time.

"We often see Jubilees as being these opportunities to stop and reflect, and of course, there's a very strong emphasis with Jubilee celebrations for local communities to come together and celebrate," Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.

Elizabeth emphasized her hope that the Jubilee will offer that chance to come together, while also acknowledging the troubled times of the last while.