Queen's Net note marks 50 years

LONDON, England -- Queen Elizabeth II marked the 50th anniversary of her accession to Britain's throne with a message of thanks on the Internet.

Wednesday's message on www.royal.gov.uk thanked people working in local communities and looked to the future -- as well as the past -- with confidence and pride.

The queen, signing herself "Elizabeth R", said: "Prince Philip and I have been deeply touched by the many kind messages about the Golden Jubilee.

"This anniversary is for us an occasion to acknowledge with gratitude the loyalty and support which we have received from so many people since I came to the throne in 1952."

It went on to say: "I hope also that this time of celebration in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth will not simply be an occasion to be nostalgic about the past.

"I believe that, young or old, we have as much to look forward to with confidence and hope as we have to look back on with pride.

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"I send my warmest good wishes to you all."

The Queen marked the day with a visit to a medical unit in memory of her father, King George VI.

George VI, a heavy smoker, lost his fight against lung cancer on February 6, 1952, at the age of 56.

The queen usually spends the anniversary of his death privately, but as this year is her Golden Jubilee she chose to open the £1.2 million Macmillan Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, eastern England, near to the royal estate at Sandringham where he died.

A 41-gun salute at noon in London's Hyde Park was followed by a 62-gun salute from the Tower of London an hour later.

George VI, had survived a major operation to remove his left lung but later succumbed to a blood clot which caused a coronary thrombosis.

He had reigned for 16 years after becoming king unexpectedly with the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, in 1936.

King George VI died on February 6, 1952, from cancer

The queen heard about her father's death while staying at Sagana Hunting Lodge, Nyeri, in Kenya -- news that would herald the fifth longest reign on the British throne in its 1,000 year history.

Elizabeth, who also became head of the Commonwealth, returned to Britain immediately.

The year of the accession, 1952, signalled change and trouble. Anti-British riots had been in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as tension mounted in the Suez Canal Zone.

In Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill disclosed that Britain had developed an atomic bomb which was to be tested off the coast of Australia.

Meanwhile in the United States, a mechanical heart was used for the first time in a human patient.