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This landmark occasion will inevitably prompt speculation in some quarters about the Queen's longer term intentions.


The Queen turns 80 on Friday

To put it bluntly, will she ever retire?

All the indications, at the moment are that abdication is not on the cards.

It traumatised her parents and the nation in the 1930s and it undermines the principles of a hereditary monarchy.

And it is for that same reason that the idea of "skipping a generation" with Prince William inheriting the throne is unlikely to find favour in Palace circles.

However, it is a vivid reminder of just how bad things were in the 1990s, that officials did at least contemplate such a scenario before rejecting it.

Abdication might be off the agenda but the status quo is likely to be gently tinkered with - 80-year-olds, however fit, cannot be charging around the place.

The Queen is likely to continue doing the "big" occasions.


Destiny called in 1952 when the Queen was just 25

Her son, and other children, will - as they do already - take on some of the other tasks.

For the Queen, her birthday is an occasion to celebrate with no obvious clouds on the horizon.

The problems of the past suddenly seem a distant memory.

The Royal Family appears to be in calmer waters.

As one who knows her remarked dryly, "she is outrageously popular and approaching sainthood".

Queen Elizabeth II, according to her cousin, Margaret Rhodes, has blossomed in recent years.

"I think in a funny way, perhaps, the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had quite a huge effect on the Queen.

"Not only of sadness, but in a way that she could come into her own as the head of the family and as the most senior royal lady".