Queen to make rare speech to mark longest reign as UK monarch

Queen Elizabeth II is expected to make a rare public speech to mark the historic milestone of becoming the longest reigning monarch of Britain on September 9.
The Queen will thank her British and Commonwealth subjects for 63 years of support when she overtakes her great great grandmother Queen Victoria's record.
The 89-year-old monarch had originally wanted to spend the landmark day in private but then decided to interrupt her holiday at Balmoral in Scotland and open a railway in the Borders area.
Now it has emerged she may go a step further and make a short speech and pay tribute to her predecessor.

The Queen rarely speaks in public, confining herself to set piece events such as her Christmas message, the State opening of Parliament and speeches at State banquets when she is entertaining or visiting other leaders.
She will board a train at Edinburgh Waverley Station pulled by the steam locomotive Union of South Africa for the two-hour journey on Wednesday.

It will stop at Newtongrange in Midlothian, where the Queen will unveil a plaque, before reaching Tweedbank, where she will officially open the Borders Railway, the longest domestic railway line to be built in the UK in over a century, 'The Telegraph' reported.

She will be greeted by a brass band and will unveil another plaque, at which point she may decide to speak, though it is understood that a final decision will not be made until next week.
After opening the railway the Queen will return to Balmoral where she will skip a generation in her private celebration by spending the evening with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but not the Prince of Wales, her son and heir.
A spokesperson for the Prince said he had a "long-standing engagement".
Sources told the newspaper he had not kept his diary free on the Queen's historic day because Buckingham Palace had told members of the Royal family it should be "business as usual" on the day.

Prince Charles at 66 is a record-holder himself as Britain's longest-serving heir.