London Calling Queen Elizabeth II to mark 70 years on the throne

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00:00Queen Elizabeth will celebrate a record-breaking 70 years on the British throne Sunday.

00:05CBS News contributor Simon Bates has more in this week's London Calling.

00:09As a reminder, Simon's opinions are his own and not reflective of CBS News.

00:1570 years ago this coming Sunday, the young Prince Philip was faced with one of the toughest tasks of his life.

00:23On holiday in Kenya with his wife, Princess Elizabeth, he had to break the news that her father had died during the night

00:29and that she had now automatically become Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

00:35The couple flew back to Britain almost immediately and began a winning partnership that lasted for decades.

00:41She is now Britain's longest reigning monarch and what a rain, peppered with international tours

00:47as well as 70 years of service to this country as our head of state.

00:51Now at the age of 95, she's understandably slowed down a little, no more foreign trips

00:57and younger members of the royal family are taking over some of the heavy lifting at home.

01:02Sadly, she's facing her Platinum Jubilee year alone without Prince Philip who died last year.

01:09Now whenever I've met her, the gaze has been warm but gives nothing away.

01:13She is charming and brilliant at the kind of small talk that would leave most of us breathless.

01:18In fact, we don't really know much about her except that she loves horses and she loves dogs

01:24and she is probably the greatest asset this country could have.

01:28I can't recall the Queen ever putting a foot wrong.

01:31She is, of course, as our largely ceremonial head of state, only half the constitutional process in this country

01:37because just a short walk down the road, in complete contrast, sits the other half, Prime Minister Boris Johnson,

01:45currently under investigation by the police on suspicion of breaking the lockdown rules.

01:50When you look at the calibre of many of the Queen's Prime Ministers over the last 70 years,

01:54from Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair,

01:59you can't help but wonder, what must she be thinking?

02:03That's London Calling for today.

02:05This is Simon Bates for CBS News in Devon.

02:08This is Simon Bates for today.