On the morning of February 6 1952, 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth woke early, having spent the night with her dashing husband Philip on a treetop platform at a Kenyan game lodge.

1952年2月6日清晨，25岁的伊丽莎白公主很早就醒来了。前一晚，她与气质不凡的丈夫菲利普下榻在肯尼亚一个游猎场的树顶小屋。

They were guarded by a white hunter who was concerned about the threat of leopard rather than paparazzi. Before breakfast she took some cine film of rhino. She was said to be blissfully happy.

他们由一位白人猎人护卫。这位猎人担心的是猎豹、而非狗仔队的威胁。早餐前，她用胶片摄影机拍摄了一些犀牛的镜头。据说当时伊丽莎白心情十分愉快。

It was hours before she found out she was no longer Princess Elizabeth. Communications with up-country Kenya were difficult in those days and, in any case, a cock-up was made with the code book at Government House, Nairobi.

此时距离她得知自己不再是伊丽莎白公主还有数小时。当时肯尼亚乡间与外界的通信非常困难，而且内罗毕的总督府还搞错了电码本。

Eventually, Philip took the phone call. He gently gave her the news that her father King George VI had died in the night, aged just 56. She was now Queen. By the time they were able to get back to London, the Accession Council had met and proclaimed her sovereign. This body comprised lords spiritual and temporal, members of the Privy Council, representatives of the Commonwealth and “other principal gentlemen of quality”.

最终，菲利普接到了电话。他温和地告诉伊丽莎白，她的父亲乔治六世(King George VI)已在前一晚去世，享年56岁。她现在已经是女王了。到他们设法返回伦敦的时候，英国已经召开了登基会议(Accession Council)，并正式宣布伊丽莎白继承王位。登基会议的成员包括神职和俗职的上议院议员、枢密院(Privy Council)成员、英联邦代表以及“其他有质素的显要绅士”。

And, if you want to sum up in a nutshell the way Britain has changed in the past 60 years, the fact that those last five words could be used without everyone bursting into giggles pretty much tells the story.

如果你想用一句话概括英国在过去60年期间发生的变化，那么当时人们听到“其他有质素的显要绅士”不会发笑这一事实就说明了一切。

Elizabeth became Queen in a world still recovering from war, dominated by Stalin, Harry Truman and Churchill. The most intractable crisis was the Korean war.

伊丽莎白继位的时候，正值由斯大林(Stalin)、哈里•杜鲁门(Harry Truman)和邱吉尔(Churchill)主导的世界仍在从战争中复苏。当时最严重的危机是朝鲜战争。

In Britain, sugar, sweets, meat and newsprint were still rationed. And though almost everything else has changed in those 60 years, there she has always been: the best-known woman in the world and yet so inscrutable she is hardly known at all.

在英国，糖、糖果、肉和新闻纸仍然限量供应。尽管在这60年期间，几乎所有事情都发生了变化，但女王始终在那里：世界上最出名的女人，但如此难以捉摸，外界对她几乎一无所知。

Normally, she spends February 6, a sombre day for her personally, very quietly. The official 2012 celebrations are being delayed until June.

通常而言，伊丽莎白会安静地度过2月6日这个对她个人而言忧伤的日子。2012年的官方庆典推迟至6月举行。

However, for what is technically her diamond jubilee, she will be venturing out from her country home at Sandringham to visit a nearby nursery school and receive a loyal address at King’s Lynn town hall.

然而，从技术角度讲，今年2月6日是伊丽莎白登基60周年，这一天，她将走出桑德灵厄姆庄园(Sandringham)，访问附近的幼儿园，并在King’s Lynn的市政厅与前来庆祝的人群会面。

She is nearly 86 now. The underlying fact about her reign has been the constitution: hers, not ours.

伊丽莎白如今已接近86岁。确立她的统治这一根本事实的是宪法：是她的、而不是我们的宪法。

The British constitution, notoriously, is whatever the prime minister can get away with saying it is. But her own has outclassed that of any ox – up and down the country, round and round the world, year after year, decade after decade. A word out of place? Hard to think of one. That’s her husband’s speciality. A foot wrong? She had a rocky week when Princess Diana died 15 years ago, other than that . . . nothing rushes to mind.

英国不成文的宪法有一个让人挠头的问题：首相总能自行诠释宪法，只要他能混得过去。可女王本人的章法，却比任何一只公牛都更有水平——举国上下、世界各地、年复一年甚至几十年里一直如此。几乎想不起她说错话的时候，说错话是她丈夫的“专长”。拿捏不当？15年前戴安娜王妃遇难后，女王在最初一周做得不够到位，但除此之外，人们想不出有什么把握失当的场合。

On the face of it, this is an unremarkable woman with few obvious accomplishments: most tribal dances watched by a single human being; a considerable knowledge of the intricacies of breeding racehorses; a matchless gift, even by British standards, for masking her true feelings.

表面看来，女王的一生平平无奇，似乎没有什么明显的建树：她是观赏过最多部落舞蹈表演的人；她对培育纯种赛马的细枝末节的知识也有颇多了解；即使按照英国的标准，她隐藏真情实感的天赋也堪称无与伦比。

But her very longevity in her role is an incredible achievement. Sure, the monarchy offers bonuses beyond a banker’s wildest dreams. But most of us would rapidly run out screaming, as Diana did.

然而她在位时间之长，本身就是一项难以置信的成就。没错，君主制有一些特权，超出银行家最疯狂的梦想。可我们多数人很快就会像戴安娜王妃那样，尖叫着逃离这个体制。

Are there precedents? She has surpassed Henry III (1216-1272) and Edward III (1327-1377) but is not due to overtake Queen Victoria’s all-time British endurance record until 2015.

有没有在位时间更长的先例呢？女王已经超过了亨利三世（Henry III，1216年至1272年在位）和爱德华三世（Edward III，1327年至1377年在位），但直到2015年才能超过维多利亚女王(Queen Victoria)创下的在位时间纪录。

Yet Victoria largely locked herself away after her husband died in 1861. No nurseries in Norfolk for her in old age.

然而，维多利亚女王在1861年守寡后，基本上一直深居简出。她可不会走访诺福克郡(Norfolk)的幼儿园。

Even if she matches her mother and lives to be 101, the present Queen will not quite match Sobhuza II of the Swazis, who reigned from infancy in 1899 until his death in 1982.

不过即使女王能像她的母亲那样，活到101岁高龄，她在任的时间也赶不上斯威士兰国王索布扎二世(Sobhuza II)，他从1899年婴儿时登基，直到1982年去世一直在位。

However, after Swaziland became independent in 1968, he responded to a disagreeable election result by abrogating the constitution and ruling by decree.

然而在斯威士兰1968年独立后，他对一场结果不尽如人意的选举的反应是废止宪法，通过敕令治国。

Elizabeth II has always resisted that temptation. For someone who has had to oversee 60 years’ worth of British politicians, that’s an achievement, too.

伊丽莎白二世女王一直都能抗拒这种诱惑。对于一个在60年里见证了形形色色英国政客的人物，这也是一个成就。

译者/何黎