Queen Elizabeth II is off to the races today, the start of a four-day celebration of her 60 years on the throne. Later in the weekend she'll make a trip down the River Thames, then take in a concert—all accompanied by tens of thousands of her subjects, coming out to fete a monarch whose longevity has given her the status of the nation's favorite grandmother. The queen, now 86, took the throne in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI, and most Britons have known no other monarch. (More Queen Elizabeth II stories.)