| Britain's Queen Elizabeth came to the British | | | | hard fought for independence and national |
| throne when she was only 25, and at her side | | | | identity to adopt the Euro as her official |
| has been Prince Philip, the Duke of | | | | currency. |
| Edinburgh, who married the Queen in 1947. | | | | |
| | | | The modern Malta the Queen and Prince Philip |
| In the modern world of celebrities, celebrity | | | | visited as part of their 60th wedding |
| relationships, marriages and highly | | | | anniversary celebrations has been transformed |
| publicised breakdowns - including that of her | | | | into a holiday island, with cheap flight to |
| son Prince Charles and Princess Diana - it is | | | | Malta deals bringing in tourists from the |
| easy to forget that the Queen has acted with | | | | United Kingdom, and increasingly from Italy, |
| grace and seldom complains of press coverage | | | | although the UK remains Malta's most |
| when it is unfavourable - unless it is simply | | | | important market. |
| untruthful, when the British Press Complaints | | | | |
| body intervenes. | | | | Meanwhile, the population of Malta has |
| | | | swollen from just over 300,000 in 1950 to |
| And the Queen now celebrates over sixty years | | | | over 400,000 now, with the Maltese people |
| of marriage to Prince Philip, and in typical | | | | moving away from the rural areas to the |
| fashion chose a low key couple of days on the | | | | capital Valletta and towns such as Sliema. |
| island of Malta to celebrate, before heading | | | | Mellieha, a sleepy village on Malta's north |
| off to Uganda on official business as Head of | | | | coast then, is becoming a popular holiday |
| the Commonwealth. | | | | resort with hotel and villa holidays popular |
| | | | with British and German holiday makers. |
| Five years older than the Queen, Prince | | | | |
| Philip first met the then Princess Elizabeth | | | | Since the 1970's Malta has been a holiday |
| when she was 13, but it was some seven years | | | | destination and a large part of her economy |
| later before they started courting and became | | | | now relies on the Malta holidays industry. A |
| engaged, and married at Westminster Abbey in | | | | few years of decline have been reversed by |
| November 1947. | | | | the acceptance of low cost airlines, not just |
| | | | from the UK but other parts of Europe too, |
| The time they spent together before Elizabeth | | | | and the island is able to offer both 5 star |
| acceeded to the throne is thought to be among | | | | Malta holidays but also cheap Malta holidays |
| their happiest memories. Prince Philip was | | | | too. |
| still a Royal Navy Officer when they married | | | | |
| and he was stationed in Malta. The island was | | | | When Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived |
| quite different then from what it is now, | | | | on the island few if any people were taking a |
| with hotels in Malta now dotting the | | | | holiday in Malta, and the population was |
| landscape. | | | | Maltese with British and some Commonwealth |
| | | | military and civilian workers. Until recently |
| The island of Malta allowed Queen Elizabeth | | | | the vast majority of those taking a Malta |
| and Prince Philip to live a life as near as | | | | holiday were British, but the cheap airlines |
| possibly could be called normal as an heir to | | | | are allowing diversification with tourists |
| the British throne. | | | | not just from the UK - although it remains |
| | | | Malta's prime market, but from Italy, |
| The Malta of today is unrecognisable from the | | | | Germany, Spain and the Scandanavian |
| Malta when the Queen lived there. The island | | | | countries. |
| had been involved in the Second World War and | | | | |
| gallantly held out as the German and Italian | | | | It's worth bearing in mind just how long |
| air forces tried to bomb her into submission, | | | | Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have been |
| and Malta was awarded the George Cross on | | | | married - sixteen years already before the |
| April 15 1942 by the Queen's father, King | | | | Beatles had their first number 1 and they |
| George VI. | | | | weren't far off their silver wedding |
| | | | anniversary when Neil Armstrong became the |
| Accommodation in Malta | | | | first man to walk on the moon and the Beatles |
| | | | were splitting up and Paul McCartney was |
| In 1942 61 RAF Spitfires, famous for their | | | | first thinking of his new group Wings. |
| role in the Battle of Britain, arrived on the | | | | |
| island to fight off the German and Italian | | | | Malta will be hoping the Royal couple visit |
| airforces and Malta survived to become today | | | | the island again for their 70th wedding |
| a member of the EU, and from January 1 this | | | | anniversary for a vacation. |
| year even voluntarily surrendered part of her | | | | |