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Queen marks Jubilee with sombre visit The Queen is visiting a cancer unit 50 years to the day after the death of her father following a battle with lung cancer. She will be breaking with tradition by making a public appearance on what is normally a private day. During the sombre Accession Day, the Queen normally stays secluded at Sandringham, the Royal estate in Norfolk where George VI died on Wednesday 6 February 1952. Because this year is her Golden Jubilee, the Queen decided to emerge from the privacy of Sandringham and commemorate her father. She will open the £1.2m Macmillan Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in nearby King's Lynn. George VI, a heavy smoker, survived a major operation to remove his left lung but later succumbed to a blood clot which caused a coronary thrombosis. The Queen was in Kenya when the news of her father's death reached her and immediately returned to begin half a century on the throne. News of the King's death shocked a nation stuck in austerity and still recovering from the destruction of World War II. The Duke of Norfolk, holder of the oldest dukedom in England, and hereditary Earl Marshall, has been closely involved in Royal ceremonial occasions throughout the Queen's reign. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she had handled her years on the throne "wonderfully". He said: "I am a very great admirer of her. "When she succeeded to the throne and on the day of her marriage she said she would devote her life to serving the nation and she has certainly done that." When his cousin died, he inherited both the title Earl Marshall and the ceremonial role which includes organising the state opening of Parliament. It was through this position he got to know the Queen more closely. He said: "She takes a great personal interest in the state opening of Parliament and I think the monarchy under the present Queen is quite superb. "There are people who say she should be more like the Dutch monarchy and be less formal but I think she is totally informal - marvellous." Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's cousin, said: "She is not what is now called a 'touchy feely' person, she is a self-contained person, but an incredibly unselfish person." Date: 6th February
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