Today marks the 60th anniversary of The Queen’s accession to the throne. There are celebrations taking place throughout the city, including a gun salute from the Tower of London at lunchtime.

This morning, the V&A gave me a sneak preview of the special exhibition they’re running to mark The Queen’s 60 years on the throne. Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton is an exhibition of the best photographs from the V&A’s collection of royal photography. Opening on Wednesday, the show presents The Queen across the years, examining the portrayals of her as a princess, a monarch and a mother.

It’s an intimate show, staged in five small sections on the ground floor of the V&A. The intimacy of the space reflects the incredible relationship between the photographer and his subject: Beaton took photos of the royal family for more than 60 years, capturing The Queen in her teens in the 1940s right through to his final portrait of her in 1968. He was the photographer chosen to take the first pictures of Prince Charles when he was born; Beaton went on to commemorate the birth of each of Elizabeth’s children. He was also present at the Coronation and produced the famous official portrait photographs in the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.

The striking thing about the V&A’s new show is the sense you get of a family passing through time. Early shots of Prince Philip look just like William today; baby photos of Prince Charles look rather like any other baby photo from the late 1940s. And in one striking photo of The Queen with Charles and the baby Anne, Beaton has captured the happy smiles of what could be any young mum excited about the arrival of her second child. It’s fascinating to see such familiar faces lit up with emotion for Beaton’s camera.

Alongside the photographs are diary extracts, letters and other artefacts revealing even more about the unique relationship Beaton had with the Royal Family. I’d recommend getting the audio guide to hear even more about the show. A charming video in the section on Beaton at the end shows the photographer chatting with David Hockney and other friends and contemporaries. He seems to be a thoroughly charming man: witty and elegant.

There’ll be plenty more ways to examine The Queen’s legacy this year (a BBC series The Diamond Queen starts tonight), but for one that intimately captures a young princess becoming a mother, then a monarch, then a mature woman, this is surely one of the best.

Visit the Diamond Jubilee section on our main site for all the special events taking place this year.

Back in 2002, The Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee. Take a look back at what the celebrations involved ahead of this year’s Diamond Jubilee extravaganza.

Want to know more about the exciting events planned for celebrating The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? Bookmark www.visitlondon.com/jubilee and we’ll keep that page updated with all the latest on the events taking place this spring.

Buckingham Palace has announced further details of next year’s exciting celebrations to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

This time next year, we’ll be hanging out the bunting again as we’ll be treated to an extra Bank Holiday and a full programme of festivities over four days from 2 to 5 June 2012.

Celebrations include a free concert at Buckingham Palace (no line-up yet but we’re sure artists will be queueing up to perform for Her Majesty), a special Jubilee edition of The Big Lunch (encouraging us to enjoy lunch and a street party with our neighbours) and a Carriage Procession.

This is all in addition to the spectacular Thames Flotilla of 1,000 boats announced earlier this year. The occasion will also be marked by a network of 2,012 beacons which will be lit across the UK.

The Queen will begin the Jubilee celebrations with a trip to Epsom Derby on 2 June.

Are you looking forward to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? Tell us in the comments below.

In the year of the Royal Wedding, this could be your only chance to get up close to Prince William.

We’re giving away a family ticket to Madame Tussauds, where you can have your photo taken with the handsome prince before he’s joined by Kate Middleton later this year.

As well as the royal family, you’ll see lifelike wax figures of celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson and Barack Obama.

Enter for a chance to win a family ticket to Madame Tussauds

London’s Buckingham Palace throws open its doors to the public each year for two months. Visitors get to take a rare peek inside one of the world’s few remaining working Royal Palaces.  And, this year, there’s a new exhibit of The Queen’s Year, which documents the numerous state occasions Her Majesty attends throughout the seasons.

We asked a few visitors to Buckingham Palace what they thought of the experience.

Buckingham Palace is something everyone should do at least once. I liked the enormous chandeliers best of all. They have a lovely café in the garden – it’s so nice to say that I had tea at Buckingham Palace! Jess, 29, Herne Hill

It’s funny, I always like seeing palaces and stately homes when I travel, but I’d never really thought about visiting one in my own town! I loved the opulence and the fact that all the  visitors had frocked up specially, just in case Her Maj caught a passing glance. The Sevres porcelain on display was stunning but my favourite bit was imagining the Royal family sitting around on the yellow-silk sofas in the White Drawing Room watching TV (well, maybe they do?!) and picturing the BFG in the garden. Brad, 46, Seven Sisters

I am so happy to have seen our Queen’s home. It was fascinating to hear about the Royal events that have taken place over the years and how it is one of a handful of working palaces. I am humbled by the number of events attended by the Queen after seeing the special The Queen’s Year exhibition in Buckingham Palace. I bought some of the royal chocolate from the gift shop as presents for my grandchildren. Shirley, 62, Forest Gate

As a first time palace-goer, I felt really fortunate to be able to snoop around the Queen’s house. Even though it’s a fairly compact tour, being able to see the rooms and  garden is really special. Steeped in so much history and ceremony the rooms I found the most interesting were the art gallery – who knew the Queen had a Rubens in her house? And also this year’s exhibition which had some wonderful little artefacts and mementos from her trips and appointments around the world. The highlight for me was the grand staircase, which was truly breathtaking (so much gold)! In my mind, I was in a full ball gown, being announced as I entered the room with a handsome Prince at my side.  Jo, 27, Battersea

It was good to see inside Buckingham Palace – somewhere I’ve only seen from afar until now. Using the audio guide, you can whip round in an hour, or press for extra information if there are bits you want to know more about. The gardens were impressive – we didn’t get to go very far into them, but you can walk around the edge on your way out. Sophie, 22, Tooting

As the home of royalty, Buckingham Palace is a must-do for anyone visiting London! It’s all very splendid and grandiose on a large scale with amazing art collection from Rembrandt and at least one uber-rare Vermeer. Go and see the home of Royalty, you’d be silly not to. Angela, 38, Highgate

Get your tickets to this year’s Buckingham Palace Summer Opening