ANALYSIS | It’s been 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, but the celebration hasn’t started yet

(CNN) — Queen Elizabeth II adds a new milestone to her already record-breaking reign by becoming the first British monarch to celebrate her platinum jubilee on Sunday.

But despite its unprecedented seven decades of service, this Sunday will not start the celebration with great fanfare.

Instead, we know that the 95-year-old monarch will be at her home in Sandringham, remembering her father, the king George VI, on the anniversary of his death. As in previous years, no public commitments are expected for that day.

The most that can be hoped for is a new image or message that marks the meaning of this particular milestone. Formal military salutes are scheduled for the following day, Monday, as tradition dictates.

This weekend’s historic moment highlights a dilemma familiar to the monarchy: commemorate the sovereign’s unwavering commitment but acknowledge personal loss. It is something in which the institution has a lot of practice, but which remains as delicate a matter as ever.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson summed it up this week by saying in the House of Commons that “although it is a time of national celebration, it will be a day of mixed emotions for Her Majesty”, before expressing gratitude for her “tireless service”. “.

The last time Elizabeth saw her father was when she and Philip undertook a tour of the Commonwealth in 1952.

Her family showed up at the airport to see the couple off, and the king greeted her from the tarmac. Days later, while the couple was in Kenya, Isabel received devastating news: her father, who was only 56 years old, had died in his sleep from a thrombus.

“You have to remember that when she came to the throne in 1952, it wasn’t a very enlightened time for working women,” said CNN historian and royal expert Kate Williams. “Many people thought that a woman was not up to the job, even though Queen Victoria and all queens before her had been great queens on the throne.”

Williams added that he “has really shown, time and time again, that a woman can do the job of a constitutional monarch as well, if not better, than a man.”

This weekend, the queen will likely reflect on her father’s legacy and how his reign helped define her own.

Like her, Albert Frederick Arthur George, or Bertie, as the family knew him, was not born to be a monarch. That fell to his older brother, who became King Edward VIII when his father died in 1936.

But everything changed when Bertie took the place of his brother, after Eduardo abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson. It’s a piece of royal history we all know well, having been immortalized for the screen in movies like “The King’s Speech” and series like “The Crown.”

Inheriting a monarchy in crisis, Bertie opted for the name George VI in a nod to his father and to establish continuity between their reigns. As historian Jane Ridley put it on CNN’s original series “The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty,” George’s challenge was to “restore to the monarchy something like the stability it had before his brother came to the throne.” “.

And though he reportedly never wanted the job, George VI defended the crown through scandal and war. Upon news of his death, then-US President Harry Truman said that George VI had “shared to the end of his reign all the hardships and austerities that bad days brought upon the brave British people. In return, he received from the people of the entire Commonwealth a love and devotion that went beyond the usual relationship of a king and his subjects”.

The queen is known to have been especially close to her father, and may have inherited his tireless work ethic and practice of putting duty before ego.

During his historic reign, he has appointed 14 prime ministers and met with 12 US presidents. He has been a beacon of continuity in a period of unprecedented change, adapting and modernizing the royal institution with the times. His greatest achievement is perhaps his ability to remain relevant and popular, despite facing some of the most tumultuous years in modern royal history.

With no plans to retire, even as his 96th birthday approaches, a series of celebrations will take place throughout the year, culminating in a huge four-day party in June, where the nation can join the festivities related to the jubilee.

And if all goes well, we may soon be on the lookout for her next milestone, when the queen overtakes Louis XIV of France to become the longest-reigning monarch in world history.

CNN’s Robert Iddiols contributed to this report.