SOLDIERS have marked the 61st anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne with a 21-gun Royal Salute.

Members of the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, based at Alanbrooke Barracks, near Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, fired three 105mm light guns used in the Falklands and Afghanistan conflicts at 15 second intervals before a crowd of onlookers in Museum Gardens, York.

While York is the only saluting station in the north of England, Royal gun salutes were also fired in London, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

Royal aides said the Queen spent the day in private at Sandringham, as it marks the day her father King George VI died.