Queen Elizabeth II is to attend a British Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Downing Street announced, the first such visit in more than a century. Historically, monarchs used to chair Cabinet meetings but the last one to exercise their right to attend was queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth's great-great grandmother, who died in 1901.

The 86-year-old sovereign is going to the prime minister's Downing Street residence to receive a diamond jubilee gift from the Cabinet, marking her 60 years on the throne, and will also sit in on their meeting as an observer. Cabinet meetings usually last around an hour and a half, and the queen will attend for at least 30 minutes, Buckingham Palace said. Queen Elizabeth was to sit at the middle of the table, with Prime Minister David Cameron to her right and Foreign Secretary William Hague to her left.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012