The entire issue of the Observer Magazine of 6 February 1977 was devoted to the Queen’s Jubilee ‘to mark the fascinating new era that began 25 years ago today’. Asked whether she would celebrate, the reliably off-message Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, replied: ‘Of course I’m very happy for the Queen and her family, but with the country in its present state I don’t think it’s the time for a great celebration. I will probably just give a dinner party for a few friends from abroad who happen to be in London.’ The historian Lady Longford compared the royal styles of Elizabeth Windsor and Elizabeth Tudor. The first time Longford had seen the Queen up close was at an evening party at Buckingham Palace where ‘she was laughing and sparkling like a small, exotic humming-bird… I could see with my own eyes that here was essentially an equable and outgoing character.’ Both, she noted, had come to the throne at the age of 25. Furthermore: ‘The Tudor princess suffered imprisonment in the Tower of London and banishment to Woodstock for political reasons; the Windsor princess was virtually a prisoner in the castle of that name for reasons of wartime security.’ ‘Elizabeth Tudor’s enormous glittering ruff, in which her face was borne above the crowd, was designed to show the Queen’s mystique,’ wrote Longford. ‘A silver wedding photograph of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip showed them wearing a sweater and open-necked shirt respectively. Each Queen has known how to achieve her own ideal.’ To finish, a section to fill in and return, entitled: ‘Tell us what you think of the Queen’ – ‘Do you think the income the royal household receives now should be increased/cut/remain as it is/don’t know.’ Increased? Not even Barbara Cartland would have gone that far. ‘Which member of the Royal Family would you most like to meet: Princess Alexandra, Prince Andrew…’ Love that there was a ‘don’t know’ box for this question, too.